Development News

The European notion of car sharing has found broad appeal around the world because of its environmental and economic sustainability. In December, the City of Cincinnati brought Zipcar to downtown to make commuting easier.

Metro and Zipcar then formed a partnership. It's an ideal selling point because using one or both of the transportation services is environmentally conscious, saves money and gives people the freedom to get up and go. It’s a win-win for Metro and Zipcar.

Zipcar, a business with a mission to create a future where car-sharing members outnumber car owners, offers a self-service alternative to car rental. Intended for the technologically savvy commuter, Zipcar members log in online or through the mobile app, see where vehicles are located, choose one and unlock the car by holding their Zipcard against the windshield. 

Its successful rollout on the University of Cincinnati’s campus last year prompted Larry Falkin, director of the City’s Office of Environmental Quality, to bring the program to Over-the-Rhine and downtown. 

Kim Lahman, Metro’s ridership development manager, says that using both Metro and Zipcars eliminates excuses that not owning a car limits commuters’ ability to travel when and where they need to.

“We thought this was a great opportunity to say, ‘If you ride the Metro downtown and don’t have to worry about parking or the hassle of traffic, and you need a car to use during the day, all you would need to do is take a Zipcar,’” Lahman says. “You would have it out for an hour or a couple of hours, and then take it back to the lot and go back to your office. How convenient would that be?”

Walking from your downtown apartment or office to somewhere close by, like Garfield Place, would be very convenient for many urban dwellers. According to Falkin, 20 percent of Cincinnati households do not own a car, or own less than one car per licensed driver. 

“More and more of us are choosing a sustainable lifestyle, in which we walk or bike first, use transit as the second choice and drive as a last resort,” Falkin explains. “Using Metro and Zipcar, a person can go anywhere, anytime, without being burdened by car ownership.”

“It can also save money,” says Jill Dunne, Metro public affairs manager. “If you’re riding Metro, you’re saving money, versus the gas and the parking expenses you would pay if you had your own car. And then if you’re able to give up that car payment and you pay per trip the fee for a Zipcar, that could really save you a lot.”

The partnership also means that Metro riders get a special incentive to register and become “Zipsters.” Besides already saving money on gas and parking, Metro riders can expect to see interior advertisement cards in February from Zipcar with a discount code redeemable for up to $60 worth of free Zipcar rental.

Zipcars are parked next to blue signs that say “City of Cincinnati Car Share Parking Spots.” 

Current locations are:

• NW corner of 12th and Vine (on the north side of 12th Street)
• Court Street between Walnut and Vine (angled parking spaces)
• NW corner of Garfield and Race (on the north side of Garfield Place)

To join or for more information, visit Zipcar's website. 

By Mildred Fallen

Sarah Dworak and Iwona Przybysz started Babushka Pierogies in July 2012 with a vegan pierogi tasting at Park+Vine. At the same time, they gave a sample of their traditional potato and cheese pierogi to  Findlay Market favorites Bryan and Carolyn Madison, who liked them and agreed to sell them at their store.
 
Both Dworak, who is of Ukrainian, Croatian and Polish descent, and Przybysz, who is from Poland, learned to make pierogies from their babushkas—their grandmothers. Their pierogi recipe is a combination of their family recipes, Dworak says.
 
Currently, Dworak and Przybysz make pierogies in a kitchen in Glendale, then deliver them to Findlay Market and Park+Vine. When the weather permits, Babushka Pierogies also hold pierogi tastings outside of Madison’s at Findlay Market on Saturdays.
 
They only spend two days per week in the kitchen, making about 500 pierogies in that time. Dworak and Przybysz are the only official employees, but Dworak’s boyfriend, Josh Mrvelj, helps out whenever he can. He designed their logo and fries up the pierogies at Findlay Market during tastings.
 
Babushka Pierogies is looking for a storefront near Findlay Market, Dworak says. They also want to expand the number of stores that sell their products.  
 
“The store will allow us to offer more varieties of pierogies, in addition to other Eastern European foods we love, such as borchst; halushki, a cabbage and noodle dish; and stuffed cabbage,” she says.
 
Babushka Pierogies sells a potato, cheese and onion pierogi; a potato and sauerkraut pierogi and a vegan potato, cheese and onion pierogi. The potato and cheese and potato and sauerkraut pierogies are $5 per half dozen, and the vegan pierogies are $5.75 per half dozen.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The former home of the Hamilton-Journal News will soon become Butler Tech’s School of the Arts, Hamilton City School’s Adult Basic and Literacy Education program and the Miami Valley Ballet Theatre.
 
The building, located at 228 Court Street in Hamilton’s downtown, was built in 1886; additions were added in 1914, 1956 and 1959. The Journal-News vacated the building in 2011, and Akron Legacy Real Estate Development LLC, a group of five Ohio developers that work together on different projects, including historic restoration projects, purchased it.
 
Akron Legacy also did a $10 million restoration of the historic Hamilton Mercantile Lofts. The project included 29 market-rate residential units and three spaces of street-level retail.
 
“We want to see Hamilton’s older, beautiful buildings repurposed into mixed-use buildings, rather than sitting dark,” says Joshua Smith, Hamilton’s city manager.
 
The Journal-News restoration project received $804,122 in Ohio Preservation Historic Tax Credits. The money from the tax credits will support phases two and three of the project, which will be completed in mid-February. Initial construction on the project began in the late summer of 2012.
 
All three arts programs were in need of new spaces. Butler Tech’s School of the Arts is temporarily housed in downtown Hamilton at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts. High demand for Butler Tech’s program led to its need for a new home, says Smith. The move will allow the program to double or triple in size.
 
“It’s refreshing to see young, creative folks walking around downtown, and adding to the vibrancy of the town,” says Brandon Saurber, assistant to the city manager.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The branding firm Rocket Science now occupies a third-floor space in downtown Cincinnati’s Eighth Street Design District. The branding and design firm relocated from Mason at the beginning of December to be closer to major companies like P&G, Kroger and Macy’s, as well as other design firms.
 
“We really felt that being in the suburbs precluded us from being part of the local advertising and branding community,” says Chuck Tabri, director of business development and client strategy for Rocket Science, and one of the company’s three partners.
 
Greg Fehrenbach and Joel Warneke founded Rocket Science in 1999 under a different name. The company merged with one in Dayton, then de-merged, and in 2005, became Rocket Science in its current form. At the time of the merge, the firm was based in Mason; it then moved to a space in Deerfield Towne Center.
 
Rocket Science employs about 15 people, and it recently added in-house digital capabilities to its traditional print offerings to assist its clients' shift from print to digital. It made more sense for the company to develop its own digital branch rather than farm it out to another company, Tabri says.
 
Rocket Science had begun to outgrow its space in Mason, and after talks with 3CDC in the fall, the right space opened up. 

And from a talent standpoint, moving downtown gives Rocket Science greater access to young, fresh designers.
 
“Young designers want to be in a more urban environment,” says Tabri. “They get more inspiration from the creativity in a downtown environment than from a strip center in the suburbs.”
 
Because of Rocket Science's size, it can offer new thinking and capabilities that larger firms might not have, says Tabri. He adds that the move will help Rocket Science expand its consumer, business-to-business and healthcare verticals.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Three apartment complexes in Over-the-Rhine recently received tax credit money through the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit program. Losantiville Apartments, Pendleton Apartments and Abington Flats will soon yield 104 apartments and more than 12,000 square feet of retail space.
 
Two buildings located at 521-523 E. 12^th Street are to be rehabbed as part of the larger Losantiville Apartments project. According to the Ohio Development Services Agency, the affordable housing project will include rehabilitating 14 buildings in four different neighborhoods in Cincinnati. The property on 12^th Street will yield six residential units, and received $203,362 in tax credits.
 
Pendleton Apartments at 1108-1218 Broadway Street and 404-414 E. 12^th Street received $2.6 million in tax credits for redevelopment. Eighty residential units and more than 12,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space will come out of the rehab project. Pendleton Apartments spans 17 historic buildings in the OTR National Register Historic District. The redevelopment is meant to serve working professionals who are employed at the new Horseshoe Casino downtown.
 
Located one block south of Findlay Market, Abington Flats was built in 1910 as a mixed-use residential and commercial space. After redevelopment, Abington Flats will continue to provide 18 rental apartments above first-level commercial space.
 
The projects in OTR received more than $3.3 million in tax credits. The three apartment buildings will add to the rejuvenation of OTR and bring in hundreds of new residents.
 
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

Out with the old, in with the old, at least in the historic neighborhood of Walnut Hills, where historic preservation and community development got a major boost along with some harsh reality checks.

Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation and The Model Group were awarded $1.8 million to renovate three historic buildings in Walnut Hills. When completed, the buildings will house 30 market-rate apartments and 7,000 square feet of street-level retail space. The award is part of about $9 million in tax credits from the Ohio Development Services Agency through Ohio’s historic preservation program to seven Cincinnati-area development projects.
 
“We’re not 100 percent sure who will occupy the storefronts, but we’ll make sure the businesses will serve the existing and changing population of Walnut Hills,” says Kevin Wright, executive director of WHRF.
 
The project has been in the works for about four years—the City acquired the buildings through a partnership with the community; the buildings were acquired and stabilized using City funding and tax increment financing dollars. Stabilization of the walls and roof of one of the buildings could begin as early as next week.
 
“We see this as a huge step forward for the neighborhood,” says Wright. “Adding market-rate apartments and retail space will help move Walnut Hills forward and catalyze development.” Not only is the project the first large market-rate development on Peeble's Corner in decades, but it also expands development momentum farther west, toward the intersection of McMillan and Gilbert.
 
The development parcel actually includes four buildings, 975, 965, 961 and 967 E. McMillan—the old Graeter’s building at 967 E. McMillan will be demolished in the next four to five months. Although the building has a strong historical and emotional significance for Cincinnati and Walnut Hills, it isn’t stable. After conversations with the Cincinnati Preservation Association, WHRF decided it was in the neighborhood’s best interest to demolish the Graeter’s building.
 
The building’s ceiling, walls and floors are caved in, and there’s extensive water damage because the roof has been gone for so long. WHRF wanted to save the building’s façade and keep the storefront and historic feel of the building, but after an inspection of the façade, they realized it couldn’t be salvaged.
 
At some point, the first floor façade was turned into a gravel stucco façade. WHRF thought the original historic brick façade was underneath, but discovered that it had been removed. The second and third floor façades are in good condition, but it would require money that WHRF doesn’t have to create a new façade for the first floor. Replacing the façade would defeat the purpose of saving it because it wouldn’t be original, says Wright.  
 
The space created by the removal of the Graeter’s building will become a courtyard or amenity space for the new businesses and apartments that will be created from the project. WHRF wants to see the space utilized by new residents and retail, says Wright.
 
The buildings included in the development are part of a larger acquisition and redevelopment project, says Wright. With the same funding for the project, WHRF also acquired a large portion of the 700 block of McMillan west of Gilbert. The project included demolishing a number of buildings and stabilizing Firehouse #16, the oldest firehouse in Cincinnati; WHRF is currently stabilizing the Hamilton House as well.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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More cosmetic changes will be coming to Cincinnati’s Central Business District in the opening months of 2013.
 
3CDC was awarded $1.8 million in Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits to redevelop three buildings at the intersection of Third and Main streets. The Heister Building (308 Main), the Brockman Building (312 Main) and the Clark Machine Company Building (316 Main) have been vacant for quite some time. They were once planned for demolition for new-build office space, but those plans fell through.
 
Early in 2012, 3CDC acquired the three buildings and began to draw up plans for their future. The new project will include 10 to 15 condos and 5,000 to 10,000-square-feet of street-level commercial space, says Anastasia Mileham, VP of communications for 3CDC.
 
“The tax credit program is a wonderful program that allows us to do projects that we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise,” Mileham says.
 
The 3CDC development is one of seven preservation projects in the Cincinnati area. The projects were awarded a total of $9 million in tax credits from the Ohio Development Services Agency through the state’s historic preservation program. The Cincinnati projects received about 25 percent of the total $35.9 million of tax credit money that was distributed to projects throughout the state in the program’s ninth round of funding.
 
The other Cincinnati projects include Losantiville Apartments, Abington Flats and Pendleton Apartments in OTR; the conversion of Eden Park’s pump station into a tap room and brewery; the redevelopment of three historic buildings in Walnut Hills; and the renovation of Hamilton’s, old newspaper building, which will become a multi-use education center.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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PizzaBomba, a Northern Kentucky food truck, is no longer just on four wheels. As of Dec. 26, PizzaBomba opened its doors to its permanent location on E. Fifth Street in Covington. Both the food truck and the store serve New York-style pizza, made with homemade dough and sauces and local ingredients.
 
PizzaBomba’s owner, Bill Stone, put himself through college bartending and waiting tables at a high-end Italian restaurant in Rochester, NY. He’s also worked in Cincinnati restaurants and been trained in food and beverage management.
 
Stone and his partner Terri Wilson, who helps with PizzaBomba when she can, began their food truck last March 30. After their fast success, a storefront seemed like the next logical step, says Stone.
 
If you’re looking for something a little out of the ordinary, the Load of BS pizza is topped with homemade pizza sauce, Brussels sprout leaves, bacon and ricotta cheese. PizzaBomba also serves salads, sandwiches (atop homemade bread) and pasta skillets. Customers keep coming back for the Bangin’ Elvis sandwich, which is topped with creamy Thai peanut butter, pepper jelly and bacon, says Stone.
 
Stone currently employs four people, and once PizzaBomba’s POS system is completely up and running, they’ll start delivery service to Covington, Newport, Bellevue, downtown Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine to Liberty Street. PizzaBomba is still waiting on its beer-only license from the state, but they’ll soon serve local brews and a few higher-end microbrews.
 
The restaurant is open Tuesday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you’re looking for the food truck, make sure to follow PizzaBomba on Facebook and Twitter to find its daily location.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The East Price Hill Improvement Association was awarded $107,500 from the city through the 2013 Neighborhood Business District Improvement Program for the development of the St. Lawrence Corner Public Square. Price Hill Will, an independent organization that focuses on comprehensive community development, will administer the project.
 
Price Hill Will purchased the property in early 2012. The property was home to a three-story Tudor-style building that burned down in 2010 and has been vacant since.
 
“Before it burned down, the building was an anchor for the area,” says Matt Strauss, director of marketing and neighborhood promotion for Price Hill Will. The organization had had its eye on the building, and Strauss is now looking forward to turning the land it used to sit on into something great.
 
The property will become a public square, which will include a stage and water feature. Once completed, the square will be a gathering place for the neighborhood and a place for events such as the Price Hill Cultural Heritage Fest, says Strauss. 

Construction on the square began last week, and will be finished in the next few months.

Price Hill Will worked closely with Price Hill residents on the plans for the square.
 
“We wanted to reflect the people of the neighborhood, and their dreams and aspirations for the area,” says Strauss. Residents were able to provide feedback on what they wanted for the square, and even what they wanted it to look like.
 
The property sits near the edge of East and West Price Hill and acts as a gateway for the neighborhood. Strauss hopes that like the building, the square will become an anchor and point of pride for Price Hill and its residents.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Thirteen neighborhood projects were recently awarded $1.65 million through the 2013 Neighborhood Business District Improvement Program.
 
The Pleasant Ridge Development Corporation received $150,000 for the acquisition and redevelopment of 6025 Montgomery Road, which includes two separate buildings on one parcel of land. PRDC is in negotiations with the current owner and plans to have the property under contract by January.
 
The majority of the NBDIP funds will go toward purchasing the property; the remainder will be put toward redevelopment. PRDC will then partner with another community organization or developer to finish the project.
 
PRDC currently has a working partnership with the Pleasant Ridge School Foundation at Pleasant Ridge Montessori for the project. PRDC and the Foundation have talked about several ideas for the property, including a potential daycare to supplement the school’s part-time preschool. Depending on the how planning for the daycare goes, there might be more than one use for the property, says Jason Chamlee, president of PRDC.
 
PRDC takes a different approach to its NBDIP projects than other neighborhoods. For the past two years, PRDC has focused on purchasing existing real estate and redeveloping it, says Chamlee. PRDC wanted to acquire the Montgomery property because it is a vacant building that can be redeveloped to capitalize on business opportunities near Pleasant Ridge Montessori, which is adjacent to the property.
 
Pleasant Ridge is a strong, engaged neighborhood with a stable housing market, says Chamlee. “The biggest need in Pleasant Ridge is rebuilding the business district. With support from the City of Cincinnati, our colleagues in other business districts and strong community partnerships, we are gaining momentum and want to build off our early successes. The quality of our neighborhood is very closely tied to the vitality of the business district."
 
Last year, PRDC was awarded $200,000 through NBDIP for the acquisition of a property at Montgomery and Ridge roads. The property had fallen into foreclose and disrepair and was about 75 percent vacant. PRDC formed a joint partnership with a local developer who will renovate the property.
 
The project from last year is going through the final approval process for full rehabilitation construction. In the end, there will be three or four new, redeveloped storefronts that total about 13,000 square feet of restaurant or retail space that will be available for lease in early 2013.

For additional information regarding development projects in Pleasant Ridge, please contact prdevcorp@gmail.com.

By Caitlin Koenig
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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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Last Monday, Madisonville was allocated $2.5 million in bond financing to make improvements to the neighborhood’s business district. The bond money will be paid back with funds from the Madisonville tax increment financing, or TIF, district.

A TIF is the difference between what property taxes would be after redevelopment and what the tax would be if no redevelopment occurred. A payment is made to the TIF fund in lieu of taxes and is used to finance other projects. Madisonville will pay back the bond over a period of 20 years.
 
In November, Madisonville revealed its quality of life plan to the public, which focused on economic development, health and wellness, arts and culture, education and youth, built environment and community engagement. The plan will take about 10 years to fully implement, but Madisonville is taking immediate steps to revitalize its business district.
 
There are about two blocks of vacant property at the intersection of Madison and Whetsel, which is at the heart of the business district. With the bond money, Madisonville will be able to begin construction on those buildings and bringing in businesses to start building the citizens’ dreams of a walking neighborhood.
 
The $2.5 million is the first big investment in the physical transformation of Madisonville, says Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
 
Madisonville is among four major growth opportunity areas in Cincinnati, including Walnut Hills, Westwood and College Hill. But these neighborhoods aren’t the only ones the City is investing in.
 
“These neighborhoods are target areas because of their participation in developing the new form-based code for the City,” says Qualls.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Construction crews have been parked on Williams Howard Taft and Calhoun for months, but by March, University Square at the Loop in Clifton will begin opening a series of restaurants and shops that are new to the campus scene. Apartments in the mammoth development are slated to open starting in July.

Currently, nine restaurants have been announced through the project’s official website: Firehouse Subs, bd’s Mongolian Barbeque, Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, Waffle House, DiBella’s Old Fashioned Submarines, Mr. Sushi, Hwy 55, Orange Leaf and Keystone Bar & Grill. Shop tenants include Great Clips, Moksha Yoga, Rue 21 and Altar’d State.

“Over 70 percent of the space has been leased to prospective tenants,” says Arn Bortz, former Cincinnati mayor and a partner at U Square developer Towne Properties.

While most of the apartment tenants will likely be students, the apartments are market rate, Bortz says.

So students who are looking to lease an apartment for next year should expect to pay a bit more, assuming the convenient location is enough to sway them — apartments range from $695-$1650 per month.

“Income qualified apartments,” those for qualified individuals with limited incomes, are not available to full-time students, according to U Square at the Loop’s website.

The development will also include parking garages to accommodate the influx of traffic the complex will bring.

For more updates, check out U Square at the Loop’s Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

By Kyle Stone

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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