Future Blooms remaking hundreds of depressed buildings

In fall 2009, city leaders and members of the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation, the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trusts, and Fifth-Third Bank Trustees stood with individuals from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful to kick off the Future Blooms Project.  The project's goal: to accomplish "aesthetic enhancement of vacant, abandoned and foreclosed properties within the Empowerment Zone."

The beautification project targets depressed buildings that have been boarded up and become eyesores in the community.  Keep Cincinnati Beautiful teams with local artists to paint and install window or door designs to both beautify and secure the buildings.

The targeted structures have often been victims of the foreclosure crisis, and as a result, have become points of crime and unsightliness throughout the neighborhood.  This deterioration often leads to the damaging of property values and even acts as a deterrent for prospective home buyers.

Since its start, Future Blooms has been able to successfully transform 33 buildings throughout historic Over-the-Rhine, and has a goal of completing a minimum of 130 buildings by May 2010.  The team of artists, directed by Catherine Richards, have been working out of Keep Cincinnati Beautiful's studio at 1334 Main Street (map).

"Our hope here at Future Blooms is that the reintegration of a visual language referencing the occupation of these properties will lend itself to positive shifts within the community including a reduction in crime surrounding these properties and a rise in area property value," said Richards.

A full interactive map of Future Bloom's completed buildings can be viewed online.

Writer: Randy A. Simes
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