Urban Sites grows, provides more rental options in Over-the-Rhine

With a new bevy of buildings under its control, Urban Sites hopes to bring more activity to Walnut Street in Over-the-Rhine.

Last week the company's property count grew by ten percent when it took over management of about 40 units in 11 properties owned by OTR Holdings, a subsidiary of 3CDC.

Twelve of the units are vacant, and will hit the rental market in the coming weeks after Urban Sites brings them up to speed, rental property manager Kris Sommer said. The properties include four retail spaces, 35 residential rentals and two parking lots. The vacant residential units will begin at $400 per month.

Sommer said filling the rentals, which are mostly located near the corner of 14th and Walnut, will bring more activity to a part of OTR that has attracted new life a bit more slowly than its neighboring streets, Vine and Main.

"There's not a whole lot that's very visible on the street here on Walnut," He said. "I think it's going to be nice when all these places are full, so we can have more population down here." Sommer is based in Urban Sites offices on Walnut Street.

OTR Holdings recently purchased the buildings from Middle Earth Properties, who had bought them several years ago with the intention of developing them into condominiums. They became apartments instead. Sommer said the properties occupy a more affordable level of the rental market than most of the recent remodels on nearby Vine Street.

"They are nice but not fancy-nice, like some of the ones you see on Vine Street," he said.

Sommer and his crew are currently working to make sure the properties are secure and mechanically sound. He said the demand for rental housing continues to grow in Over -the-Rhine, and Urban Sites is interested in meeting that demand. When the real estate market crashed a few years ago, Urban Sites shifted its focus from development to property management. Since then it has doubled in size to have about 340 units under its control.

"We changed our whole business a couple of years ago, away from developing into managing," Sommer said. "We've had people basically knocking on our door saying, 'I've got a building' or 'I've got a couple of buildings, can you help me by taking over the management.' That's where our growth has come in the down period."

Writer: Henry Sweets
Photography by Scott Beseler.