CINCINNATI — Business owners and residents in Hyde Park are upset about the potential redevelopment of Hyde Park Square.
Developer PLK Communities hopes to get the green light to redevelop Hyde Park Square. The company wants to build a nearly 80-foot structure in an area typically zoned for only 50 feet.
"This isn’t about bringing in national chains or just building this massive structure," said Nicholas Lingenfelter, the chief development officer for PLK Communities. "It’s how do we look at what’s there today and figure where we're going in the future and build that right?”
Longtime business owners, like 25-year stationary shop owner Kristen Folzenlogen, are still not on board.
“We don’t want to be too dense," Folzenlogen said. "We don’t want traffic problems, parking issues. That’s why they have the zoning in place that they do.”
You can hear how one business owner describes the development's impact so far below:
Folzenlogen and many other residents in the area aren't convinced the promised additions, like a new hotel, apartments and underground parking, will improve their neighborhood.
"One of the vision statements that's been put forth by this developer is that they'd like to save the failing community of small businesses in Hyde Park Square, and I take personal offense to that," Folzenlogen said. "I am a thriving small business… and I'm surrounded by 50 other small businesses. Twenty-five of which have all been here for more than a decade."
Signs are in place around the Hyde Park neighborhood giving a visible representation of the movement to push back against the development.
"We have already experienced 10 small businesses that have either been closed or displaced completely because of the movements of this development," Folzenlogen said.
PLK Communities agreed to bring the development down from nearly 85 feet to 80 feet, but some say it's not enough, and they're hoping city council rejects the plan.
"There's several neighborhoods like Hyde Park that have business centers, little, tiny business districts, and those are most all at 50-feet high," said Hyde Park resident Jennifer Millman. "That's the zoning law. Once this happens here, this can happen in all those other neighborhoods because the precedent has been set."
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