Price Hill / Covedale : Development News

Three weeks ago, K9 Social Club opened its doors in Western Hills. The doggie daycare offers grooming and boarding, and plans to add training to its repertoire soon.
 
Owner Jamie Stenz used to take her border collie to the daycare when it was under different ownership. When it closed, she decided to lease the space and start her own doggie daycare.
 
“As far as I know, it’s the only daycare for dogs in the largest neighborhood in Cincinnati,” Stenz says.
 
While at K9 Social Club, dogs get their own lockers and interact with other dogs and staff members. They also receive a daily, complimentary organic treat and can watch Animal Planet on TV. The Club also has kennel-free boarding, which includes free daycare during the day and a staff member on-site at all times.
 
And all dogs who stay at K9 Social Club get their photo on the wall in the lobby, like club members.
 
Stenz plans to have a webcam service up and running in the next few days so owners can check in on their dogs while they’re away.
 
“We want to bring a sense of community to Western Hills and be a service that pet owners can rely on,” Stenz says. “We want K9 Social Club to be a fun, safe place to bring your pup. A social pup is a happy pup, and that makes for an even happier pet owner. That’s our goal—happy pups and pet owners!”
 
Daycare starts at $22 per day, and boarding at $38 per day. Before being allowed to be in daycare or board at K9 Social Club, dogs go through behavior evaluations. They also must be up-to-date on all vaccinations.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Since it was built in 1847, the St. Michael’s complex has been a cornerstone of the Lower Price Hill community. But in 1998, the church was vacated; in 2007, the Lower Price Hill Community School moved into St. Michael’s space and became tenants of the Archdiocese. Within the first month of occupancy, the Archdiocese decided they no longer wanted to be landlords, and they donated the entire complex to LPHCS.
 
On June 14, renovations will begin on the five-building complex, with the help of the 2011 Historic Preservation Tax Credit from the Ohio Department of Redevelopment. The total project will cost $7.6 million; LPHCS is working to raise $2.2 million to leverage the $5.4 million historic tax credit—they’re about halfway to their goal.
 
The project will create 50,000 square feet of community gathering space, performance venues, art studios and a sanctuary for at-risk individuals—the Center for Education and the Arts.
 
“We wanted to give the space originally built for the neighborhood back to them,” says Jen Walters, executive director of LPHCS.
 
LPHCS knew from the start that the complex was too large for them—they were only using one floor of one building. So they sought out a partner that could also utilize the complex and share the burden of upkeep with LPHCS. They found a few organizations that didn’t fit with the their mission or the neighborhood, but then Lower Price Hill’s community council president suggested LPHCS talk to BLOC Ministries, and a partnership was born.
 
“We felt called to go to Lower Price Hill,” says Dwight Young, BLOC’s executive director.” “We felt like we were supposed to be there.”
 
BLOC’s eight staff members live in BLOC-owned spaces in Lower Price Hill. BLOC will work toward LPHCS’s adult education mission and help the people of Lower Price Hill further their education, but not in the traditional way, Young says.
 
When LPHCS was first given the St. Michael’s complex and realized the cost of upkeep and repairs, the organization asked neighbors what services already existed, what services they used and what their vision for Price Hill was. The message was clear: the residents wanted them to stay.
 
“People come to us for legal services and housing assistance, not just for education reasons,” Walters says.
 
Neighbors also wanted more options for their kids. BLOC’s after-school program provides art and music programs that young people might otherwise not have access to.
 
There’s an artist on staff who oversees the Center’s pottery studio and T-shirt press. “We want to create rooms for artists who can do their business on property and teach kids in the area to do their trade,” Young says. BLOC is also working to develop a photography studio for the Center.
 
“The City of Cincinnati is going through an exciting time of positive growth,” Walters says. “This project will help change the landscape of the neighborhood and the city, but it doesn’t stop here. It continues—it’s a natural progression of positive things that are happening.”
 
A breakfast session on March 13 from 8 to 9 a.m. will provide information about the project and its vision to prospective donors and community leaders; it will include tours of the facility and time with the site plans. To RSVP, call 513-244-2214 ext. 202.   
 
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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Find home-made bacon, sausage and pastrami, along with a selection of local craft beers and one of the best views in town at the new Incline Public House in Price Hill, which opens Feb. 1.

Brothers Tony and Dominic Cafeo have been planning the restaurant, which also features a 1,400-square-foot deck, for a few years. It is part of a new development at the top of the stories Price Hill Incline that includes 15 condo units. “We’ve always wanted to be in Price Hill,” Tony says.
 
The restaurant will have an in-house smoker and a brick oven; the bar menu will focus on craft beer from local craft breweries, but there will be a small wine menu too, Tony says.
 
“We’re hoping to get lots of traffic, which will make the people of Price Hill feel safer,” Tony says. “Hopefully, people from outside of the neighborhood will come and get a better perception of the area.”

For more information aobout Incline Public House's opening day, "like" it on Facebook or follow it on Twitter.
 
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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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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On Nov. 8, Cincinnati Public Schools auctioned 13 school buildings and four land parcels, valued at more than $27 million, according to the county auditor's office. Eleven of the buildings sold, along with one piece of land. Bidding opened on Nov. 5 at $50,000; at the close of the auction, CPS made $3.5 million, which was more than enough to complete the district's Facilities Master Plan.
 
The FMP was part of a bond levy that was passed in spring 2003 that combined state and other funds for a $1 billion build-out of the district. In the next 18 months, every school currently in use by CPS will either have been renovated or rebuilt to create a better environment for students, faculty and staff.
 
As part of the FMP, many of the schools that were sold at auction were “swing” schools, which means they were used for classes while other schools were being renovated. After renovations, CPS no longer had a need for the schools, but wanted the buildings to have second lives.
 
“As part of the plan, we knew we couldn’t overbuild, and we didn’t want to under-build,” says Janet Walsh, director of public affairs for CPS. “The consequence of that was that there were some beautiful buildings that we weren’t able to use as school buildings, but could be used by the community in other ways.”

The district's approach, as it has been before, was to put the buildings up for auction.
 
CPS held a successful auction about three years ago, but this one included more buildings and raised more money than expected, says Eve Bolton, board president of CPS. Some of the schools that didn’t sell in the 2009 auction sold this time around.
 
“The reality is that the economic upturn in this region and the interest in Greater Cincinnati leaves a stock of historic, well-built schools empty,” says Bolton. “We want to see our buildings reused and recycled so that they can be beneficial to the neighborhoods they are a part of.”
 
State law allows CPS to auction off unused buildings, but only after they have first been offered to local charter schools. Those left after auction can be sold on the public market as pieces of real estate. Buyers have no legal restrictions regarding what the school buildings can be used as—some of the buildings will become other schools, residential housing or office buildings; others will be torn down and something else will be built in their places.
 
CPS schools and land included in the Nov. 8 auction:

• Burton Elementary School, 876 Glenwood Street, North Avondale: sold for $305,000; built in 1966, last class in 2008
• Central Fairmount Elementary School, 2475 White Street, South Fairmount: sold for $310,000; built in 1900, last class in 2012
• Heberle Elementary School, 2015 Freeman Avenue, West End: sold for $60,000; built in 1929, last class in 2007
• Hoffman Elementary School, 3060 Durrell Avenue, Evanston: sold for $200,000; built in 1922, last class in 2011
• Kirby Road Elementary School, 1710 Bruce Avenue, Northside: sold for $230,000; built in 1910, last class in 2005
• Lafayette Bloom Middle School, 1941 Baymiller Street, West End: sold for $60,000; built in 1915, last class in 2006
• Linwood Fundamental Academy, 4900 Eastern Avenue, Linwood: sold for $75,000; built in 1927-29, last class in 2005
• Losantiville Elementary School, 6701 Elbrook Avenue, Amberley Village: sold for $525,000; built in 1954, last class in 2008
• Old SCPA, 1310 Sycamore Street, Pendleton: sold for $1.3 million; built in 1910, last class in 2010
• Old Shroder Junior High School, 3500 Lumford Place, Kennedy Heights: sold for $150,000; built in 1956, last class unknown
• Paradrome Street parcel, Mount Adams: sold for $135,000
• Winton Montessori School, 4750 Winton Road, Winton Place: sold for $265,000; closed in early Nov. 2012
• George F. Sands School, 940 Poplar Street, West End: not sold, valued at $1.89 million; built in 1912, last class in 2007
• North Fairmount Elementary School, 2001 Baltimore Avenue, North Fairmount: not sold, valued at $2.2 million; built in 1954, last class unknown
• E. Apple Street parcel, Winton Hills: not sold, valued at $485,628
• Terry Street parcel, East Price Hill: not sold, valued at $13,400
• Site of old Millvale school building, 3277 Beekman Street, Millvale: not sold, valued at $135,550

By Caitlin Koenig
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As many areas of Cincinnati are being rejuvenated, including OTR and Washington Park, the City of Cincinnati approved a comprehensive approach to focus on development in the city as a whole, not just targeted neighborhoods. 

Last Friday, the City Planning Commission approved and adopted Plan Cincinnati, which was designed with input from residents. The Plan is an opportunity to strengthen what people love about the city, what works and what needs more attention, says Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city planner and project manager.
 
The idea is to re-urbanize suburbanized Cincinnati; in a sense, to return to the strengths of the city's beginnings. Cincinnati was established just after the American Revolution in 1788 and grew into an industrial center in the 19^th century. Many of those industries no longer exist in the city, which is part of why Cincinnati has become more suburbanized in the past 50 years. One of the long-term goals of the Plan is to bring new industries to Cincinnati.
 
With a new approach to revitalization, Cincinnati is blazing the trail for other cities. With a focus on building on existing strengths rather than tearing down structures and creating new ones, the Plan aims to capitalize on the city's “good bones” and good infrastructure.
 
Cinicinnatians had a huge role in developing the Plan. The first public meeting for the Plan was held in September 2009, when residents offered their insights into “what makes a great city?" and "what would make Cincinnati a great city?” A steering committee of 40 people representing businesses, nonprofits, community groups, local institutions, residents and City Council helped develop the Plan.

The Plan also got support from a grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which the City received in 2010. The grant allotted $2.4 million over three years to support the Land Development Code, which combines and simplifies Cincinnati's codes, reviews the development process, implements Form-based Codes and considers more creative uses for land. The grant allowed the city to start implementing some of the ideas voiced in public meetings.
 
Visionaries included youth, too. City staff worked with community centers and Cincinnati Public Schools to develop an art project for children. They were given clay pots and asked to paint their fears for the city on the inside and their dreams for the city on the outside. The children saw the big issue was quality of life, just like the adults did.
 
“It was an interesting way to get the kids involved and thinking about the future,” Keough-Jurs says.
 
The Plan aims to strengthen neighborhood centers—the neighborhoods’ business districts. It maps out areas that people need to get to on a daily basis and found that most are within about a half-mile of the business districts. But in some neighborhoods, residents can’t access their neighborhood centers. 

The accessibility of a neighborhood center is based on walkability—not just for pedestrians, but also about how structures address walking. For exampke, if a pedestrian can walk from one end of the neighborhood center to the other without breaking his or her pattern (the window shopping effect), the area is walkable; if he or she has been stopped by a parking lot or vacancies, it’s not walkable, Keough-Jurs says.
 
The neighborhood centers are classified in one of three ways in the Plan: maintain, evolve or transform. Some neighborhoods have goals to maintain levels of walkability, whereas others need to gradually change or evolve. Still others need to completely transform in order to strengthen their business districts.
 
“Cincinnati is at the heart of the region,” Keough-Jurs says. “If we strengthen Cincinnati, we strengthen a region.”

The next step for the Plan is to go before the Cincinnati City Council, specifically the Livable Communities Committee, which is chaired by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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How do you wear beauty? Fuse Theory has some ideas…

University of Cincinnati College of Design Architecture Art and Planning (DAAP) student Alexandra Scott has an eye for beauty found in the “ugly and unusual” and some inspired ideas about the expression of individuality.

That’s why only a year into her college career, she decided to launch her own line of hand-designed, dyed and screen printed apparel and accessories based on the premise that “everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

Scott is the creator, owner-operator and designer for her brand, Fuse Theory, a line of clothing and accessories for men and women that she developed after just one year in the DAAP program’s fashion design and product development track.

A native Cincinnatian and graduate of Walnut Hills High School, Scott says she has always been interested in art and fashion, but wasn’t sure at first how to combine the two.

“I wanted to find a way to open people’s eyes to the beauty found in the unexpected,” she says.

Scott derives inspiration from the fusion of ideas and concepts into an aesthetic that reaches a little deeper to connect beauty with individuality.

The brand name Fuse Theory unifies this connection with wearable pieces of art that are as comfortable as they are interesting. The brand seeks to combine color, texture and emotion to find beauty in life’s imperfections. Her trademark eye image, which can be found on her designs, symbolizes both her aesthetic and philosophy.

Although Scott’s designs are grounded in the basics, they’re far from unremarkable.

“My designs are not about impressing others,” she says. “It’s more about expressing the emotional side of fashion.”

She focuses on comfortable pieces that allow the wearer to be creative. “I don’t want my customers to be walking billboards for my brand,” she says. “I want them to buy my designs because they mean something.”

Both artisan and entrepreneur, Scott’s merchandise is a work of art from the initial design concept to the hand dying and screen-printing that bring pieces to life. Any flaws in the process contribute to the individualistic and emotional intent of her work.

Currently, Scott is collaborating with local graffiti artists on a new collection that incorporates street art onto men’s and women’s apparel. Look for these new designs online in late August.

In the meantime, Scott’s handiwork can be found online at fusetheoryapparel.com, or in the community on Aug. 25 at the Price Hill Cultural Heritage Festival, at Second Sunday on Main in Over-the-Rhine or at the West Chester Art Market every other Saturday.

Scott says she would like to feature her brand with local retailers and eventually open her own store. She will graduate in 2014, and the possibilities are likely to expand. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

By Deidra Wiley Necco

The Cincinnati Development Fund has been a financial resource for affordable housing development in the city's neighborhoods for 23 years. And that long track record of helping spur development -- and redevelopment -- in some of Cincinnati's underserved areas recently earned the CDF a $1.5 million federal grant to support its mission.

The grant comes from the U.S. Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI). The CDFI awarded $142,302,667 to 155 community development financial institutions -- like CDF -- nationwide. CDF received $750,000 from the fund in 2010, making this year's award a very pleasant surprise, says CDF president and CEO Jeanne Golliher.

"We were really expecting something along the lines of what we got last year," she says.

The $1.5 million sum is the maximum any single organization could receive from the CDFI. Golliher credits CDF's long-standing role in the community as reason for the high award.

"We're really in touch," she says. "We know where the needs are."

A main focus of CDF's efforts, she explains, are smaller developers -- sometimes individual homeowners, sometimes development companies focusing on one or two buildings -- who wish to revitalize property in parts of the city suffering from high foreclosure and vacancy rates. The smaller developers fit a niche that complements larger development organizations, such as the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), which is in the midst of redeveloping a large portion of Over-the-Rhine. Golliher refers to many of CDF's borrowers as "urban pioneers:" people willing to be early redevelopers in areas that have yet to see widespread revitalization.

"We've had so much activity with our small loan program," she says. "There are a lot of cases where people want to buy and fix up a building on their own, and they come to us."

Golliher says her team is in the process of planning how to best use the grant funds. Some of it may be used as matching funds for $3.3 million in low-interest funding CDF has requested from the U.S. Treasury to help fund small business development in the city.  She plans to present a proposal for how the funds will be used at CDF's August board meeting. In the meantime, she says she and her team are thrilled by this recent show of federal support.

"I think it speaks to our track record," she says.

By Matt Cunningham

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With support from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), four non-profit service organizations in the region have opened LISC Financial Opportunity Centers (FOC), or grant-funded programs that will bolster employment, financial and public benefits counseling services offered to low-income individuals and families. LISC, a national organization, has invested more than $9 billion in cities across the U.S., including more than $32 million in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Region.

The FOCs underscore its commitment to enhancing Queen City communities and beyond.

"Financial opportunity centers are part of LISC's Sustainable Communities approach to comprehensive community development," says Kathy Schwab, executive director of LISC Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky.  "We can't help communities recover from economic distress if we don't help families achieve financial stability."

In 2010, LISC was awarded a $4.2 million grant from a federal initiative called the Social Innovation Fund. Cincinnati was on the list of the cities to receive a share of such funding, and, as Schwab explains, research pointed LISC GCNKY to the following four non-profits:

    •    Brighton Center (awarded $145,000), which champions family support and services
    •    Cincinnati Works (awarded $100,000), which champions employment services
    •    Santa Maria Community Services (awarded $145,000), which advocates the revitalization of Price Hill
    •    Urban League of Greater Cincinnati (awarded $125,000), which advocates self-efficiency and entrepreneurship while engaging African-American and other at-risk populations

"This grant allows them to provide more services and achieve greater success," Schwab says. "These particular groups understand the concept of financial opportunity centers and are willing to adapt to this business model."

She says FOCs tie into LISC's definition of comprehensive community development.

"It isn't just about bricks and mortar. It's about the overall health of the community," she says. "People need jobs, people have health issues, people need good schools and green places to play … that's the comprehensiveness of it."

Wonda Winkler is associate operating officer at Brighton Center. She says the LISC grant will help the center bundle its services in a more deep and meaningful way.

"It's more than just helping people get a job," she says. "It's about also helping them understand their budget and understand what kind of resources are out there as they look toward financial stability.

"The more people are building assets - for example, home ownership - the more invested they are in their community."

Writer: Rich Shivener

Known for its historic architecture and panoramic views of downtown and the Ohio River, East Price Hill has a new life of late with businesses, restaurants, and reconstruction happening from Price Hill Avenue to West 8th and Elberon. And now the new boundaries of the neighborhood's "Incline District" are a step away from being official.

The East Price Hill Improvement Association's (EPHIA) motion seeking this designation was approved by the Cincinnati Planning Commision last Friday. According to EPHIA President John Schlagetter, the Incline District encompasses one mile by 3/4 mile and includes 2,500 residents. The designation, which helps the neighborhood celebrate its history and assists with future branding, will be recognized with a sign at the corner of Elberon and Mt. Hope.  Following approval, the potential next step for this recognition is Council's Livable Communities committee.

Former city councilman, John Cranley's venture called City Lights recently began construction on Incline Village along Grand Avenue, which includes a new restaurant and office space. Cranley says the new restaurant will join neighboring Prima Vista and offer the same phenomenal views of the Cincinnati skyline from its patio, all within the district's designation. Also currently under construction are new apartments atop the development.

"Price Hill has struggled for the past 40 years and this is a sign that positive things are happening," Cranley said. "It has great opportunities for urban living because it is so close to downtown with beautiful architecture, phenomenal park spaces, and extremely affordable housing. This project will improve the quality of life for the people already here and those moving in."

According to local business owner Bill Burwinkle, Price Hill went through the same evolution that any urban neighborhood encounters. After hosting three generations of families, the neighborhood suffered neglect and vacancies but with recent rehabilitation and new construction, the neighborhood has already seen a renaissance.

Burwinkle is responsible for several projects in the Incline District. Almost two years ago, he opened a coffee shop called Corner Bloc to provide a place for conversation and entertainment. Burwinkle then moved across the street, developing a building with five luxury flats and a possible new art gallery. Next on his agenda is an eatery for residents and employees in Queensgate who currently don't have a lot of options.

"We're seeing a lot of people that are coming into the community that are buying homes and really causing the neighborhood to be rebuilt," Burwinkle explained. "These developments are showing a lot of people that Price Hill is a neighborhood that should be invested in. It will be catalytic for future development."

Writer: Lisa Ensminger

Bill Kiffmeyer remembers how huge the players from the Cincinnati Reds looked to him as an eight year old boy when they visited his father's Price Hill dry cleaning shop. He also remembers how the sight of the shuttered shop would nearly bring his father to tears five decades later, after the neighborhood lost its luster and he had no choice but to close.

The Kiffmeyer's family business was located on the ground floor of an elegant apartment building originally called the Robinson. As Kiffmeyer recalls, it was the largest building around and was the centerpiece of a thriving West side neighborhood.

Today it stands as an eyesore, and the largest reminder of the neighborhood's decline. But a recent partnership between Price Hill Will and Model Group aims to change that. They have purchased the building and will turn it back into an apartment building.

"This is something that's sort of been the biggest drag on neighborhood, and when it's done it will be one of the biggest success stories," Price Hill Will's marketing director Matt Strauss said.

The building located at 8th and Elberon will be converted into 37 units of affordable housing for senior residents of Price Hill. The project will use several funding sources including a federal tax credit which requires the units to be available as affordable housing. The units will house seniors who are currently neighborhood residents, but will not be a care facility.

In addition to renovating and selling single family homes, Price Hill Will organizes an array of community outreach efforts ranging from litter pick-ups to neighborhood surveys. The Elberon building has been on their radar since before the group's inception, Strauss said, but was a far bigger project than any they had ever taken on.

"We've gone out of our comfort zone to get something really important accomplished," Strauss said.

Their partnership with Model Group, a private development firm with years of experience in affordable housing, allowed them to take on the project. Though Model owns the building, they will consult with Price Hill Will about design decisions and neighborhood impact, Model's development director David Thompson said.

For proud Westsiders like Kiffmeyer and current residents the project is heartening. Kiffmeyer recalled his first reaction when Strauss told him the building would be renovated was, "Can I move in?"

Writer: Henry Sweets
Photography by Scott Beseler.