Northside : Development News

Spring Grove Village, which is Northside’s next-door neighbor, has much more to offer than just a place to live. Spring Grove prides itself in being a green and sustainable community, where residents are invested in what’s going on around them.
 
“There are lots of young couples who live in Spring Grove Village who go to farmers' markets,” says Sam Gordon, owner of Bee Haven Honey. “They’re aware of what they can do in their own environment to help the greater environment.”
 
Spring Grove is home to several organic gardens, including Wooden Shoe Organic Garden and Keystone Flora, which focuses on local and organic plant sales. There are also several well-known greenhouses in the area, especially along Grey Road behind Spring Grove Cemetery, including A.J. Rahn.
 
Residents have planted two community gardens in the neighborhood; and many of Spring Grove’s residents, including Bee Haven Honey, sell their goods at Findlay Market.
 
Bee Haven Honey is green and sustainable, which means that they don’t use chemicals in their hives, Gordon says.
 
Gordon says she likes to be a resource for others who are interested in beekeeping, but she isn’t the only sustainable resource in Spring Grove. Evergreen Holistic Learning Center in Winton Ridge offers green and sustainable programming, and Homeadow Song Farm, an educational center, teaches kids about nature and art.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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You may have tried tongue tacos from Taco Azul, one of Cincinnati’s food trucks. And in a few weeks, its owners, Gary and Tracy Sims, will be opening Barrio Tequileria at the corner of Hamilton and Spring Grove Avenue in Northside.
 
The Sims chose Northside because it reminds Gary of urban Los Angeles. He's a Cincinnati native, but lived in L.A. for 20 years before moving back to his hometown. He says he’s always wanted to open a bar, and he thinks he's found the perfect space with a great patio.
 
Barrio will serve authentic Mexican food that has its roots in the barrios of L.A. and the streets of Mexico. The restaurant’s menu will be different from the food truck, says Gary, but they will be serving the tacos that many Cincinnatians have come to love—specifically the tongue, carne asada, chicken, veggie and chorizo tacos.
 
The menu will also feature Baja style beer battered fish tacos, seviche, al pastor on rotisserie, queso fundido cheese dip with chorizo and guacamole. There will also be rotating specials that reflect foods from the different regions of Mexico like moles and enchiladas.
 
But the main draw of Barrio is its drinks, which will be made with handmade fusion tequilas, says Gary. One of the key elements to the restaurant’s drink menu is the Sangrita: tomato juice served with a shot of tequila—it’s a spin on the traditional Bloody Mary.
 
And of course, there will be margaritas. Handmade, not blended, and made with fresh juices. A cucumber margarita is in the works, as well as a jalapeno or habanero one for those that like their drinks a bit spicier.
 
“We want to help make Northside a destination spot in Cincinnati like the Vine Street corridor is downtown,” says Gary. “In the next few months, a bourbon bar will be joining us on the corner, and we want to help revitalize the area.”
 
Barrio Tequileria is slated to open in the beginning of April. The restaurant will host its patio grand opening on May 4 and 5 for Cinco de Mayo.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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You might have noticed Picnic and Pantry’s storefront is currently not open for regular business. No need to fret, though, as it is closed only to allow the addition of a dining area and deli case to support its expanding menu.

The micro grocery store still offers catering and deli foods, which are available at Melt next door.  

Picnic and Pantry will be installing a deli case in order to expand their meat and cheese selection, and it's adding about seven seats for diners to eat inside of the store.

While no official date has been set for resuming business-as-usual, Picnic and Pantry is expected to open its doors to diners and shoppers in the next two weeks.

Another Northside business that's making some changes is The Listing Loon. Considered the neighborhood’s solution for an insane variety of quality craft beer, the Loon has obtained its serving license for wine and beer.

Due to limited refrigeration, this doesn't mean every single beer in the Loon's inventory will be chilled for serving. Instead, the Loon will be offering a featured beer and wine list every week.

With five to seven beers and eight wines highlighted each week, thirsty patrons will be able to sample the finest brews and vintages the store offers. With a seating capacity of 37, there should be plenty of room to bring a friend or three as you sip your way toward a greater understanding of what makes the Listing Loon one of the premiere beer retailers in the city.

By Sean Peters

Although there won’t be a West Sixth Brewing taproom or beer garden in the Cincinnati area, beer lovers will still be able to buy the new brewery’s beer around town.
 
West Sixth opened in Lexington on April 1, and founders Ben Self, Brady Barlow, Joe Kuosman and Robin Sither have already seen the demand for their beer go through the roof. “We’ve had people drive down from the Cincinnati area just to buy our beer,” Self says.
 
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area was the last part of Kentucky that West Sixth added to its distribution network—the taproom and beer garden are in Lexington, and West Sixth’s beer is available in Louisville, too.
 
The quartet has heard from lots of retailers, bars and restaurants that they’re excited to be getting West Sixth’s brews, Self says. West Sixth beer became available locally about two weeks ago. The brewery kicked off its expansion at Cincy Winter Beerfest, which featured the West Sixth IPA and Deliberation Amber.
 
West Sixth does things a bit differently than other breweries, Self says. It’s the only brewery in Kentucky to can its beers; and Self and his co-founders are not only committed to brewing great beer, but to giving back to the community. They give six percent of the brewery’s monthly profits to local charities and nonprofits to support environmental packaging efforts and rehabilitation projects in Lexington.
 
You can order West Sixth’s beer at Gordo’s Pub in Norwood and Bakersfield in Over-the-Rhine. You can also purchase it at:

• Party Source
• Liquor City
• Party Town
• DEPs
• I-75 Liquors
• Valley Wine and Spirits
• United Liquor
• Hyde Park Wine and Spirits
• Root Cellar
• Listing Loon
• Gramer’s Meat and Produce
• Country Fresh Farm Market
• One Stop Liquors
• Luckie’s Pony Keg
• Antone’s Wine and Spirits
• Bluegrass Carryout
• Churchill Market
• City Beverage

By Caitlin Koenig
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The City of Cincinnati has taken out the back-and-forth that can occur when residents try to reach them to report issues in their neighborhoods. At the Neighborhood Summit on Feb. 16, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls announced that the Cincinnati City Hall mobile app is available to the public.
 
With the app, residents can look up trash, recycling and street sweeping days, and set reminders; locate and report problems by address; bookmark locations for quick reporting; and track the status of reports. City Hall mobile also has GPS, so users can report issues, even without an address. There’s even a searchable map with property owner information, which enables residents to see if a property is occupied or vacant.
 
A few years ago, residents had to use the Yellow Pages to look up the number for city departments to file complaints, says Kevin Wright, executive director of Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation. The city then implemented a hotline for all complaints, but residents never knew the status of their reports.
 
“It’s amazing how comprehensive the app is,” Wright says. “If you see a broken window, pothole, graffiti, hanging gutter or anything else that is physically wrong with your neighborhood, street or community, you can report it in an instant. It’s a great tool for neighborhood redevelopment.”
 
The app can also be used as a community-organizing tool, Wright says. For example, if there is a property owner who historically hasn’t taken care of his or her property, social media can help organize a community and target the property to enforce codes until the property is fixed, which is what neighborhood councils and organizations like WHRF do.
 
“We’re really putting power in the hands of the citizens of the neighborhoods,” he says.
 
As with most tech programs, the app has room to grow, too. In the future, it could be linked with Facebook or Twitter, so your friends and followers will know who reported problems and where they are.
 
Cincinnati residents can download the app in the Apple App Store or download it through Google Play.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Northside is known for its eclectic mix of restaurants and shops, but new projects focus on on adding to the population as well.
 
“New developments are critical for the health of the city so that there is a stable population that supports small businesses,” says Cincinnati Northside Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation’s Executive Director Stefanie Sunderland. “There’s also a potential to increase business investment and generate increased tax revenue.”
 
Two houses in the neighborhood will soon receive national attention on the HGTV program “You Live in What?” The program focuses on people who live in buildings that were originally built for other purposes, then converted to single-family homes, Sunderland says.
 
One of the houses, located at 1760 Hanfield, was built in the late 1800s, and records indicate that the first business to occupy the building was a tinner. The redevelopment of the Hanfield property was done by CNCURC. The other house at 1615 Springlawn Avenue used to be Hogan’s Meat Market and was recently converted to a single-family home with a three-car garage. (There’s another house in Cincinnati on McMillan that will be featured on the program as well.)
 
The biggest future project in Northside is a three part development that includes the Myron G. Johnson & Son Lumber Company site and the old Mergards Bowling Alley at Hamilton Avenue and Blue Rock Street, American Can Lofts at Blue Rock and Fergus, and a tract of land north of the lofts at the corner of Fergus and Knowlton.

The Johnson building has been vacant since 2005, and the City recently awarded an RFP to Indianapolis' Milhaus Development for the project. Plans include a mixed-use development of several three- to four-story buildings on Hamilton that will provide retail or commercial space on the first floor with apartments above, several apartment buildings, possible town houses, and the redevelopment and repurposing of the historic railroad building in the area. In all, the project will yield up to 140 rental units.

The American Can Lofts project was the conversion and development of a large, historic manufacture building by Bloomfield/Schon + Partners, which includes up to 110 apartments, with a long waiting list. There's also three large retail or commercial bays on the first floor of the building. The third piece of the project, which is owned by Bloomfiled/Schon, will provide 54 senior housing units and amenities, and is designed by the Model Group.
 
CNCUR is also working on converting four rental properties on Witler into single-family homes. One of the houses is finished, and the other three are close to completion.
 
“Our goal is to reduce blight through the redevelopment of vacant houses,” says Sunderland. “We’re working in areas that are seriously depressed, and have been impacted by foreclosures and abandonment.”
 
With the near-completion of the infrastructure and road improvements along Colerain Avenue, the Virginia Place development will start to fill up, says Sunderland. The project includes 40 single-family suburban and neo-traditional houses that are being completed by a handful of builders.
 
Groundwork Cincinnati was recently awarded grant money to work on the West Fork flood plain on the western side of the neighborhood. Before the grant, FEMA money was used to purchase and demolish the buildings located in the flood plain, pay for the relocation of homeowners, and naturalize the creek.
 
“I think it’s important to repurpose what you already have instead of destroying green spaces,” says Sunderland. “It makes sense to recycle existing communities, rather than affect the environment and build new ones.”
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The Original Makers Club is a fairly new startup from Louisville—it was founded in 2011 by photographer Josh Merideth— but it already has branches in Lexington, Cincinnati and Brooklyn. OMC is an aesthetically minded brand and publication that curates, highlights and looks to elevate the culture, society and local business scenes of cities.
 
“A few years ago, Louisville was going through a similar revitalization to Cincinnati’s current one, which makes it a prime time to celebrate local culture,” says Mike Brady, managing partner and events director of OMC.
 
Comprised of design-conscious, forward-thinking local businesses, Cincinnati’s branch of OMC has about 60 members, including A Tavola, Ensemble Theatre, Sloan Boutique, 21c Museum Hotel, 3CDC, Smart Fish Studio, 5 Dot Design, Bakersfield OTR, Paolo Modern Jewelers, Japps, 4EG, MiCa, Taste of Belgium, DIGS and Jaguar Land Rover.
 
“We are less about adding anything than we are about showcasing the culture and talent that exists here,” Brady says. “We want to insure that those visiting the city get a real taste of her. We also wish that those currently living in Cincinnati are experiencing it to the fullest.”
 
On Feb. 8, OMC is hosting its launch event for the Cincinnati branch. Members of OMC will be providing appetizers, drinks, music and neat things to look at—including A Tavola, 5 Dot Design, Marti’s Floral Designs, Parlour, Christian Moerlein, Matthew Metzger and Jaguar Land Rover.
 
Besides the launch event, OMC is working on creating a mural with help from Artworks and hopes to co-host larger events like a Dinner Series, which would showcase member chefs and entertain a group of people in an exotic location in or near the city, Brady says.
 
There are only a handful of tickets available for the launch event for non-OMC members, so get them while you can.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Need a funny card to send to the special someone in your life? Look no further than Colette Paperie, a new-to-Cincinnati online stationery business.
 
Keli Catalano, 30, started Colette Paperie back in 2008 when she was a designer at Target in Minnesota. At the time, stationery was something she liked to do on the side, but when Catalano moved back to Cincinnati in 2010, she decided to make it her full-time job.
 
“I’ve always loved paper,” says Catalano. “Even though I don’t have a need for them, I still buy cards.”
 
Catalano designs and illustrates the cards herself. She usually draws the designs by hand and then touches them up on the computer.
 
The majority of Catalano’s business is through online sales, but she does visit craft shows and sells her products wholesale to boutiques across the country. They’re available on Colette Paperie’s website, or at Boutique 280 in Madeira and Wholly Craft in Columbus.
 
Colette Paperie offers cards for all occasions, plus journals, calendars, stationery sets, pencils and magnets. The products' messages say exactly what you want to say, but in unique ways.
 
The baby cards are some of Catalano’s craziest designs, and they tend to be the most popular among buyers. “Some of them are ridiculous, but they’re funny,” she says.
 
Catalano does take custom orders for wedding stationery, but she hasn’t concentrated on that side of her business yet. She also customizes messages on the insides of the cards for customers.  
 
Catalano’s goal is to create a new reason to send paper mail instead of email. “I love seeing people send cards for no particular reason,” she says.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Some of the city's biggest bike-related projects in the works for 2013 are still in the planning stages, but a few will continue and build on the momentum from last year. 

This year, the city's Bicycle Transportation Program includes plans to finish more than two miles of bike lanes along Riverside Drive, a project that was started in 2009. Plans are also in the works to extend the Spring Grove bike lanes from Hopple to Bank Street downtown; proposals have been drafted for rehabilitation projects along Dalton Street, Bank, Western Avenue and Langdon Farm Road. 

The City also hopes to continue its design work on the Ohio River Trail, extending bike-friendly paths from Salem Street to Sutton Road and Collins Avenue to Corbin Street.
 
The City is also in the early stages of looking to put Ohio’s first cycle track on Central Parkway between Ludlow Avenue and Liberty Street. “Cycle tracks aren’t mainstream yet, but New York City and Washington, D.C., have quite a few,” says Melissa McVay, senior city planner in the Division of Transportation & Engineering. “They’re the most family-friendly bike facility you can build.”
 
A cycle track is like a bike trail or shared path, but it’s in the street, for bikes only and separated from cars by a physical barrier, such as planters, trees or a curb. Cycle tracks are meant to keep cars from veering into bicyclists’ paths.
 
“A typical bike lane is usually enough to encourage cyclists to try them, but sometimes, they don’t make everyone feel comfortable,” says McVay. “The physical barrier of a cycle track is meant to make cyclists feel safe.” 

One of the most exciting developments for bicyclists last year was the addition of a green bike lane on Ludlow last year. “It started the conversation among people who don’t ride bikes, and they’re beginning to see the infrastructure,” McVay says. “I feel like the bike community has grown, and there is now a growing city-wide awareness.”

Approved by the City in 2009 and put into action in 2010, the Bike Plan outlines bicycle-related projects over the next 15 years. In all, the plan recommends 445 miles of on-street and off-street bike facilities, such as bike lanes, bike racks and multi-use trails.
 
In 2009, there were about seven miles of bike lanes and sharrows in Cincinnati, says McVay. In 2010, 2.3 miles were added; in 2011, 4.5 miles; in 2012, five more miles were added, for a total of 19 miles.
 
Since 1993, many bike-friendly projects have been implemented, including striping 12 miles of bike lanes, creating 21 miles of shared-use paths and trails and installing six miles of sharrows, or shared lane markings, throughout the city.
 
The bulk of the Bicycle Transportation Program's focus is on developing on-street and off-street bike facilities as outlined in the Bike Plan, but it also organizes bike-related events, proposing policy and zoning changes, and working on advocacy projects with Queen City Bike and Mobo Bicycle Co-op.
 
The public played a huge part in developing the Bike Plan by utilizing online tools to show the City where bike facilities were needed.
 
Even though there has been an outpouring of public support for bike facilities, there are still issues when it comes to removing parking. The City proposed a project along Spring Grove Avenue this past summer that would consolidate on-street parking to one side of the street, but businesses liked having parking available on both sides of the street.
 
“The project will be successful if the community comes together and rallies around the project, and the trade-off of on-street parking for a bike lane will ultimately benefit both business owners and bicyclists,” McVay says.

The City wants to hear from you! Take the survery and grade Cincinnati on different bike-friendly aspects around town.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The idea for Happy Chicks Bakery began in Jessica Bechtel’s kitchen. She and Jana Douglass, 31, have been friends and colleagues for about 10 years, and over those years, they’ve made many batches of cookies together. Since they love to bake and are both vegans, the pair figured they could make it into a business.
 
Douglass and Bechtel started Happy Chicks, a vegan bakery, in April of last year. Happy Chicks doesn’t have a storefront, but they sell their products wholesale to Park+Vine and the Family Enrichment Center in Northside. In the summer, Happy Chicks has a booth at the Northside and Madeira farmers markets. Bechtel and Douglass also do custom orders and cater special events.
 
“Our goal is to have a storefront in the next few years,” says Bechtel, 33. “We’re trying to do the business without taking out loans. When the time comes, we’ll probably look for a space downtown.” 

Happy Chicks is also in the process of looking for other wholesale opportunities to help expand their business.
 
Happy Chicks makes cakes, cupcakes, cookies, macaroons, pies, scones, muffins, a vegan croissant, breakfast roll and coffee cake; the breakfast items are popular at both Park+Vine and the Family Enrichment Center, Bechtel says.
 
The black raspberry chocolate chip cookie is a top-seller, as are the tiramisu and caramel chocolate stout cakes. They also offer seasonal-flavored treats, such as the Snowball, which is a coconut cupcake topped with coconut frosting and filled with a cranberry sauce.
 
All of the bakery’s goodies are dairy and egg-free, and most of the recipes are also soy-free. Many can be made gluten and nut-free, too.
 
Need to satisfy your sweet tooth before Valentine’s Day? Visit Happy Chicks at Sweet Victory, a wedding dessert tasting and cake-decorating contest, Feb. 6 at Cooper Creek Event Center. Or get tickets to Cupcakes & Cocktails, a ladies-only event that benefits the Eve Center, Feb. 8.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Yoga is usually accompanied by soothing background music, but at OMYA Studio in Northside, that background music is an important aspect of every class.
 
Co-owners Hollie Nesbitt and Mark Messerly both have musical backgrounds. Nesbitt is a former music teacher, and Messerly is a music teacher at the Cincinnati Gifted Academy and plays in several bands, including Wussy and Messerly and Ewing.
 
About four years ago, Nesbitt started Little Yoga Sunshine, a yoga program for children. She has taught yoga to Girl Scout troops and church groups; she also used to teach yoga to students at Cincinnati Public School’s after-school program. Over the years, Nesbitt has taught yoga at Wyoming Youth Services, The Women’s Connection, Lighthouse Youth Services, the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati, United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Museum Center.
 
OMYA, which stands for Outreach, Music, Yoga and Arts, offers yoga classes for children, adults, families and those with special needs. “Yoga gets the body moving and helps with concentration and calming down,” says Nesbitt.
 
Yoga can teach children with autism the skill of stopping with the four “Bs” (brakes, brain, body, breath). It can also help non-ambulatory people with muscle tone and physicality, and those with Down syndrome with strengthening their joints and muscles.

“We offer lots of kid, family and special needs classes, which is something that many yoga studios don’t have,” says Nesbitt.
 
Messerly doesn’t teach yoga classes, but he’s planning to offer several music classes at OMYA. In the future, he plans to offer an early childhood music class for children with autism and ADHD. He also wants to start a guitar club for beginning and intermediate guitar players and a songwriting class for older children and adults. He’s also in the process of developing a six-week course for kids with autism, a program that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
 
“It’s always struck me that kids love music, but adults say they can’t carry a tune,” Messerly says. “I want to give music back to people. Not everyone will be a musician, but they should have music in their lives.”
 
Not only will Messerly teach a few music classes at OMYA, but he has incorporated yoga breathing and movements into the music classes that he teaches at Cincinnati Gifted.
 
OMYA also has a working relationship with WordPlay, which is housed in the same building as the studio. “We want to do some cross-curriculum work with WordPlay, where kids will write poems or song lyrics and then I’ll teach them how to add music,” Messerly says.
 
OMYA is right across the street from Yoga-Ah, the yoga studio where Nesbitt learned to teach yoga. She says they do lots of cross-promoting for the studio. “While your child is taking a class at OMYA, you can take one for adults across the street.”
 
Currently, OMYA offers one or two classes per day, with no classes held on Tuesday. Nesbitt is one of two yoga teachers, and Robyn Holleran, a professional belly dancer, teaches belly dancing classes for girls ages 12 and up; April Eight also teaches Songs of Peace classes. Classes are $10 for adults, $8 for kids and $15 for families.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Future Life Now, a learning center focused on both mental and physical growth, recently relocated to the old Charles Miller funeral home in Northside.

The move was originally postponed because of accessibility issues, says Cynthia Allen, co-director of Future Life Now.

Allen, who moved to Cincinnati about 25 years ago, operates the business with her husband, Larry R. Wells.

Currently, Future Life Now has practitioners in a wide range of services, including acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, Ayurveda, dance, neuro-linguistic programming, the Feldenkrais Method, T’ai Chi and Qigong. Smith plans to offer Pilates in the future.

“We decided that it’s really time to a little more collaboration with other disciplines,” Allen says. “Collaboration is an extremely important part of being able to bring forward better results for people.”

The company recently held its first NLP certification program for bringing practitioners to the area. “It’s the first [NLP] certification program ever held in Cincinnati, by anybody,” Allen says.  

Its next certification program is forming in February, and will be offered by Larry R. Wells.

“It’s a very unique approach that allows people to work with their belief systems, their internal dialogue,” Allen says. “It’s very different from traditional therapy or even from traditional coaching.”

Future Life Now is now located at 4138 Hamilton Ave., Suite B, in Northside.

By Kyle Stone

NVISION, an independent retail shop in Northside, recently expanded to make room for its ever-growing inventory.
 
NVISION specializes in vintage, secondhand and handmade goods, including clothing and fashion accessories, original art, vintage décor, collectibles and furniture from the ‘50s to the present. Some of the clothing, jewelry, purses, greeting cards, ceramics and glassware sold at NVISION are handcrafted, redesigned or repurposed by local artists and designers. The shop also offers clothing alterations and repair services, and each piece of clothing comes with a custom fitting, if needed.
 
There’s also has an online store on NVISION’s website that has made merchandise available to customers all over the world. “I’ve sold merchandise from my shop to Sweden, Japan, Canada, Qatar, Turkey and plenty of cities in the United States,” says NVISION’s owner and sole employee Emily Buddendeck.
 
Buddendeck opened NVISION on Leap Day in 2008, but she saw that the store was outgrowing its original space. The tenant next door moved out at the end of November, and a week and many coats of paint later, NVISION unveiled its new space to the public at Northside Second Saturdays.
 
Buddendeck didn’t consider relocating because NVISION’s location, on Hamilton Avenue next to The Comet bar and Thunder-Sky Inc., gallery, allow the three businesses compliment each other, she says. Plus, she enjoys serving her Northside neighbors.
 
The original side of the store is now primarily dedicated to clothing and fashion accessories. The new space houses furniture and housewares, plus NVISION’s rotating art gallery with pieces by local and regional artists; the two spaces are connected by a door.
 
The expansion also allowed Buddendeck to expand NVISION’s menswear and children’s sections. Shoppers can now browse the store more easily and not bump into furniture.
 
“In the next few months, I’ll be fine-tuning the use of the new space as it relates to the whole store, and the ‘grand re-opening’ will be held Feb. 28-March 1 during our fifth anniversary sale,” says Buddendeck.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The City of Cincinnati Economic Development Division and Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United (CNBDU) recently allocated $1.65 million to 13 projects for the 2013 Neighborhood Business District Improvement Program.
 
John Price, then-president of the Clifton Business Association, started CNBDU in 1992. He gathered all of the business association presidents in Cincinnati because he wanted to figure out a way to get funding for those neighborhoods that weren’t downtown, says Mike Wagner, president of CNBDU.
 
Over the years, CNBDU has appropriated about $33 million between federal and city money, and leveraged more $350 million in private money, to support non-downtown neighborhood projects.
 
CNBDU awards money annually to Cincinnati neighborhoods through the NBDIP, which receives federal money from the City’s Community Development Block Grant and city capital funds. Neighborhoods can use the money for a variety of capital improvements and other uses to promote economic development in their business districts.
 
Each neighborhood is allowed to apply for one major and one minor ask, says Bill Fischer, division manager of economic development for the City. The maximum amount for a minor ask is $30,000; there isn’t a maximum amount for a major ask. There are generally more minor-ask projects accepted because more projects can get done.
 
This year's process began in June when 29 neighborhoods submitted their initial proposals, which totaled $3.1 million in requests. A 28-member peer advisory group of community members who had submitted proposals and representatives from neighborhood business districts reviewed the proposals. In September, the reviewers took a bus tour of the project sites.
 
“There wasn’t much to look at when we first started CNBDU,” says Wagner. “But now we can see what has been accomplished in the past 17 years.”
 
In October, the peer group made recommendations to the City’s Economic Development Division after hearing presentations from the different neighborhoods. Neighborhood groups were notified at the end of November if their proposals would be turned into a project through NBDIP.
 
“Each neighborhood has a different approach to the project proposals,” says Fischer. “Some are looking to maintain what’s already there, whereas others are looking to create new business.”  
 
CNBDU funding is in addition to the Focus 52 program, a combination of bond and casino revenues, which will create a pool of $54 million for neighborhood projects throughout the city.
 
The neighborhood projects that were awarded money through the NBDIP are:

• Walnut Hills: Park-Kemper Streetscape Design, $30,000
• West Price Hill: Covedale Center Marquee/Community Message Board, $79,145
• Roselawn: Business District Feasibility Study, $30,000
• Clifton: Ludlow Avenue Storefront Improvement Program, $77,500
• Westwood: Parking Lot Renovation, $30,000
• Northside: Hoffner St. Garden, $80,000
• Northside: Dhonau Garden, $30,000
• Corryville: Façade Improvement Program (continuation), $236,397
• Bond Hill: Bond Hill Identity Project, $30,000
• East Price Hill: St. Lawrence Corner Public Square, $107,500
• Pleasant Ridge: 6025 Montgomery Acquisition & Redevelopment, $150,000
• Avondale: Reading, Rockdale & Forest Streetscape, $400,000
• Mt. Adams: Streetscape Completion, $375,000

By Caitlin Koenig
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Judi and Dominic LoPresti met in a bike shop. Their first date was a bike ride. They even got married at an international bike show in Las Vegas.

Next year, the Cincinnati natives will fulfill a lifelong dream to open their own bike shop when they welcome customers to Spun Bicycles in Northside, at 4122 Hamilton Avenue in the storefront space of historic Hoffner Lodge. They've leased the storefront space and are already busy planning for the space, which will have a 60-inch TV screen pumping BMX videos and music and a bench constructed out of skateboards.

"Cincinnati hasn't seen anything like this," says Judi LoPresti, who worked as a bicycle messenger in San Francisco and raced for three years before deciding that the traditional riding scene was not for her. "We just want to have a bike shop that's going to be really cool."

With her background in bikes of all sorts and her husband's history as a sponsored BMX rider, the couple spent countless hours volunteering for MoBo, the city's only bicycle co-op. She spent most of her time volunteering with youth programs, including summer initiatives that provided bikes for neighborhood kids.

What she noticed, over and over again, were people who didn't want to work on their own bikes, which MoBo supports, but just wanted their own bikes fixed.

"The neighborhood needs a bike shop," she says.

While it won't be a focal point of Spun, the couple does plan on selling locally crafted skateboards by Fickle Boards. But the shop's main focus will be restoring and repairing bikes, selling bikes and supporting the local biking community.

Judi LoPresti says that he shop's location next to The Listing Loon will make it easy for customers to drop of their bikes for repair, stop next door for beer or wine, then come back to pick up their fixed wheels.

She sees a symbiotic relationship with MoBo and the newly opened Wrong Brothers bike shop in nearby Northside International Airport.

"I'm really excited," says Judi, who currently spends days tending the coffee bar at Sidewinder. "There are ton of people looking forward to it."

The LoPresti's get occupancy next month and hope to have their logo on the windows soon. Inside, though, they have lots of renovation and design work to do. Still, Judi LoPresti hopes to have the doors open by late March 2013. Currently, We Have Become Vikings is designing Spun's logo, which should be unveiled this month, and the shop's website, which will launch next year.

By Elissa Yancey
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