Navigating the complexities of a big urban project? New York’s HR&A can help.

Architect, April 2011

In the 1990s, Cincinnati was vexed by a common urban problem: what to do about its downtown core. Fountain Square, the symbolic heart of the city since the 1870s, had lost its luster as a civic space. It was unwelcoming, with a confusing plan and visual barriers that deterred potential visitors. It was underprogrammed. The fountain itself was cast in shadow half the year.

City leaders knew that Cincinnati deserved better, and that, as the headquarters of several Fortune 500 companies, the community possessed the resources for its own improvement. But how to harness disparate private funds for a common civic goal was not clear. So the city turned to HR&A Advisors, a New York–based real estate and economic-development consulting firm.

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