The Grandview Yard first phase, with an estimated price tag of $40 million, was presented to Grandview Heights' planning commission. Dispatch story, a post on CU with renderings of the buildings. This part of the development will include a 126-room Hyatt hotel, an Urban Active Fitness Center, a Jason’s Deli, a three-story office building, and a two story parking garage.

When they still have no major retail signed and are starting construction in the “hope that it will generate more interest”, I fail to see how this is sign that the full plans for the G.Y. have any more chance of coming to fruition. Without a recovery in the economy there is no reason to think any additional construction will be on the way.

At least one school board member is thinking about the future that the planned 475 (number from the second round of projections by NRI) residential units might bring. From the Tri-V story:

While Grassbaugh said agreement advancements continue,  one board member was unsatisfied with residential plans for the Yard. Board member Gary Heydinger expressed his concerns that not placing limits on residential units for the evolving project could place undue strain on the district.
"I think now's the time to put some limits on it," Heydinger said. Large numbers of family-sized units could bring a large number of students to the district, and large numbers of smaller units could bring negative votes to future school levies, Heydinger said.

If the Yard is built with the full number of residential units set in the plans, Grandview schools might be hit with a flood of new students. The anticipated tax revenue would be eaten if a new school had to be built for a large additional number of kids.

(Later) This story in the TWG has an unusual quote by school super O'Reilly. When asked about a cap on the residential units in G.Y., he said:

"If we (put in) a cap, than the 11 percent is gone and other pieces are gone," O'Reilly said. The way I look at it is to get a cap we would be giving away a lot of money for something that more than likely won't happen," he said. "We will be giving up a lot of money on the small chance that a lot of kids will be added."

More on this later with an email from O'Reilly.