Housing has become the foremost hot-button topic for Cincinnati’s elected officials. Politicians and pundits have spoken repeatedly about the city’s cost of housing, the accessible quantity of affordable housing, the quality of life our housing provides. In June 2024, by a 6-3 vote, Cincinnati City Council approved the Connected Communities proposal with the stated goals of an enlarged housing stock, more walkable neighborhoods, and boosting the use of public transit.
However, community leaders
objected vehemently because of the one-size-fits-all nature of the zoning change, as well as a lack of engagement to address residents’ concerns. One year in, affordability hasn’t improved. According to
Redfin, Hamilton County’s median home-sale price rose 3.9% year-over-year to $290,000, with the number of homes sold declining -2.5% and the price-per-sq. ft. figure rising 5.2% year-over-year to $183. Granted, housing can’t be constructed instantaneously, but market conditions underscore the steep uphill battle toward more affordable housing.
Anyone who has spent any time at Hyde Park Square, especially on a warm summer night near its quintessential fountain, understands it’s a vital hub of an economically and culturally thriving area. A local organization, Save Hyde Park Square (SHPS), has advocated passionately in opposition to a development that would do little to grow the neighborhood economy while disrupting an already congested parking situation and usurping a sizable portion of its architectural character.
Stoking the flames of an already tense relationship between city government and Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods is the standoff between developer HPSRD LLC, a consortium of
PLK Communities,
The Loring Group and
North Pointe Group, and a
growing assemblage of organizations opposed to the proposed One Hyde Park property. Resistance has expanded well beyond Hyde Park and includes leaders of 19 neighborhood councils, the Charter Committee, and the Women’s City Club, among others. The proposal would create a seven-story apartment/hotel building with a minimum 85-ft. height (potentially up to 93.5 ft.) that far exceeds the 50-ft. height threshold the neighborhood’s zoning currently allows. The stakes of this development’s approval could impact citywide residents who share a concern for residents’ quality of life and a deck stacked toward developers’ profitability.
The project spans across Erie Ave. between Edwards and Michigan avenues, with plans for a 120-164 unit apartment complex and a seven-story hotel with 75-90 rooms, a 600-seat banquet center, restaurant, and rooftop bar. The PLK plan refers to the property as a “boutique hotel,” but those specifications indicate a drastic digression from a charming neighborhood inn that jibes with the Hyde Park community initially founded as a village in 1896 before annexation into Cincinnati in 1903.
The project displaced several businesses, including Churchill’s Fine Teas, Hyde Park Tailors, and others. Although zoning regulations mandate that developments provide public parking to provide sufficient access to the community, SHPS notes that the development’s documentation fails to outline that sufficient, or even any, public parking will be provided. The plan’s proposal provides three levels of visitor parking, two of which are underground. However, according to SHPS, the site was formerly a spring-fed lake that is still prone to flooding, which might make constructing underground parking cost-prohibitive and push the PLK plan’s height even further above what zoning currently permits.
In April, Cincinnati City Council voted 7-2 to approve the PLK project as a planned development (PD), which, according to the
city government’s website, would “establish a procedure for the development of land … for a more efficient and economic development of property than ordinarily permitted by conventional zoning and subdivision regulations.”
The next point in the PD process description assures “orderly and thorough planning and review procedures that lead to quality design and development.” SHPS member, Andrea Schenk, noted that planning and review has not included any engagement with Hyde Park’s Neighborhood Council (HPNC).
“We’re not fundamentally opposed to any development in Hyde Park,” said Schenk. “We’re willing to talk about proposals that align with Hyde Park’s urban design overlay district, zoning and fit our community’s character.”
Schenk noted that PLK’s group did engage HPNC, having made a presentation at last October’s meeting to introduce the plan and the concept, attending meetings and, at times, answering questions at HPNC’s monthly meetings. However, despite these ostensible overtures, One Hyde Park does not reflect listening to community input.
The repercussions of the PLK-led development coming to fruition stretches far beyond the 45208 zip code. The growing concern is if a developer-friendly construction project can happen in Hyde Park, one of the most vibrant Queen City communities with strong leadership voices, other neighborhoods stand little chance in stopping developments opposed by many residents.
Save Our Neighborhoods established as a 501(c)(4)
In an effort to coalesce citywide opposition to PLK’s proposed development, Save Hyde Park Square founded
Save Our Neighborhoods Cincinnati, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit designation that allows for advocacy not permitted under a 501(c)(3) designation.
Formally announced on July 21, Save Our Neighborhoods Cincinnati’s announcement stated its goal as “a broader, unified push for more collaborative, inclusive planning and development within all 52 of Cincinnati’s vibrant neighborhoods.” The organization points to the more than 18,000 signatures collected to place a referendum on November’s ballot that could reverse City Council’s approval of the One Hyde Park Plaza plan.
The only other alternative, according to Cincinnati’s charter, is for the city to outright rescind the One Hyde Park Plaza plan by Council at its
September 4, 2025 meeting.
Former city planners weigh in
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Beth Sullebarger
The
Women’s City Club, a 110-year-old civic organization that describes its mission as “[working] to educate, empower, and engage the citizens of Greater Cincinnati to participate together in promoting the common good”, issued a statement delivered by Beth Sullebarger, the club’s president, in opposition to the city’s issuing a PD for One Hyde Park Plaza.
The organization listed the following reasons for nixing the PLK plan:
- A hotel doesn’t provide housing for Cincinnati residents.
- It generates lots more traffic in terms of accommodating hotel guests and event-space attendees and creates logistical challenges to meet delivery and sanitation needs.
- There are five hotels within 2.5 miles of Hyde Park Square, and their occupancy rates are reportedly below the national average. Source: CoStar Custom Hotel Trend Report Midtown Cincinnati, Feb. 27, 2025
Sullebarger further espoused that during the pre-strong mayor era of local government, which began when the city’s voters approved an amendment to its charter in May 1999 that went into effect two years later, the City Council and Planning Commission paid greater heed to
community councils and neighborhoods’ proposals, which were developed, according to the statement, “with lots of dialogue within the community, and approved by CPC and Council.”
Cheri Rekow, the Women’s City Club’s VP for civic engagement, retired in 2023 after 35 years as a city employee, which included 15 years with the city’s planning department and 20 with its transportation department. In addition to the impact of the city’s strong-mayor government model, she also lamented the shifting of the city planning director’s role away from being a direct report to the city manager, which occurred in 1981. This maneuver paved the way to reclassify city planner positions such that civil service or union protections were removed for city staff making land-use recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council. In other words, telling leadership something besides what they want to hear could have professional repercussions.
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Cheri RekowRekow noted that the One Hyde Park Plaza plan would negatively impact the neighborhood’s historically pedestrian-friendly flow, which could also threaten the economic vitality of the Square’s small businesses that have long depended upon vibrant foot traffic.
“The Planning Commission and City Council should have tabled the agenda item until the developer worked in good faith with the community,” said Rekow.
She noted that PD permits, which were originally codified by the city in 2004, were originally intended for unique development-plan circumstances that exceeded zoning parameters, but, as Rekow said, “It was intended to be used sparingly for projects that had a defensible rationale for approving a plan outside zoning regulations. There have been over 100 PD districts with separate guidelines approved in the past 20 years. That’s not what was intended.”
She said that Connected Communities’ passage further greased the skids for developer-friendly plans because they increase the allowed square footage and provide greater flexibility with development proposals with no concessions in exchange for residents. Additionally, Rekow said that it would impair the quality of city developments while also failing to improve the city’s housing shortage because the plan includes no affordable-housing provisions.
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Joe SimonMany Hyde Park residents worry that a new development would add heavy congestion and a lack of necessary parking that would disrupt pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Although One Hyde Park might be the most high-profile development drawing a city neighborhood’s ire, it’s far from the first. Bond Hill residents strongly objected when a 150-unit apartment building was approved by council last year for construction despite longstanding promises for more condos and the accompanying enhanced opportunities for home ownership in that community.
Paddock Hills, one of the city’s smallest neighborhoods with just over 1,000 residents, was adversely impacted by city development when Kingsley + Co.'s Victory Vistas, a $13.8 million senior-living facility completed last year in Paddock Hills, was approved without providing proper notification from the city or the developer.
Lina Orr, who’s lived in Paddock Hills since 2001 and served on its community council since 2003, recalled this neighborhood’s struggles with the city.
“We wouldn’t have known about the project if [ex-Bengal and Kingsley owner] Chinedum Ndukwe hadn’t shown up to one of our meetings and asked if we’d like to partner with him,” Orr said.
Orr and other community leaders objected because the development plan would be built on the back side of the (former) Dohn Academy and historic Ohio National Guard Armory site. The site is within a hillside-overlay district, which signifies a highly slippage-prone area. Victory Vistas also received funding from the Ohio Housing Finance Authority and received variances on the basis of having received community approval, which hadn’t happened.
“The city completed ignored every objection, and the planning commission ignored our appeal and rubber-stamped it,” Orr said. “They commented that because nothing illegal had taken place, they couldn’t stop it. No matter what objections that get raised to the city, developers have the upper hand.”
Orr noted the disappointing contrast to past years, when city officials had responded to residents’ objections and scrapped plans for the construction of an emissions-testing facility on Tennessee Ave., that would have exposed Paddock Hills’ denizens to continuous noxious fumes, as well as when Talbert House proposed building a detention facility in the community.
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Joe SimonPaddock Hills resident Lina Orr
Orr lamented that, if Hyde Park’s leaders are unable to counteract unwanted developments, the hope of resistance becomes exponentially dimmer for other city communities.
“I would think they would be the one neighborhood able to stop this steamrolling over the needs of its residents and business community,” she said. “Who can if they can’t?”
As the calendar moves toward the zero hour for a decision on whether Council will rescind the One Hyde Park PD or have it put forth on this November’s ballot, negotiations have taken place between PLK’s team and Hyde Park Neighborhood Council and SHPS to revamp development plans to create a project more palatable to the Hyde Park community. PLK is reportedly willing to remove the hotel from the One Hyde Park plan but is asking for the city to issue tax incentives to help finance the project in exchange. This type of agreement could sidestep placing the development issue on the November ballot.