Bowdeya Tweh

btweh@enquirer.com

The city of Cincinnati's historic preservation staff Thursday recommended against demolishing the former Dennison Hotel downtown.

The city staff said the 124-year-old building at 716 Main St. contributes to the existing historic district and that the property owner failed to show enough evidence the building couldn't be reused and generate a reasonable economic return.

However, it will be the city's Historic Conservation Board that makes a determination on whether the building can be razed. The board will hear the demolition petition at its Monday meeting at 4 p.m. at City Hall. The Historic Conservation Board is a seven-member, city manager-appointed panel that evaluates zoning requests to city landmarks and properties within designated historic districts.

Advocates for historic preservation efforts and affordable housing will host a news conference at the Dennison Friday at 2 p.m. Derek Bauman, who has helped rally support for the Dennison, said he's not surprised by the city's decision and it reflects the building's importance in downtown Cincinnati's landscape.

Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, said the city's central business district has lost 984 affordable homes since 1990. The loss of the Dennison and the Anna Louise Inn downtown has made it "an economically and racially exclusive neighborhood." He said the city is also violating its own affordable housing rules, which in 1985 called for keeping at least 1,300 affordable homes in the central business district.

"The need for affordable housing is greater now than it was then and many more individuals and families with children are experiencing homelessness today than in 1985," Spring said in a statement. "... It is long overdue for Cincinnati to strengthen its Central Business District by replacing the vast amount of affordable housing lost over the last 26 years."

Joseph Auto Group has owned the building since 2013, but it is now seeking the city's permission for demolition. The company's argument to the city is that the building can't be economically redeveloped. In a recent interview with The Enquirer, Joseph Auto Group CEO Ron Joseph said he wants to demolish the building and add to 1.3 acres of land his family's Columbia Development Group owns adjacent the hotel. Joseph said Columbia has aspirations to develop an office building and parking garage at the site, which could eventually be home to a Fortune 500 company.

The city has not received building plans for new development at the site. The 1.3 acres of land bounded by Main and Sycamore streets and Seventh and Eighth streets now is primarily used for parking.

Fran Barrett, an attorney for Columbia Development, said the city should not be worried about whether it wanted to demolish the property after buying it. He also said historic preservation advocates are overstating the building's contribution to the historic district.

"They looked for ways to avoid look at our information objectively," Barrett said. "We hope the board is fair and open minded."

The report said the applicant did not give any evidence Columbia Development attempted to achieve an economic return through reuse and said the building's condition isn't so poor to require demolition. The report noted that eight buildings within a few blocks of the Dennison have been renovated and there are two similar buildings to the Dennison that may soon be designated at local landmarks.

"It is a truism that vacant and empty buildings have a carrying cost, but an empty building does not prove or disprove a potential level of economic return," the report said.

The property is located within the city's Main Street Historic District. The eight-story, 46,800-square-foot brick and terra cotta building features Victorian and Romanesque influences, according to the city. Samuel Hannaford & Sons, a noted Cincinnati-based architectural firm whose principal designed buildings such as City Hall and Music Hall, designed the building. The city's staff said the Dennison is the "most substantial and architecturally ornate" building on the block and it contributes to the historic district's character.

The Dennison was the last of about two dozen single-room occupancy hotels that began operations downtown in the early 1970s, according to Enquirer archives. Single-room occupancy hotels were inexpensive places for people to live, but often became a sore spot among public safety departments and public officials concerned about crime and blight.

The building initially was developed as an ironworks plant for G.B. Schulte Sons and Co., a firm that produced metal parts for carriages, according to the city's report. The company operated the building until 1930 and the following year, two office furniture companies operated within the building and upper floors were converted to serve as a hotel. The hotel operated as the Main Hotel until 1933 when it was renamed the New Dennison Hotel.

Readers can find the link to the staff report here.