The Nati

So the bengals got a DB (Leon Hall) at #18 in the 2007 NFL draft. Hopefully he'll be able to mature the same way Jonathan Joseph did. If that works out we may have two really nice corners for the next 8 years. Now we just need a LB and a defensive lineman.

Labels: Bengals

Just saw this new airline based out of Columbus - Sky Bus. It looks as though their main comparison is Southwest. They fly point to point only, and they have no seat assignments. It's very much ala carte. You pay for food/drink on board (but at this point the meals on 'full service' carriers is pretty small anyway). You pay $5 for checked baggage (carry on is free). You can pay for pre-boarding services to get in group #1 for seating.

All of that is okay by me, as they have flights to LA, Seattle, Boston, San Fran for no more than $200 round trip. They have flights as low as $5o each way regularily, and as low as $10 each way special price.

Labels: Airlines

Don't forget to check out the launch of the OTR Ale at a five day festival (tonight through SUnday) at Elder Cafe at Findlay Market! CiNWeekly has more on the event. And you can read a full breakdown from my blog a week ago.

I will probably be down there either Friday or Saturday night.

Labels: Christian Moerlein

I went to the meeting at Duke Energy today at lunch that discussed the new AIG/Carter plans for the Banks. It's a bit different (more modern) than the old plan, but I really like it.

Some notes:

• You will see two orange oval shapes in front of the current freedom center lawn. These are to be restaurants, but it's not clear if they are phase I or II.
• Phases, on that note, you the site is an 8-10 year plan withe the two blocks between the Freedom Center and Great American being built first. The first phase will have up to 300,00 sq ft of office, 325 Condos, and 70-100,000 sq ft of retail.
• Freedom Way will be main street for development with retail/restaurants on both sides of the street.
• Timeline - Assuming the development agreement is finalized at it's deadline in a couple weeks (May 15th), it would be about 6 months to finalize some of the grants/finances to begin work. You would then see shovels in the ground building the parking garages by around Nov/Dec. 2007. It would be ready for occupancy then in late 2009. Still a long way off, but at least it's some progress instead of a wasteland.

This is an evening picture of the 2 blocks proposed to be developed first. You will see on the south side of the development (closest to the river) buildings that are lower. These are set to be lower density housing in the form of townhomes. You also see the glass restaruant sitting on the lawn of the Freedom Center. The glass building on the top left of the image is the planned office development. We should note that ALL of this can/likely will change to a certain extent as they finalize the plan and determine what the market will bear!

Here are two renderings of what things would look like from the street level looking towards Great American. All in all I think the new renderings looks great. It'll be nice to see some things coming out of the ground!

Labels: Banks

Give Back Cincinnati is hosting a free and open to the public party on Saturday May 5th on Fountain Square. It's going to be a great event even if horse racing isn't your thing. We'll have a cornhole tournament prior to the Derby and Live Music after the derby. We'll have food and drinks including Mint Juleps (you have to at least try one), and beer from Christian Moerlein.

And for those ambitious folks who plan on running the pig on Sunday May 6th, you can still come out for the fun, and we'll have plenty of spring water on sale at low cost!

Click Here for complete details on the event, and I hope to see you all out there!