Why Are We Investing in a New Building?

As you may have heard – or seen, as you’ve driven south down Interstate 71 and glanced to your right near the Red Cross building – construction for Cincinnati Public Radio’s new home is underway at Keystone Parke in Evanston.

Progress is well underway and we’re also well past the midway point in our first major capital campaign in history to pay for the initiative.

Some may ask, Why are we investing in a new building?

There are many reasons.

We long ago outgrew our current facility, which we rent from CET on Central Parkway. Since WGUC moved into our present digs back in 1980, we’ve expanded our services, programs and staff. We’ve also moved WVXU here, after purchasing that station from Xavier University in 2005. In addition, we’ve assumed responsibility for operating Miami University’s WMUB.

We now have staff sharing office space with storage areas and occupying what formerly served as closets.

If you’ve ever visited our space, you know there is not even a convenient and easily recognizable public entrance to our building and there is certainly no adequate space for public access and hosting of events. Parking is expensive and two thirds of the adjacent parking deck is condemned and literally crumbling around us.

But beyond the limitations of our current home, there is the extreme likelihood that its future is not at all assured.

Since the advent of the new FC Cincinnati Soccer stadium a few years ago, commercial development in the immediate neighborhood has accelerated. And late last year, the City of Cincinnati released a Request for Proposals related to the redevelopment of the entire block on which our present domicile rests. While at least three responses were received, the City eventually decided to put the redevelopment question on hold temporarily.

Whatever the case, it is obvious big changes are afoot and we could either wait to be forced to relocate (it is significant to note that none of the three RFPs submitted included adequate – or any – accommodation for CPR) or we could take action to find a new and permanent home on our own timeline.

And that’s just what we’ve done.

What is presently underway in Evanston is the culmination of a six-year process of investigation, consultation, evaluation, design, re-design and imagination.

The Evanston area was chosen because it lies within the City of Cincinnati. It’s a vibrant, diverse neighborhood with easy on/off access to an interstate and major bike/walking trail. It’s near a major university (Xavier) and Cincinnati’s Innovation Corridor. Our building will be immediately adjacent to a lovely public park and there will be plenty of free, nearby parking.

Of course, our new home will offer so much more:

It will be among the first buildings in Ohio constructed of mass timber (and, to our knowledge, the first broadcast facility in the country to do so). It will offer state-of-the-art studios and performance areas, a free public podcast booth and a large, welcoming public gathering space for concerts, lectures, debates, social gatherings and mobile art exhibits.

Needless to say, we’re all very excited and we can’t wait to welcome you into our new home – YOUR new home away from home – when we cut the ribbon in early 2025.

In the meantime . . .

Stay Tuned!