Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | I-71 and I-75 Community P
MILL CREEK TOWNE CENTER
Spring Grove Village
Joseph Wagner
Instructor Juliana Zannotto
Vision Statement
This proposal seeks to bring a vibrant urban environment to Spring Grove Village
that builds on the neighborhood’s favorable location and gives it a unique atmosphere.
Mill Creek Towne Center will consist of a diverse mixture of uses including a hotel,
retail, restaurants, offices, residences, and conference facilities that is designed to work
with light-rail and other mass transit to become a transit-oriented development. The light
rail, bus hub, and parking on the TOD site will facilitate the residents, employees, and
shoppers at Mill Creek Towne Center ability to leave their automobiles behind and will
lead to greater connectivity. The green space is an important element to both recreational
needs and environmental sustainability to fulfill the goal of triple bottom line
sustainability. Finally this development will bring the significant investment needed to
help revitalize the larger neighborhood and provide good jobs to the community.
Economic Goals: The creation of a new thriving commercial center in Spring
Grove Village that will contribute to the; tax base through property, sales, and
employment tax revenues; employment by creating hundreds of new good paying jobs in
the retail and office portions of the development; and will encourage further growth and
investment in the surrounding neighborhood. This new development will also create a
major transit hub by creating an area where residents and visitors can drop off their
vehicles and utilize the three bus routes in close proximity to the development and the
light-rail station. This hub will create the opportunity for retail that will cater to the users
of these facilities. This new highly visible development will become a landmark that
Spring Grove can build a marketing campaign on to promote itself to developers and
potential residents.
Social Goals: The Mill Creek Towne Center will create more employment
opportunities by bringing a significant number of jobs to Spring Grove Village and will
allow low-income residents to have greater access to mass-transit. This transit will
facilitate greater opportunities for underserved residents to find additional employment
opportunities and give them easier access to social services. The public open space in the
site also allows for more social mixing and connectivity between different groups and
class allowing them to better understand each other.
Environmental Goals: This development will create a large amount of public
open space that will allow for the planting of trees and the construction of recreation
areas. Some of the space will be allotted for infrastructure improvements that will
Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter 2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | 1-71 and 1-75 Community
decrease the runoff from the surrounding community into the Mill Creek such as
retention basins. The mass-transit element of this TOD will decrease automobile usage
thus reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere. The nature
of the development may also create more internal trips and live-work opportunities thus
reducing the need for transportation.
Current Conditions
Today the retail and industrial areas between the Mill Creek and Interstate 75 are
vastly underutilized largely consisting of car-oriented retail and auto dealerships. These
dealerships which are along I-75 use a large amount of land that could be utilized for
higher density uses. Although these establishments do keep up their properties they do
not perform as the positive gateway into the community that is needed to encourage
investment and traffic into the core neighborhood. The retail and fast-food establishments
in the area provide essential services to commuters and residents but they also do not
provide the variety that a growing community needs and they typically have large
unsightly parking lots and little architectural quality. Also some of these establishments
are vacant or are not in the best repair leaving major holes in the neighborhood and
possibly creating blight. In several parking lots there is trash strewn about which further
dissuades customers from visiting the area and gives the false perception of the majority
of Spring Grove Village. The traffic in the area is very heavy especially on Mitchell
Avenue and is made worse by several curb cuts that are found between the I-75 and
Spring Grove Avenue where drivers slow down the flow of traffic by turning into
establishments. Several establishments along I-75 are almost cut off from the rest of the
area and are only served by a one lane roadway that crosses the Mill Creek. This creates
possible problems and stunts growth potential on this property. The area is also very
hazardous to pedestrians and it is very difficult for them to cross Mitchell or Spring
Grove Avenue due to the width of the road way along with the absence of well marked
cross walks. Lastly there is little visual appeal with the large amounts of pavement and
the lack of any greenery. The Mill Creek that is in a large concrete culvert also adds to
this “industrial” feel that takes away from the marketability of the basin area to
developers.
Strategies and Proposal
The Mill Creek Towne Center seeks to extensively rework this area by
demolishing the majority of the site’s structures with an exception for the existing
grocery store and redevelop the site into a Transit-Oriented Development. (For the light
rail element of this plan it is taken as a given that the alignment of the rail will be along
the existing CSX right-of-way. For more information on why this alignment is preferable
for Spring Grove Village as well as Cincinnati as a whole refer to the Winton Place
Framework Plan Report produced in autumn 2009). This TOD hub along the right side of
Mitchell Avenue parallel to the CSX lines will include a light-rail station as well as bus
facilities and park-and-ride opportunities. This will create a destination for commuters
from Spring Grove Village as well as the surrounding neighborhoods such as Winton
Hills, Clifton, and Northside. This traffic will create a demand for the retail and
restaurants which will be housed in a vibrant mixed use development along Mitchell and
an extended Kenard Avenue. Parking will be located in a variety of different areas and
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Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | I-71 and I-75 Community P
includes structured parking garages, small parking lots, and on street parking. The
garages are designed to be located out of view on the interior of buildings and partially
below ground level. If parking structures must be viewed they must have decorative
facades that make them look similar to regular buildings. Parking lots are buffered from
sight with buffers of trees and planting beds while being limited to a small number of
spots. The on-street parking is a traffic calming technique and provides additional
protection for pedestrians. Location is also a key for the location of the parking structures
and in this design they are located away from the transit hub to make sure that park-andride users walk past the various retail and restaurant uses. I subtract 30% from the
traditional parking requirements of the City of Cincinnati due to less demand because of
the transit options and the possibility of live-work development where residents work in
the same development that they live (The New Transit Town). This development should
include many different uses including restaurants, retail, offices, convention and meeting
spaces, hotel(s), and residences that serve both the community and the larger region.
Retail spaces and restaurant uses will be required on the ground floor of the properties
facing Mitchell Avenue and will have to have a majority of their storefronts be of highly
opaque materials. Suggested tenants include coffee shops, sit-down restaurants, casual
food outlets, specialty shops, boutiques, banks, bookstores, electronics, and house-ware
retailers. The area between the building façade and sidewalk should also be utilized for
outdoor eateries and places for pedestrians to congregate. Street furniture, lighting and
planting beds should be added along Mitchell and Kenard Avenues in a manner that
complements the built environment and the theme of the larger development. Sidewalks
should at least be ten feet in width along building facades facing Mitchell and Kenard and
at least 8 feet in the front of the development facing the Mill Creek. Shrubbery and trees
should be planted between the sidewalk and roadway in order to separate pedestrians
from vehicular traffic. Highly visible pedestrian crosswalks must be placed at the
intersection of Mitchell and Kenard to allow the pedestrian connectivity that is crucial to
making the retail and restaurant uses viable. For more information on pedestrian
improvements and complete streets in Spring Grove Village refer to the reports on
complete streets by Rebecca Rauf and improving pedestrian connectivity by Jessica
McGroarty. The office spaces in this development will be in the mixed use buildings
along Mitchell and in a building along Kenard. Except for the building reserved
exclusively for offices these uses will be located on the second floor of the mixed-use
buildings. This is meant to create buildings that are utilized on a 24/7 basis and will have
the necessary critical mass to sustain the retail and restaurant spaces on the ground floor.
This proposal also seeks to include hotel and meeting facilities that are highly visible to
Interstate-75 along Kenard Avenue. This hotel will serve business travelers, tourists, as
well as provide a place for small conventions and company meetings. The residential uses
in the Mill Creek Towne Center are either located in the upper floors of the mixed use
structures or have their own exclusive structures located on the northeastern portion of
the site. These units will be of mixed tenure including mostly rental units (60%) and the
rest ownership units (40%). Although the large majority of these units will be market-rate
around 10% should be reserved for low-income individuals or families. This will aid
social inclusion and will allow lower income persons to achieve greater mobility. Green
space is also an important element of this proposal and is maximized by higher densities
and the concentrated building footprints along the rear of the site close to the transit hub.
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Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter 2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | 1-71 and 1-75 Community
The green space is designed with heavily shaded areas for relaxation alone or with others
and open spaces more suited for recreation opportunities such as sports. This area is an
extension of the proposed Mill Creek Greenway trail and seeks to limit the runoff going
into the Mill Creek by including water entrapment areas and swales (Lower Mill Creek
Watershed Summary Report). Green roofs are also part of this proposal on several of the
parking structures.This development also seeks to use design as a tool for marketing
Spring Grove Village and this development will be the key in that strategy due to its
prominent location in the I-75 view shed. This development should follow a strict set of
design guidelines that make it both attractive and functional. These guidelines will be
most effective in regulating design elements on storefronts, materials used, and
landscaping to make sure they are compatible. This will be the defining gateway that
Spring Grove Village needs on its southern entrance.
Buildings, Land Use, Parking, and Phasing
BUILDING A
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Totals
Land Uses (by sq. ft.)
12,143 Restaurant , 40,000 Retail
50,143 Office
50,143 Residential (62 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
50,143 Residential (50 Units at 1000 sq. ft. avg.)
200,052
Parking Required
241
125
93
50
534
With 30%
reduction
169
88
65
35
373
BUILDING B
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Totals
6,000 Banking, 8,000 Restaurant, 34,000 Retail
50,143 Office
50,143 Residential (62 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
50,143 Residential (50 Units at 1000 sq. ft. avg.)
200,052
219
125
93
50
512
153
88
65
35
358
First Phase
35,360 Entertainment
35,360 Office
35,360 Residential (44 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
35,360 Residential (44 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
141,440
Parking Garage (6 levels with 4 above ground and 2 below) 450
spots provided
177
88
66
66
387
0
46
46
271
0
First Phase
First Phase
25,100 Light Rail Station/Transit Hub, 8,000 Restaurant, 12,319
Retail
20,375 Office
20,375 Residential (20 Units at 1000 sq. ft. avg.)
96,169
103 + 200 for Station
72 +200=271
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Totals
50
30
383
35
21
327
First Phase
BUILDING E
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Floor 5
Floor 6
Totals
16,139 Hotel Lobby, 10,000 Convention Space
26,139 Hotel Amenities
26,139 Hotel 108 Rooms
26,139 Hotel 108 Rooms
40,608 Hotel 168 Rooms
40,608 Hotel 168 Rooms
186,572
200
0
108
108
168
168
752
140
0
76
76
118
118
526
Second Phase
Parking Garage (6 levels with 4 above ground and 2 below) 570
spots provided
0
0
First Phase
4,535 Restaurant , 14,000 Retail
18,535 Office
18,535 Residential (23 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
18,535 Residential (23 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
86
46
35
35
60
32
24
24
BUILDING C
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Totals
Phase
First Phase
BUILDING D
BUILDING F
BUILDING G
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
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Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | I-71 and I-75 Community P
Totals
74,140
202
140
Second Phase
BUILDING H
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Floor 5
Floor 6
Totals
26,139 Office
26,139 Office
26,139 Office
26,139 Office
40,608 Office
40,608 Office
186,572
65
65
65
65
102
102
464
46
46
46
46
71
71
326
Second Phase
Parking Garage (6 levels with 4 above ground and 2 below) 909
spots provided
0
0
Second Phase
BUILDING J
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Floor 4
Totals
10,579 Restaurant , 10,000 Retail
25,579 Office
25,579 Residential (32 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
25,579 Residential (32 Units at 800 sq. ft. avg.)
102,316
107
64
48
48
267
75
45
34
34
187
Second Phase
BUILDING K
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Totals
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
63,000
21
21
21
63
15
15
15
45
Third Phase
BUILDING L
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Totals
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
63,000
21
21
21
63
15
15
15
45
Third Phase
BUILDING M
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Totals
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
63,000
21
21
21
63
15
15
15
45
Third Phase
BUILDING N
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor 3
Totals
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
21,000 Residential (14 Units at 1500 sq. ft. avg.)
63,000
21
21
21
63
15
15
15
45
Third Phase
BUILDING O
Floor 1
Totals
4,375 Restaurant
4375
29
29
20
20
Grand Total
1,427,194 square feet and 610 housing units
3782
2647
BUILDING I
Total Parking Provided
Parking Garages
Parking Lots
On Street Parking
1929
431
196
Totals
2556
Third Phase
Rationale
Spring Grove Village is extremely well suited for transit-oriented development at
the intersection of Mitchell and Kenard Avenues due to the fact that this site not only has
good access to the highway but to several bus lines and a proposed light-rail alignment
along the CSX line. Many cities across the nation have made TOD work including
Arlington, VA; Portland, OR; Dallas, TX; and Boston, MA. These case studies show that
neighborhoods can be revitalized, car- dependency can be limited, and value can be
created for investors and governments. The site of my proposal is currently significantly
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Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter 2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | 1-71 and 1-75 Community
underutilized, serving various car dealerships, fast-food establishments, and dollar stores.
This area which has extremely high visibility from the interstate and has several major
arterial streets within it has the traffic flow needed to sustain higher levels of retail and
office than currently exists. Also the area is centrally located within the metropolitan area
and is close to major employers such as universities, hospitals, and several Fortune 500
companies. It is also close to large activity generators that bring people into the city
including the several sports stadiums, a major convention center, and excellent cultural
institutions. These organizations could expand their operations here or their employees
could reside or shop in the new mixed-use development. The area is also unique in the
fact that it is on one of the major interstates in the nation and that nearby exits fail to
provide the necessary services that drivers demand. The Mitchell interchange could pick
up market share by building highly visible hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments
that cater to the needs of travelers and commuters who live in the suburbs. Our contact
from the Spring Grove Village Community Council brought this to our attention and said
that to the north there was not a traveler friendly exit until the Blue Ash area and to the
south the next decent exit was in Northern Kentucky (Robbins, Gary). The TOD will
draw attention and cause people to notice not only what is being offered in the
development but also what Spring Grove Village can offer and may bring new residents
and investment to the area. Although this area is not specifically targeted in the GO
Cincinnati report it does fit some of the plan’s recommendations including building new
grade A office development along expressways that could be easily utilized by
commuters and new residential development that can compete with Northern Kentucky
(GO Cincinnati report). The drill down study also reports that the Cincinnati area and
Spring Grove Village have more residents than previously expected allowing for more
commercial development to occur. Spring Grove which was expected to have less than
1000 residents was shown to have almost 3000 (Drill Down Study). This shows that
higher density development on this site is not only possible but potentially extremely
rewarding financially by providing commuters and residents the services they need.
Source: Cagis, Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce
Created by Joe Wagner
Implementation/Funding Strategies
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Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | I-71 and I-75 Community P
This development must be implemented over time in several phases and to be
successful will need to involve both public and private organizations. But before ground
is ever broken several steps will have to be taken to make this development possible
including, acquiring and assembling the land, getting zoning assurances from the city
(this development would most likely be a Planned Development which requires a special
process of design review and negotiations). This will allow densities to be greater and
parking ratios less than they would otherwise. Funding for the predevelopment work
often comes from communities, transit agencies, and foundations to attract and jump-start
private investment. But since these communities have put in funding they have more
leverage on what the development will look like and often take a share of the profits
down the road as a stockholder of the development (The New Transit Town). Also
possible funding sources include TOD programs at the Department of Transportation,
Federal Transportation Adminsitration, HUD, Department of Economic Development,
and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that has set aside $27 billion for
TODs. All of these federal government agencies have programs exclusively to encourage
TOD development (Greene 1).
Case Studies
Mockingbird Station, Dallas TX
This mixed-use has been highly successful partly due to its location along the
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), a 52 mile long light rail system, and a major
interstate but has also been recognized for its award winning design that incorporates
retail, office, residential (both condos and rentals), and a major light rail station.
Mockingbird station is called an “urban village” because it includes 211 loft units, a
theatre, 183,000 square feet of retail uses, and many restaurants. It has 1,440 parking
spaces which are located under the development. The development goes for trendy stores
that attract will younger residents and college students. Mockingbird Station was mostly
adaptive reuse but includes several new structures in addition to the large warehouses that
were already there. There is also a major campus near this TOD which makes it more
diverse and vibrant due to young professionals. Overall the transit ridership was much
higher than the developer expected but lower than planners and other experts believed at
around 30% (The New Transit Town 155-72).
Source: radisson.com
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Niehoff Urban Studio | Winter 2010 | Great Streets and Gateways | 1-71 and 1-75 Community
Towne Center at Orenco Station, Hillsboro OR
This Transit-Oriented Development in Orenco Station is a fast growing city in the
rapidly expanding Hillsboro, Oregon metropolitan area. The development is close to the
MAX light rail stop and it is designed with new urbanism principles to allow for highdensity mixed-use living with ground floor retail and upper floors dedicated to
residential. The streets in the area were narrowed to allow a more main street feel to
characterize the community. It is located near an Intel campus and has a very heavily
utilized and successful commercial base. But the rates of transit usage are fairly low and
many people continue to use their cars more often than public transit (Rivera 1-4).
Source: http://www.blog.costapacific.com
Bibliography
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce. Largest Employers – Living Here.
Cincinnati Business Courier, Cincinnati 2009 <http://www.cincinnatichamber.
com/liv_b.aspx?menu_id=180&id=7570.
City of Cincinnati. Cincinnati Neighborhood Market DrillDown: Catalyzing Business
Investement in Inner City Neighborhoods. Social Conpact INC, Cincinnati. June
2007.
City of Cincinnati. Growth and Opportunities Report for the City of Cincinnati: Final
Report. Cincinnati, January 2008.
Dittmar, Hank and Gloria Ohland. The New Transit Town: Best Practices in TransitOriented Development. Island Press, Washington 2004.
Greene, Richard. “Government Funding for Transit-Oriented Development”. May 2009.
19 Mar. 2010 <http://www.areadevelopment.com/logisticsInfrastructure/Apr09/
Transit-Oriented-Development-Government-Funding.shtml >.
Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati. Coarse Evaluation Lower Mill Creek
Watershed. Cincinnati, November 2009.
Radisson @ Mockingbird Station. Radisson.com. < http://www.radisson.com/hotels/txda
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lcen/locations/print%3Bjsessionid=L28H1gjG20VZ5QzxP7MbJhQ4y57lMPyjZv
76jwxzj0cL26cYcVWr!931100497>.
Rivera, Dylan. “Residents of Transit-Oriented Orenco Station Still Driving Cars to Work.
The Oregonian. 17 Oct. 2009. 12 Mar. 2010 <http://www.oregonlive.com/news/i
ndex.ssf/2009/10/despite_urban_design_most_oren.html>.
Robbins, Gary. Spring Grove Community Council. Personal Interview. 26 Jan. 2010.
Towne Center at Orenco Station.Coastpacific.com. 10 Mar. 2010 < http://www.blog
.costapacific.com>.
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