More than $1 million granted to first suburbs to spark economic impact

Cincinnati’s first-ring suburbs face unique challenges. Changing demographics, economic stability, and issues regarding resources and security are common threads among these jurisdictions. 

The ways the 49 Hamilton County cities, villages, townships, and municipal corporations not only adjust but thrive is the focus of this series, First Suburbs—Beyond Borders. The series explores the diversity and ingenuity of these longstanding suburban communities, highlighting issues that demand collective thought and action to galvanize their revitalization.

More than $1 million is on its way to four first-suburb communities, funding to kick start improvements in their business districts and help achieve their long-term plans.

The Hamilton County commissioners in October approved releasing a total of $1.1 million to the village of Lockland, the city of Mt. Healthy, the village of North Bend, and the village of Elmwood Place.

Lockland was granted the bulk of the funding — $430,595 for two projects.  The village wants to buy and renovate a property on Mill Street to help spark a revitalization of a budding business district there. A historic district around the intersection of Mill and Dunn streets has attracted investment from entrepreneurs and others drawn by the collection of buildings from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and a streetscape with sidewalks, storefronts, and broad avenues.

The property in question includes a 1950s-era building and loan structure, the kind you still see in many older communities, built during the postwar boom in housing and mortgage loans. Their rock-solid construction denotes stability and trust, but the days of the building and loan are just about over, replaced by a consolidating banking industry and drive-through bank branches. The Mill Street building is currently mostly vacant and used for storage.

Plans call for the village to acquire it and get it ready to be occupied by a commercial kitchen and possibly a brewery, says Village Manager Doug Wehmeyer.

The neighborhood around Mill and Dunn has drawn the attention of small-business owners and movie makers.  Much of “The Bikeriders,” a 2024 release featuring Austin Butler and Tom Hardy, was shot in a corner bar there that served as the motorcycle gang’s headquarters. And scenes from “Alto Knights,” released in March 2025 and starring Robert DeNiro, were shot at a funeral home on Mill Street.

READ MORE: Together again: Towns work to reconnect neighborhoods divided by trains and automobiles

Lockland will also receive $140,595 to improve and landscape the entrance to the public parking lot at Wayne and Wyoming avenues, the village’s traditional business district, as a visible example of investment and to encourage private investment from business owners. “Hopefully, these grants will help revitalize our business districts and bring additional growth and additional tax revenue to the community,” Wehmeyer says.

The money comes from the county’s Economic Impact Program, which was created by combining county general fund money with community development block grant money from the federal government. There’s a total of $3.4 million in the program this year, said county Commissioner Denise Driehaus. The grants are awarded on a competitive basis by a panel that evaluates each application.

“I wanted to create a partnership with the jurisdictions throughout Hamilton County,” Driehaus says. “A financial partnership so that we would give them grants to catalyze economic development projects in their communities.”

“There’s a great deal of need out in the communities for it,” she says.

The village of North Bend will receive $290,000 to help fund its ambitious plans to create the William Henry Harrison Riverfront Park in that small community. A few years ago, the village bought a sliver of land along the Ohio River and has plans to turn a 14-acre riverfront property into a destination that would include a park, a walking trail, a play area, an event and interpretive center, and a riverfront pavilion. The project, estimated to cost more than $10 million, would pay homage to the history of the site, the stories of Harrison and his family, as well as the indigenous people who populated the Ohio and Miami valleys, and the importance of the river to the region’s history and culture.

READ MORE: In North Bend, a tiny village has big plans for a riverfront park and historic site

The project is moving forward in increments over several phases, using grants from state and local governments, foundations, in-kind contributions, and volunteers. The grant from the county will be used to widen and resurface the entrance drive, create an accessible pedestrian and bicycle lane and repave and improve a parking lot. The project also received $500,000 in the state capital budget that the Ohio General Assembly passed earlier this year. So far, the project has received $1.3 million in funding from the county and the state, says Skip Holmes, the project’s volunteer manager.

The City of Mt. Healthy will receive $250,000 to improve facades on commercial buildings in the 7500 block of Hamilton Avenue to attract and retain businesses. In that town, volunteers who lead a community development corporation called Third Century got started by capturing community development grant money and putting it to use for a refresh of a building that houses a longtime business, Angilo’s Pizza. New paint, roof repairs, a new façade, new doors and new windows, freshened the business in the heart of Mt. Healthy’s business district. Now, other businesses may have the same opportunity.

READ MORE: ‘We’re doing something about it’: How an old community plans for a new start in its third century

Elmwood Place will receive $150,000 for to enhance access and appearance of a parking lot in its Vine Street business district.

The commissioners made other awards from the fund earlier this year, including $500,000 for a site improvement project in Blue Ash, to create a road network at the former Procter & Gamble Sharon Woods facility, which is targeted for redevelopment. Forest Park received $500,000 for property development, acquisition, and public infrastructure enhancements at the former Cincinnati Mills Mall, which is being demolished and redeveloped.

In the summer, the city of Cheviot was awarded a $320,000 grant to help redevelop a former Cappel’s costume and display store in its business district into Central Station, a family-friendly entertainment destination focused on a pickleball complex, with live music, and a sports bar.

First Suburbs—Beyond Borders series is made possible with support from a coalition of stakeholders including the Murray & Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation: The Seasongood Foundation is devoted to the cause of good local government; Hamilton County Planning Partnership; plus First Suburbs Consortium of Southwest Ohio, an association of elected and appointed officials representing older suburban communities in Hamilton County, Ohio.