CINCINNATI -- There's new life everywhere you look on Main Street these days.
Eleven businesses have opened since last summer. More are coming soon: At least six new places will open by fall, including a bowling and pinball bar, a wine and tapas restaurant, a Philly cheesesteak window, and a coffee and beer spot.
Aladdin's Mediterranean is going in where the Main Street Brewery once stood in the 1990s. The street also has tons of office space.
RELATED: Remember when Main Street was OTR's hot spot?
Polly Benzing, commercial leasing agent for Urban Sites, says it's a good thing Over-the-Rhine draws creative firms.
"Those people are patrons, I'm sure, already of everything in the neighborhood, and we just want it to feed on itself and be friendly and be open to everybody," she said.
Main Street has changed some since Kaldi's coffeehouse, Jefferson Hall and Have A Nice Day Cafe were there in the '90s. The neighborhood was a little grittier back then -- "dangerous," MOTR Pub co-owner Chris Schadler called it.
Unlike Vine Street, Schadler likes that Main Street's growth has been a little more organic. He's working to bring new life to the Woodward Theater, which should have its new marquee around the end of the year.
"(Main Street) is more rock n' roll, it's more of that old OTR," he said.
Former councilman Jim Tarbell agrees it's a more interesting mix. He's painted big on a mural at Vine and Central Parkway, but he's been dedicated to Main for decades.
"It's wonderful. I just, I've got my fingers crossed that we don't shuffle too much too quickly," Tarbell said.
