From Soapbox Cincinnati
| TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
We’ve all heard stories about the Cincinnati of five years ago. The restaurant corridor on Vine Street was just getting started, and the streetcar was only a whisper of an idea. Today it seems that construction is everywhere. The Banks and Mercer Commons popped up overnight, and redevelopment is taking over in neighborhoods like Walnut Hills. Long-time residents and recent transplants are breathing life back into the city, and new projects are being announced everyday. What will the next five years bring? Soapbox rounded up 10 projects in the Greater Cincinnati area that, once finished, are sure to create a buzz and more economic development.
Lower Price Hill
Lower Price Hill Community School recently changed its name to Education Matters, and formed a new nonprofit, Community Matters. But that’s not the most exciting news from the organization—renovations on its new home in Lower Price Hill will be completed this spring. Education Matters moved into the old St. Michael’s complex in 2007, and has been working diligently to create a space for the community. Work on the sanctuary, which is now a community gathering and event space, is complete, with the rest of the complex soon to follow. The renovations will allow Education Matters to expand its existing programming, as well as offer affordable housing to the neighborhood’s AmeriCorps members. Its thrift store, food pantry and once-a-month soup kitchen are getting facelifts, and will reopen soon. Education Matters also acquired several other properties in Lower Price Hill, including a building on Warsaw Avenue that will serve as an adult education center during the day, and will offer something for the community at night. Two floors of a building on Eighth Street will have service learning through, and the bottom floor will become a community-owned co-op. Community Matters was recently awarded Impact 100, which is allowing it to open the only community laundromat in the neighborhood.
