Let me make one thing crystal clear: When city officials and proponents of a new arena talk about redeveloping the “Town Center Garage” site at Central Parkway and Ezzard Charles Drive, they’re talking about demolishing WCET-TV, Cincinnati’s public TV station, which has broadcast from that corner since 1976.
Do we really want to evict Mr. Rogers from his neighborhood?
Twice in the past 13 months, a civic group has proposed building a new arena on the “Town Center Garage” site, without explaining that WCET-TV’s Crosley Telecommunications Center would be torn down, too.
So, the folks at Channel 48 have been forced to play Whac-A-Mole, trying to get the word out on how redeveloping the site one block south of TQL Stadium impacts the nation’s first licensed public TV station. WCET-TV owns the Crosley Telecommunications building, and the air rights above and below the building — but the city owns the land.
It’s disingenuous to refer to the site as only the “Town Center Garage.” Who gives a hoot about an old three-story garage that is crumbling due to the city’s neglect?
Perhaps city officials fear that by calling it the “Channel 48 site” people could have a strong emotional attachment to preserving the station where they volunteer for Action Auction, or know broadcast such favorites as Antiques Roadshow, Masterpiece Theatre, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Currently the city of Cincinnati’s Department of Community & Economic Development is conducting a “Town Center Garage survey” about the “alternative development for the Town Center Garage in the West End.”
It notes “the land includes 750 parking spaces and houses the CET-TV station,” and says “although the garage is functionally obsolete, the property remains an asset for CET TV, FC Cincinnati, Music Hall, Memorial Hall, Cincinnati Public Virtual School, Washington Park, and OTR and West End residents.”
Nine questions ask for opinions about a possible “large-scale transformative project” which could be “most valuable to the West End and surrounding communities.” Among the options presented are a sports/entertainment arena; cultural/arts center; commercial retail; income-based or non-income based housing; a community center; greenspace; or a park. The city also asks “how important is maintaining 500+ affordable, non-restricted parking spaces” in the redevelopment.
Nowhere does the survey offer the option of maintaining a public TV station on the site. So under “Other” I wrote that the public TV station should remain on the site, as it has been there for nearly 50 years.
To me, it looks like the deck is stacked against WCET-TV.
Goodbye Big Bird. Maybe you can find a place in the suburbs with Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie.
A year ago, Cincinnati voided a request for proposals to redevelop the Town Center Garage/WCET-TV property on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Ezzard Charles Drive in the West End.
City Manager Sheryl Long said in October 2023 that due to the “immense amount of change” to the area around the FC Cincinnati stadium “there is no need for the city to sell this asset as a catalyst for development at this time; instead, these circumstances require that we be patient and thoughtful about long-term decisions for this site … The long-term use of this site must ultimately serve the Cincinnati community, including our partners at Music Hall and FCC, but most importantly it must best serve the needs of the residents of the West End as the neighborhood evolves,” she said.
Note that she didn’t mention WCET-TV as a partner in any renewal project.
Long’s statement came shortly after Visit Cincy, the region’s tourism bureau, named the WCET-TV site (calling it the Town Center Garage, of course) one of the top locations for a new 18,000-seat Downtown area to replace the Heritage Bank Center, which opened in 1975 as Riverfront Coliseum. Diagrams prepared for Visit Cincy showed the arena at the corner, with WCET-TV squeezed into a small rectangular building two blocks south, at Central Avenue and Charles Street.
The city manager’s team told WCET-TV at that time “there would be a four- to five-year period before any type of development occurred, and that it would include a much larger swath of the West End neighborhood,” said Kitty Lensman, chief executive for Public Media Connect, the nonprofit which operates the Cincinnati and Dayton public television stations.
Last month the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber released a study saying the best place for a new arena was either on the Town Center Garage site or west of the Duke Energy Convention Center on land freed up by the new Brent Spence Bridge project.
So far, nobody has asked Channel 48 folks what they would like to see happen on the site. Or about WCET-TV’s “long-standing written agreement with the city of Cincinnati, based on a federal urban renewal act that protects our air rights above and below the building,” Lensman says.
“To date, other than what you see in the news, CET has not been contacted by any of the stakeholders to have a real conversation on what an arena option might mean to CET,” Lensman tells me. “We do own our building and are committed to serving our community with the educational services that makes public media a critical resource to Cincinnati. We are committed to the families and children of Cincinnati.”
WCET-TV is not involved with the survey. It was prepared by Crystal Kendrick, president of The Voice of Your Customer research company. She resigned from the Public Media Connect board “prior to working on this project to avoid any conflict of interest,” Lensman says.
The city has allowed the Town Center Garage to deteriorate since 2017, when the pedestrian bridge over Central Parkway to Music Hall was torn down as part of the Music Hall renovation. Music Hall patrons continue to use the garage, especially for sold-out concerts. Knocking down the foot bridge helped prompt Cincinnati Public Radio to search for a new building. WVXU-FM and WGUC-FM will move out of rented space in the WCET-TV building to a new building on Dana Avenue in Evanston next spring.
The recent Chamber arena study prompted Lensmen to send a letter to WCET-TV members and trustees saying, “I assure you that many steps would need to be taken for CET to consider a move” and that “most importantly, we do not wish to move our location.”
WCET-TV has “invested millions of dollars in the infrastructure and technology needed to best serve our community,” she says. Channel 48 has three studios, including the biggest TV studio in town, which has been used by Rain Man and many other films. Constructing a new facility would cost between $40 million and $50 million, she says.
The three studios “allow us to create and distribute local programming into your homes and we have been nationally recognized for our quality of work. We also have technology and space to host workshops for teachers and students and we invite our community to our studios throughout the year to enjoy local screenings, town halls, and events . . . The proximity of CET to our surrounding neighborhoods is important to the work we do. At the core of our mission is our dedication to education — especially for those who are in at-risk neighborhoods,” she wrote to trustees.
“Lastly, our executive team has spent the last four years meeting and talking with the City of Cincinnati leadership. While it is still not clear if CET will have a say in relocation — moving our facility or building a new facility is estimated to cost between $40 million and $50 million.
“I, for one, think that money would be better spent on the educational and local services we provide to benefit our community and families today and for the future generations of all Cincinnatians.”
If the city or other stakeholders “have a solution to publicly be inclusive to the equation of an arena — that will support the mission of public television and help us better serve our community — then let’s have a conversation,” Lensman says.
“Ask yourself: Who wants to kick Mr. Rogers out of his own neighborhood? What is the cost to preserve one of the longest-standing educational institutions of our community?” she says.
A link to the city’s survey was posted on the CET Public Television Facebook page with this comment: “We have been in our current location for almost 50 years, and we don’t wish to move. Thanks for your support.”
Do we really want to evict WCET-TV from its neighborhood?
John Kiesewetter’s reporting is independent. Cincinnati Public Radio only edits his articles for style and grammar. His opinions are his own and do not reflect those of Cincinnati Public Radio.
