Number of new developments planned for College Hill business district


A number of new developments are in the works for the College Hill business district along Hamilton Avenue and West North Bend Road.
 
Model Group and Episcopalian Retirement Homes are developing a $10.5 million mixed-use project at the corner of Marlowe and Hamilton Avenues. When finished, Marlowe Court will include 5,000 square feet of street-level retail as well as 53 one- and two-bedroom senior apartments above. If the project receives tax credits in June, it's slated completion date is January 2017.
 
Plans are still in the works for the Saint Francis Group to develop 7.5 acres at the north end of the business district into housing and retail. College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. (CHCURC) plans to renovate five buildings to create one- and two-bedroom apartments above first-floor retail. A 100-space parking lot is in the works behind the properties on the west side of Hamilton between Cedar and Marlowe Avenues.
 
The project is to begin at the end of February, starting with the demolition of several buildings that will allow for outdoor dining for restaurants as well as a pedestrian walkway from the parking lot on Hamilton.
 
Seventeen storefronts along Hamilton will also receive $175,000 worth of facade improvements, including new doors, windows, lighting, signage, awnings and paint.
 
"We hope that these new developments create positive momentum for other private investment in the business district," says Mike Cappel, president of CHCURC. "We further hope that a revitalized business district helps to spur additional reinvestment in the great single-family homes throughout the community."
 
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Read more articles by Caitlin Koenig.

Caitlin Koenig is a Cincinnati transplant and 2012 grad of the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. She's the department editor for Soapbox Media and currently lives in Northside with her husband, Andrew, and their three furry children. Follow Caitlin on Twitter at @caite_13.