3CDC rents all of its renovated apartments in OTR within 3 months

CINCINNATI - Five years and over a quarter of a billion dollars later, the Over-the-Rhine community is starting to look a lot like its old self again.

3CDC, Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, is moving forward with even more renovations this Spring.

Many know of the group's work on Vine Street. 3CDC is now renovating buildings near the corner of 14th and Race near Washington Park and Music Hall.

3CDC has set its sights on an old vacant church at the corner of 15th and Race.

"We're partnering with the city to save a church that was in immediate danger of collapsing, so we're spending almost three-quarters of a million dollars to stabilize the church. This is just preventative maintenance to make sure it didn't fall away. The key to making this a wonderful neighborhood is the historic fabric of these buildings," Munitz said.

3CDC says it will likely be used for commercial space with potential development of a new fitness center.

Across the street in the 1400 block of Race are the new headquarters for 3CDC, commercial space, and new rental homes.

"When you want to bring this neighborhood back to where it was a century ago as a great, diverse, mixed use, mixed income neighborhood and that's our goal as we continue to do reinvestment," Munitz said.

3CDC says its goal is to change the neighborhood one block at a time.

Entrepreneur Byron Thomas hopes to be a part of the change.

He and his business partners are scouting out a spot for a new entertainment venue.

"It's something in the early stages. It's still in the egg form I guess you could say, but we're hoping to be able to bring a little live music, some comediennes and a nice cuisine of food down here also," Thomas said.

James Jenkins has already made Over-the-Rhine his new home relocating from Eden Park two months ago.

Jenkins says Over-the-Rhine is changing for the better. He says he feels safe and comfortable in his new neighborhood.

"Just to see the change in OTR. If you would have come downtown five years ago, maybe you wouldn't want to be here, but to see everything that's going on downtown is really amazing. It's shocking that you still have people talk down about downtown, they must not have been down here recently because it's a lot of construction and development going on in Over-the-Rhine now," Jenkins said as he walked his dog and took pictures of the redevelopment along Race Street Wednesday afternoon.

3CDC says its already rented out all of the apartments that are part of the renovations in Over-the-Rhine.

The organization says 50 percent of the commercial space has also been rented.

The other major project includes finishing the 450 space garage at Washington Park to offer more public parking to residents and visitors.