More development along river part of
downtown Middletown
plan
Mike
Rutledge
Staff Writer
9:18
a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016
MIDDLETOWN
Part of the
plan for downtown Middletown may be to expand it
into a new area — a 21-acre space along the Great Miami
River between Carmody
Boulevard, Water Street, Central Avenue and 2nd Avenue.
Under a http://www.journal-news.com/news/local/new-course-for-middletown-downtown-considered/Q8Mio1NRhDH8suBWI8P19H/" rel="nofollow - for
Downtown Middletown Inc., “a forgotten industrial canal” would be restored to
create a multi-use development along the waterfront, with a 120-room hotel
facing the river, areas for recreation and large events, a beer garden, plus
either commercial or residential space for a developer to create or rehab from
existing buildings.
How robust
the residential area would be would depend on how much of the southwestern
portion of the land regulatory agencies decide could be used.
OHM Advisors
gave an early peek of these plans last week to a few dozen interested residents
and business people.
“The timeline
is to have an actual, completed master plan by the end of the year,” said DMI’s
executive director, Mallory Greenham, “but we just needed to get some
additional feedback from the larger majority of the community to ensure we’re
still on the right track before we get too far toward the end of the plan.”
With the
canal development area, “there are different options on the property because
we’re not sure about the remediation of this part,” including whether
environmental regulators will allow building of residential or commercial
buildings in the southwestern portions, Greenham said.
“If it is
ever remediated to a level, then Option B (with extra residential or
commercial) could be implemented,” Greenham said. If not, Option A, with more
park areas, would be the preferred choice.
The proposed
beer garden in the plan is the first one OHM Advisors has ever put into a
master plan, she said, “because we have the http://www.journal-news.com/news/middletown-open-container-district-open-time-for-new-year-eve/bSJdqzTzddUNmNzGPCdcWJ/" rel="nofollow - (DORA)
that goes all the way to the riverfront. So it would actually be an operating
bar, with bathrooms, and people could actually hang out over there,” Greenham
said.
A pedestrian
walkway would end at the riverfront, while bike trails would wind through the
21 acres.
Larry Wood, a
commercial real estate agent who used to work for city government, said he was
impressed to see “a lot of creative ideas” presented at the meeting.
“It’ll take a
lot of synergy and working together with a lot of people to make them happen,
but I think it’s a start — it’s a vision — and without a vision, you’re not
going anywhere,” he said.
Wood added
that he was glad about “just the fact that they’re doing it — getting
movement.”
The master
plan’s creators noted that a market analysis of downtown housing possibilities
by the Danter Company found there is capacity in the area for 96 apartments
above existing storefronts; 176 new-construction apartments or townhomes; and
44 student units with 152 total beds, featuring a mix of two- and four-bedroom
units.
OHM said it
also heard these mandates during public input session:
- Redevelopment
of downtown should include addressing the riverfront
- Improving
downtown’s physical appearance is critical
- People
want improved bicycle and pedestrian connections to better connect
downtown with parks and the riverfront
- Diverse
housing options are important to bring current residents to downtown and
to attract newcomers
The planners
also determined more people must live downtown to help attract commercial
development there.
OHM Advisors
worked with a large steering committee to set the general course for the plan,
said Justin Robbins, a senior planner and project manager.
Also shown
during the public gathering were several areas where private developers could
step in and create projects that uphold the plan’s goals. Those areas include
the riverfront area as well as:
- Broad
Street, where 40 townhomes would be built in each of two phases, a park
would be expanded in the third phase, and where South Broad Street could
be temporarily shut down for events, creating a 1/4-mile linear,
pedestrian-only zone for festivals and events.
- Manchester and Vail avenues, where 72 apartments perched
atop parking garages would join 21 townhomes for 93 total new housing
units.
“We want to
coordinate between what people are telling us they want, and what is hopefully
do-able, and how private development can orient themselves to really leverage
those assets,” Robbins said. “We want to set the framework for someone to come
in and do a project like this.”
The study by
Danter put more weight behind OHM’s recommendations, he said.
“We’re using
the findings from that market study to really bolster what we’re recommending
in terms of housing, and what the market can support for additional housing in
the downtown,” Robbins said. “And housing’s critical — it’s really important to
have a strong basis of support for the commercial that you have in an area.
“So the more
people that you can put in one area, the more active the place becomes, the
more people you have in the streets, the more people you have visiting coffee
shops, restaurants and businesses,” he added.
Meanwhile,
“the buildings that are already in the downtown, that’s in our policy
framework, for those to become either office or residential, to make sure there
are income-generating uses for the property owners, and there’s tax revenues
coming in to the city as well,” he said. “It doesn’t do anybody any good if
it’s used for storage or sitting vacant.”
“There are a lot of nice
historic buildings down here where there’s ample opportunity to rehab those,”
Robbins said.
|