The developer will send invitations to bid on the initial residential and retail portion of The Banks, the oft-delayed housing, shopping and office project, to a select group of design firms in as little as a few days, said Bailey Pope, vice president of design and construction for the Dawson Co.
But firms lacking an existing relationship with the developers could be on the outside under the invitation-only process.
"Just to make it a manageable project, this won't be a public process," Pope said.
Dawson and the other Atlanta-based project developer, Carter Real Estate, are handling private aspects of the project, such as apartments, condos, retail and entertainment.
The city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are developing the infrastructure and a parking garage. THP Ltd. is designing the garage; Messer Construction is the construction manager for that work.
Dawson said he's met with local architects for months to assess which firms are qualified for a job like the Banks, which will likely require several designers over roughly a decade of construction.
"I've met big firms and small firms and majority firms and minority firms, and I've got a general sense that there's a great talent pool" in Cincinnati, he said.
His comments clarified one of the most important issues surrounding the project in coming months: how the Banks' developers will erect a project of hulking structures while ensuring that they mesh with the existing cityscape.
Architects for the first residential phase will be challenged to create a neighborhood feel.
It should welcome pedestrians to the waterfront and at the same time make hundreds of new downtown residents feel at home.
A few out-of-town architects will be invited to bid, but Pope prefers a local firm that could get to the site or to city offices quickly if there are any problems.
John Patrick Rademacher, a principal at SFA Architects Inc. and president of the American Institute of Architects' Cincinnati chapter, said it is not unusual for developers to search for designers on an invitation-only basis. He credited Pope for meeting with a multitude of local firms - his being one of them - before starting the process but said there had been no indication of which firms would be invited to submit proposals.
"What's exciting ... is that the development team has committed publicly to use local talent to design the Banks," he said.
The developers' goal is to hire an architect for the first phase by January.
Groundbreaking on that project, to include between 400 and 450 apartments and between 70,000 and 80,000 square feet of ground-level retail, is slated for the first quarter.
Hiring a design firm quickly could be crucial because the developers are starting to hunt for potential anchor retailers. Dawson and Carter aim to have a working design to show off to prospects by the time an annual convention of major retailers convenes in Las Vegas in May.
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source: enquirer.com
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