The Cincinnati Historic Conservation Board Monday gave key approvals for a $36.4 million development project that would remake a pivotal crossroads in Over-the-Rhine.
The proposal by Urban Sites, known as the Lockard, would build 126 market-rate apartments at Liberty and Walnut streets with a 70-spot surface parking lot.
"We've been working in some capacity on this site for almost two decades," Urban Sites' Kate Green told the conservation Board Monday. "The site comes with a lot of complexities and a lot of challenges and it's seen several concepts. To be this far along is really exciting for our team."
The plan also would renovate most of the historic Grammer's building into roughly 4,400-square feet of commercial space. Grammer's Cafe opened in 1872 and relocated to the historic building in the development plan in 1911. Its location on Walnut Street featured ornate leaded glass, and other historic touches that remain largely intact. The bar occupying the building closed for good in 2011 and it has been vacant since.
Urban Sites sought zoning variances for the new construction and a certificate of appropriateness for changes it wants to make to the Grammer's building from the conservation board in February. But the board withheld approval over its height — five stories at the tallest — its distance from the corner of Liberty and Walnut, and the developer's plans to demolish the back half of the historic restaurant building.
Some preservationists also objected to the project, saying its height, lack of setbacks and demolition of the rear portion of Grammer's wasn't cohesive with Over-the-Rhine's historic nature.
Urban Sites submitted a new plan that will tear down only the middle section of Grammer's, which contains later, non-historic additions. The developer says this is necessary to build the apartment buildings around the historic structure. The developer's architect says shoring up that portion of the building to put new construction on top would cost $700,000, making the project financially unfeasible.
The revised plan also brings the new construction 30 feet closer to Liberty Street and provides a more gradual transition between the three-story historic building and the five-story height of the planned new construction's highest point.
Danny Klingler of preservation nonprofit OTR ADOPT initially opposed the development. He says the new plans aren't perfect, but they're better.
"It didn't get all the way to where we want it," he said, "However, in the spirit of acknowledging the concessions to the project that did get made, we felt the best thing to do was to withdraw our objections to the project as it is now proposed."
Cincinnati City Council late last year voted to approve an almost $3 million forgivable loan for the development. The Port is providing $17 million in bond financing.
The conservation Board voted unanimously to approve the revised project, though some members did so with reservations about its height and other issues.
Historic Conservation Board Chair Allison McKenzie acknowledged both the critiques of the project and the changes Urban Sites made.
"While not perfect, I think they are a vast improvement over what we saw last time," she said.