Vice President Joe Biden highlights importance of stimulus with American Can Factory rehab project

The American Can Factory sits along the Interstate 75 corridor and is quite prominent along the landscape as it towers over its surrounding environs and has been completely gutted in preparation for an envisioned rehabilitation project.

The $22 million project would inject 96 new apartments and 30,000 square feet of commercial space into the eclectic Northside neighborhood.  The rehabilitation would also rid the neighborhood of a vacant building that has for some time been seen with promise for being much more.

The project has been on the board for four years now and has been a victim of the struggling economy.  So far the developers of the project, Bloomfield, Schon & Partners, have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of loans and grants from the city and state alike, and millions more from various tax credits.

The developers and city have been hopeful that federal stimulus dollars to the tune of $1.6 million could be used to help jump start the project and the estimated 200 to 300 construction jobs and 35 to 45 permanent jobs that would come with the project.

Vice President Joe Biden came to Cincinnati and spoke outside of the American Can Factory in Northside to highlight the importance of the stimulus and how it can positively impact projects such as this.

Vice President Biden spoke to the crowd of several hundred about the over $4 billion the tri-state region and Ohio are projected to receive, and emphasized that time and patience is needed to see the economic impacts.

The $1.6 million infusion for the American Can Factory project will help get things moving as it was reported in May that a tentative commitment from a lender had been reached pending the approval of the stimulus loan.

In addition to the hundreds of new residents the project has been rumored about potentially having the interest of famous Cincinnati chef Jean-Robert de Cavel who now is the Chef In Residence at the Midwest Culinary Institute just up the hill from Northside.

With this announcement city leaders and project developers are hopeful that the project can start immediately with construction starting before the end of the summer of this year.

Writer: Randy Simes
Photography by Amber Kersley & Jake Mecklenborg