Portfolio by Xuanmin Xu

Portfolio Xuanmin Xu Urban Planning

Introduction

Over-the-Rhine is a neighborhood in Cincinnati sometimes abbreviated OTR. It is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States. Over-the-Rhine was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 with 943 contributing buildings. It contains the largest collection of Italianate architecture in the country, and is an example of an intact 19th-century urban neighborhood. It was developed at a time of a high rate of German immigration to Cincinnati, and became the heart of its ethnic German community for decades. OTR is a strong arts community, and is home to two arts schools and many theatres and galleries. It is considered the fastest-growing, trendiest neighborhood in Cincinnati. The Pleasant Street corridor, located in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, runs north to south for four blocks between Washington Park and Findlay Market. Historically, Pleasant Street was a dense residential street lined with larger multifamily tenement style housing as well as smaller multi-family units. However, the street is now mostly lined with vacant buildings and lots. The intersections of commercial and mixed use at the Elder, Liberty, and 14th street junctions have similarly fallen into decay. It can be estimated that less than 125 people live on the street today. Currentl l y, P leasant Corr idor is gentr ific ation, whic h ref ers tr ansf er the neighborhood from poor neighborhood to mix-income by increasing share of wealthier residents or businesses and increasing proper t y values.

Gender (Female %) 35.52%

Over-the-Rhine Location

Pleasant Corridor

Race (Black %) 13.72%

$27,969

53.18%

$9,000

52.75%

60.07%

84.28%

56.21% 63.60% 42.97%

62.68%

75.2%

$20,406 43.36%

34.32%

Pleasant Corridor Location

Mid-Income ($)

$51,719

$55,000

39.71%

14.55%

Utilizing information provided by U.S. Census and transfer numbers into Geographic Information System (GIS) to create analysis maps of Over-the-Rhine, include gender, mid-income, and race. The whole neighborhood is devided by nine census tracts, Pleasant Corridor is overlayed three of them. Generally, the Pleasant Corridor has 42.98% female, 39.71% black, and the mid-income of south and north side of the corridor are $9,000 and $20,406. The median real estate price of Pleasant Corridor is $159,258, which is more expensive than 75.0% of the neighborhoods in Ohio and 43.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. The average rental price in Pleasant Corridor is currently $414, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 99.7% of Ohio neighborhoods. Pleasant Corridor real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) apartment complexes/high-rise apartments and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Pleasant Corridor neighborhood are relatively historic, built no later than 1939, and in some cases, quite a bit earlier. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969. Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Pleasant Corridor The current real estate vacancy rate here is 64.1%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 99.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.

SWOT Analysis Strengths:

L ocation / Q uiet S treet / Residential Area / Redevelopment in Southern End / Close to Findly Market /Close to Washington Park / Close to public transit / Convenient to Downtown / Close to restaurant / Street parking / Green space / Affordable / Community Garden / Stoops

Weakness:

Poverty / Lack of design standards / Perception of crime / Liberty street crossing / Unkept vacant lots / Litter Low priority for city / Varied goals of development / Assessibility / Building conditions

Opportunities:

Pedestrian connection / Rehab historical buildings / Restore urban fabric / Strengthen N/S connection / Maintain affordability / Diversify street types / Unifying street types / Liberty road diet / Community engagement / Streetcar development / Improve transit options

Threats:

Pricing out of the neighborhood / Influx of newcomer / Anti-Stoop culture / Greedy developers / Uninformed Decision makers / Defensive architecture / Priorities elsewhere

Street Elevation

Pleasant Street

Green Street

Conceptial Map

Street Network

Parking Analysis

Public Transportation

15th/14th Street

Liberty Street

Based on the obser vation, most residents (60.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also walk to work (12.8%) and 12.8% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. The rests take bus to work and shopping. In a neighborhood like this, parking is a important factor that can influce residents' daily life. the total surrounding parking spaces that provide to the residents are about 325, include parking lots, street parkings, and also self parkings. It also has 2 Red Bike stations, 6 bus stations, and also will have streetcar route along Race Street and Elm Street.

Travel Methods

Conceptial Map

Diagrams Parking

Trees

Block Center

Land Use Existing

Land Use Proposed

Figure Ground Existing

Figure Ground Proposed

Single Family Multy Family Government Commercial Light Industry Vacant

Existing Parking Proposed Parking

Existing Trees Proposed Trees

Design Idea: 1. Keep the corridor as residential mainly. 2. Establish a community center and mixed use building with retails to meet with residents needs. 3. Create block ccenters for each block to keep the stoop culture. 4. Build cross walk on Liberty street to connect the north and south sides. 5. Change 14th and 15th to two ways. 6. Repave the street from north to sourth, as well as the valleys. The new designs are considered to feature better engagement at the street level on Pleasant Street and better connectivity to nearby attractive points.

Site Plan

3D Birdeyeview

Introduction of Fiscal Impact Analysis

Within the last five years, increased activity has taken place in Over-theRhine and Pleasant Street. Most development consists of single-family homes and market rate condos. Given the increase in activity, Pleasant Street appears to be ready for development. Taking advantage of that, a development proposal was created that addresses the redevelopment of Pleasant Street in its entirety. A fiscal impact analysis was completed to Liberty Street consider the possibilities of development in this corridor. Evelvation Fiscal Impact Analysis Model

Green Street Evelvation

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments’ (OKI) fiscal impact analysis model (FIAM) was used to generate the fiscal impact analysis used in this report. OKI’s FIAM was created in response to a 2005 Strategic Regional Policy Plan that identified the need for a fiscal impact analysis tool.

Elevation

Pleasant Street Evelvation

Liberty Street

Green Street

14th / 15th Street

The FIAM utilizes the average cost method to calculate a project’s fiscal impact. The average cost method calculates a per capita cost for every service 15th/14th Street that all units or individuals will carry equal costs. This differs and assumes Evelvation from, for example, the case study marginal cost method, which takes into account the location of the development. By doing so, developments taking place in existing jurisdictions may see lower per capita costs than those located in undeveloped areas, where it would cost more to provide services. Given the location of the Pleasant Street corridor, in a highly developed and central urban setting, the location component accounted for in the case study marginal cost approach is less pertinent.

Pleasant Street East Side

Pleasant Street West Side

Data Collection 1.Existing Development Utilizing information provided by Cincinnati Area Geographic Information System (CAGIS) files and the Hamilton County Auditor’s property database in addition to site visits, data was collected and crosschecked for each parcel. This included data for number of units per structure, building square footage, parcel area in acres, and assessed value for each parcel. These were then grouped by land use and totaled. In some instances, parcels were categorized under active land uses when, in fact, they were vacant lots or abandoned structures. Through site visits, these were corrected and re-categorized with the vacant land use. 2.Proposed Development After designing the proposed development, the drawing was transferred into GIS. This allowed for the creation of proposed building footprints, which provided the basis for totaling of number of units, building square footage, and assessed value. Parcel area remained the same between existing and proposed data. As the value for new development was data that had to be estimated, 3CDC’s residential and commercial estimates as well as local estimates for commercial and industrial uses were found through online research and the website LoopNet. Remaining uses (Education & Government and Vacant) were decided upon by group discussion and considering the relative value of these uses in comparison to other known values, such as commercial and industrial. Pleasant Corridor extends from the Fourteenth Street and Pleasant Street intersection at Washington Park to the intersection of Glass Alley and Pleasant Street at Findlay Market, making the corridor an attractive location. The site consists of 6.34 acres of land initially developed in the 19th century. The site is intersected most significantly by Liberty Street, a busy minor arterial road, and Metro bus routes and the planned Downtown/OTR Circulator streetcar routes service it.Currently, the existing land use for Pleasant Street Corridor includes with 208 units, include 32 single family units, 57 multi-family units, 3 high traffic retail units, 1 light industrial unit, 4 education/ government units, 111 vacant units totaling about 140,000 square feet. The development that we proposed on Pleasant Street consists of 39 units of single family, 139 units of multi-family, 8 units of high traffic retail, 1 light industry unit, 12 units of education/ government, and 13 units of other. Generally, 53 percent of them are vacant or parking lots (formally classified by the FIAM as Parks, Cemeteries, Utilities, Parking Structures, and Vacant). The second most prevalent land use type along Pleasant Street are multi-family residential units, which constitute 27 percent of all land uses, followed by single family residential units which amount to 15 percent of all units. The non-residential uses observed at this site are minimal as these constitute only nearly 4 percent of all units, with 1.9 percent of all units being used for Education and Government uses, 1.4 percent for High Traffic Retail, and nearly 0.5% percent (1 unit) constituting Light Industrial land use. The development proposes to alter the composition of some land uses along the development site in order to better address the present needs of the neighborhood. The improvements proposed consist of infilling vacancies, blighted-beyond-repair properties, and changing the use of some properties in order to generate an appropriate mix that can address the current need for diverse and reliable quality

housing and complementary non-residential uses. As a response to a greater need for affordable and compact housing in the neighborhood, the changes proposed for the site consist of increasing the number of multi-family units from 57 to 136 (65 percent of all units),increasing the number of single family units from 32 to 39 (18 percent of all units). The proposal also involves generating commercial uses to serve the needs of the residents by increasing the number of retail units from 3 to 8 (nearly 4 percent of all units) and dedicating 5 percent of units for Educational and Government use. The development proposes to alter the composition of some land uses along the development site in order to better address the present needs of the neighborhood. The improvements proposed consist of infilling vacancies, blighted-beyond-repair properties, and changing the use of some properties in order to generate an appropriate mix that can address the current need for diverse and reliable quality housing and complementary non-residential uses. As a response to a greater need for affordable and compact housing in the neighborhood, the changes proposed for the site consist of increasing the number of multi-family units from 57 to 136 (65 percent of all units),increasing the number of single family units from 32 to 39 (18 percent of all units). The proposal also involves generating commercial uses to serve the needs of the residents by increasing the number of retail units from 3 to 8 (nearly 4 percent of all units) and dedicating 5 percent of units for Educational and Government use. The main means through which the proposed new uses will be incorporated into the neighborhood will be through the utilization of the numerous vacant sites. There is an anticipated reduction of the number of properties classified as parking or vacant, specifically 111 to 13, proposing an improvement in 88% of these sites. The proposal preserves an existing light industrial building, in the spirit of maintaining a combination of uses in the neighborhood that foster economic vitality and employment. Table 1 provides further information about the changes proposed in acres, number of units, and percentage of all land use units. County Budget The current land uses in place generate an estimated total of $163,000 in fiscal revenues for Hamilton County while incurring a burden of $643,000 to the County budget yearly, a net impact of -$480,000. The proposed changes are estimated to generate $613,000 in fiscal revenue, while incurring $1.2 million in fiscal expenditures. Although the proposed development would still result in a negative impact for the County’s budget (approximately $408,000 annually), this loss would be reduced by $72,000. City Budget For city’s budget, the net revenue for the proposed project is about $510,00 while our expenditures totaled about $508,000. Using those two numbers we can see that our total net estimated impact for the proposed development would be about $2,500. The net revenue of the project was about $511,000 while the net expenditure was about $508,000. The City of Cincinnati budget would still be losing money but we will be losing $2,500 less than we were without the new proposal. Giving some detail as to where these numbers come from we can look at the expenditure/revenues. The net estimated revenues for the existing land was about $163,000 compared to the $673,000 estimated revenues (income tax generated $311,000) for the proposed development. The existing land has a net estimated expenditure of $510,000 compared to the roughly $1.02 million of the proposed development. Public safety ($518,000) and general government ($205,000) were two of the largest increases in expenditures for our proposal.

Existing Land Use

County Budget Net Estimated Fiscal Expenditure

Net Estimated Fiscal Revenues

Proposed Land Use

City Budget

Net Estimated Fiscal Expenditure

Net Estimated Fiscal Revenues

Drawing

Walnut Business District

Introduction

The stretch of Walnut Street between 9th street and 13th street is located in both the Central Business District and Over-theRhine. Bordered on the West by Interstate 15 and the South and East by Interstate 71, Walnut street is an easily accessible area.

Land Use

Street Classification

Land Ownership

The dominant land use along Walnut street is commercial; however, ther aew several educational facilities and social services.

Walnut street is bisected by East and West Central Parkway, which is a mian throughfare through the Central Bussiness District. The rest of the area is connected by smaller and local roads.

A majority of the buildings along Wa l n u t s t r e e t a r e o w n e d b y businesses; however, a block of row housing sits on the Eastern side of Walnut, between 12th street and 13th street.

Tensure

Vacancy

White Population

Walnut Business District Location

Walnut Building

Emery Theater

Figure Fround

Walnut street has many parking lots, which are large and often empty. These parking lots give the street on empty feeling and break up the flow and unity of the buildings and area, which can be seen from the figure ground map below. This is also an inadequate amount of gather spaces along Walnut street. One or two businesses have outdoor seating for their patrons, but outside of these spots, there are no area where the public can gather.

Historical Analysis

1932

Central Business District Rendering

1950

1956

Design Description

Landscaping:

Suggest adding trees and plants to create a sense of human scale and provide shade. With the excception of the parking lot's street lights, I advise installing smaller street lights to further the sense of human scale.

1975

2001

1977

2006

1990

Walnut street lacks landscaping elements, from trees to street furniture to bus stop areas, creating a barren streetscape. Poor landscaping creates an uninteresting and boring environment. Not only do landscaping elements make an area more appealing, they also give a sense of human scale. A lack of visually interesting semi-green places to relax discourages people from interacting with the neighborhood. Trees and plants create perceived. Benches provide places to rest, breaking up the long city blocks. The area has many bus stops; however, they are only signs at the spots. There are not any benches or enclosures to provide public transit patrons a place to wait. There are light posts along Walnut Streets, but most are roughly 25 feet. These large lights detract from the sense of humans scale, as opposed to smaller, 15 feet light posts that are more geared toward creating human scale.

Gathering Spaces:

In order to create gathering places for people visiting the area, we recommend widening the block on the Eastern side of Walnut street between Court Street and Central Parkway. This will provide room for benches, tables, and chairs, as well as the construction of a playground and enclose area for children to use.

Gathering Spaces:

There are 6 parking lots on Walnut Street between 9th and 13th street. Decreasing the amount of area covered by parking lots would not be detrimental to the neighborhood and would improve the visual landscape. I suggest using trees and other landscaping elements to help mask the parking lots.