Downtown investors giving Main Street a second look

Main Street is just two short blocks away from Downtown's main artery - Vine Street, and just one block away from the renaissance taking place in the Backstage Entertainment District along Walnut Street.  As a result the street boasting a comfortable building stock and some of Downtown's longest tenured businesses, is seeing new investment once again.

"When things weren't going well downtown, bad things would spread like a cancer," said Downtown Cincinnati Inc. President David Ginsburg.  "But now that things are going well the opposite is happening with the success around Fountain Square and the Backstage District."

Two of the newest businesses are Bouchard's on Main which is expanding from their popular Findlay Market location, and Lunch on Main which offers comfortable lunch offerings to the growing number of Downtown office workers.

Although not on Main Street, the Backstage District creep can be felt along 6th Street as Mr. Sushi opened this past week, and Passage Lounge continues to make progress on its location at the corner of 6th and Main that will feature downtown Cincinnati's first rooftop bar.

"It's not just how many new places are opening up on Main Street, but how well they seem to compliment the existing businesses there," said Ginsburg who also noted that the initial response to Bouchard's and Lunch on Main has been very impressive.

Main Street has more than just proximity to Fountain Square and the Backstage District going for it - it also sits right on the proposed Cincinnati Streetcar route as it heads north towards historic Over-the-Rhine and the uptown neighborhoods.  Main Street also boasts a unique collection of historic buildings and businesses that have escaped the capitalistic will of high rise developers.

Ginsburg continued, "you certainly have some wonderful buildings and businesses over on Main Street, and more economic development means more residents, more jobs, more investment and a more active Downtown."

Writer: Randy A. Simes
Photography by David De Bol
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