OTR redevelopment: Who's cashing in?

CINCINNATI -- Odds are you haven't been to Over-the-Rhine lately. If so, you're missing out on an amazing turnaround. A six-year redevelopment effort is fixing up old buildings, bringing new life to the streets and slowly pushing out crime. But is it also lining pockets? We went looking for answers.

James Napier is running a business where he never thought he would: Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine. Napier owns Capital Shoe Repair. He opened business a year ago, impressed by the way Cincinnati seems to have repaired the Vine Street Corridor.

"Couple of friends told me to come down here and see what they're doing in Over-the-Rhine," he said. "And I'd never thought I'd be down here. and then when I got here it was about 1 in the morning. And we got down here, I was just impressed with the buildings."

The buildings of Over-the-Rhine are rich with history, a melange of Italianate, Art Deco, Greek Revival and Queen Anne architectural styles, comprising the largest urban historic district in the United States. Many of those historically-designated gems are dilapidated, hollow-eyed. But now, there are signs of life in Over-the-Rhine, from Washington Park to Pleasant Street, OTR is going from bust to boom. Enough of a boom to make the cynical among us wonder: with all this redevelopment, who's getting rich? Who's cashing in?

Stephen Leeper, the president and CEO of 3CDC, chuckles at that question when it's raised about his organization. "I hardly think we'll be making a killing."

Leeper runs the Cincinnati Center City Development Commission, 3CDC. Look around Over-the-Rhine and you see 3CDC'S work everywhere. For instance, the newly polished Vine Street where change lately is always coming soon. Leeper says 3CDC has spent $27 million buying abandoned property, generating $325 million in development over the last six years, all private money from corporate interests. He says 3CDC's backers are gambling that their money can make the entire city bloom.

"I can't emphasize this enough. there's not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the corporate community other than a revitalized city makes sense for everybody," said Leeper

Over-the-Rhine Community Housing provides affordable housing. They say some of their clients wonder if pricier new developments will squeeze them out. Yet, their project on Pleasant Street, in partnership with 3CDC, is for affordable housing and they say 3CDC is right about that non-existent pot of real estate gold.

In fact if anyone is cashing in on the OTR redevelopment boom, it's construction workers. This year, Heuber Homes has already sold four out of seven new units, with more projects in the pipeline. And Marc Heuber says more projects equal more jobs.

"Just three years ago we were down to five people and now we're up to nine. I've got a lot of different craftsmen who work on these houses in the same place. Two or three years ago they didn't have enough work, now they've got more than they can handle."

And another positive sign: Mary Burke-Rivers says Over-the-Rhine Community Housing found out Wednesday it won a $1.7 Million Federal HUD grant. The money will provide 15 units of senior citizen housing on Elm Street. And, of course, it will provide construction jobs starting late next year.