The parking lot between Edwards Road and Michigan Avenue turned into a pond on Friday, July 17, when up to 5 inches of rain hammered Hyde Park in under 30 minutes. That same lot is where PLK Communities plans to dig an underground parking garage as part of its 161-unit Hyde Park Square redevelopment.

Business owners cleaning up flood damage say the project could make a chronic problem worse. The developer says the opposite: a new underground stormwater detention tank will actually slow runoff that currently surges unchecked into city pipes.

'Coming up like a water fountain'

Kristen Folzenlogen has run Poeme, a stationery store on Michigan Avenue, for 25 years. On July 17, roughly 6 inches of standing water rose through cracks in her basement floor.

"It started coming up like a water fountain, through the cracks in the floor," Folzenlogen told WCPO. "I just couldn't believe how fast it was coming in."

Sue Reichert, owner of Monkee's, reported water rushing in from both the front and back of her store. Both owners said flooding hits their shops almost every time there's heavy rain.

Folzenlogen told WCPO on Saturday, July 18, that the flooding problem must be solved before ground is broken. She called on the city, the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council, the business district, and PLK Communities to work together on the water issue.

Around the corner on Edwards Road, Neko Sushi owner Yeon Kim said July 17 marked the fifth time her restaurant has flooded since 2018. Kim said having only two sewage drains near her business is the core problem and that she has contacted city council multiple times without resolution.

Developer responds: detention tank will reduce flooding

PLK Communities Chief Development Officer Nick Lingenfelter responded in a written statement, saying the company owns and operates multiple buildings in the area and was also cleaning up flood damage.

Lingenfelter called the development site "a nearly century-old impervious parking lot" with no underground stormwater detention, a condition he said contributes to flooding now. Because PLK is building new, he said, the project must meet modern stormwater standards. The plan includes an underground detention tank below the parking garage that would hold runoff and release it slowly rather than sending a surge into city pipes all at once.

No independent engineering review of PLK's stormwater claims has been made public. The Hyde Park Neighborhood Council's zoning committee recommended a comprehensive geotechnical report in November 2024, citing the site's low water table. It is unclear whether that report has been completed.

Background: zoning approved, injunction pending

Cincinnati City Council approved the zoning change for the development 7-2 on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Council members Jan Michele Kearney and Scotty Johnson voted no. PLK unveiled a revised plan on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, removing the hotel, reducing building height to 65 feet from the street, and adding 161 residential units and about 21,250 square feet of retail space. COO Megan Lawhon said the redesign cost $500,000.

In June 2025, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker granted an injunction on part of the project over a prescriptive easement at 3436 Edwards Road. PLK said at the time the injunction would not delay progress. The developer has said it hopes to receive project approval by the end of 2026, but no specific vote date has been scheduled.

Cleanup and how to weigh in

The Metropolitan Sewer District received more than 900 sewer backup reports from the July 17 storm. City Manager Sheryl Long announced Monday, July 20, that debris removal would be prioritized in Hyde Park, Oakley, Madisonville, and California. The city deployed roll-off containers, with the first stationed at 4420 Camberwell Road in Hyde Park.

Residents can file MSD sewer backup claims at msdgc.org/sbu or by calling 513-352-4900. Debris and drainage concerns can be reported through 311, 311cincy.org, or the 311 Cincy mobile app.

Whether PLK's detention tank will perform as promised remains an open question. No public timeline exists for an independent stormwater review of the site.