Model Group hired to plan Harvey Commons

The Uptown Consortium has hired the Model Group to plan the residential portion of its massive Burnet Avenue redevelopment project.

Harvey Commons will include 60 affordable, owner-occupied housing units along Harvey Avenue in Avondale, priced between $155,000 and $255,000.

The Model Group will be responsible for developing a site plan for the buildings and streetscape and for arranging project phasing and financing.

Neyer Construction will be the builder.

Robert Maly, vice president of development for the Model Group, says that the company has engaged GBBN Architects on their team and have made site visits to Philadelphia and Baltimore to study similar urban communities adjacent to large institutions.

The townhomes are part of a larger redevelopment plan that also includes a six-story medical office building for Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, a three-story office building that will house the Cincinnati Herald, a 1,450-space parking garage and ground-floor retail.

Maly says that the Model Group now has a clear picture of a revitalized Burnet Avenue - the latest urban neighborhood in Cincinnati to reinvent itself.

"We are excited to be working with the Uptown Consortium and the Avondale community on their residential development," he said.  "This is our passion and we believe we can add great value to the Burnet Avenue revitalization work already ongoing from our experience in revitalizing other urban neighborhoods. "


The Uptown Consortium is a non-profit community development corporation serving Avondale, Clifton, Clifton Heights, Corryville, Fairview, Mount Auburn and University Heights.

Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Sources: Uptown Consortium; Robert Maly, Model Group vice president of development
Photography by Scott Beseler