Five things you need to know today, and these community developers are doing work
1) Downtown garage to be demolished
The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority has plans to demolished a garage it owns near the Duke Energy Convention Center in order to prepare it for a potential redevelopment
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2) Kroger's former CEO made to explain departure
A Hamilton County judge has ordered Kroger's former CEO, Rodney McMullen, to explain the circumstances surrounding his sudden departure, which the company at the time said was linked to certain conduct.
3) Sushi restaurant moves to Clifton space
A new restaurant has opened in the Clifton Gaslight District in a building formerly occupied by a longtime Mexican eatery. Restaurateur Hideki Harada may be 'running on fumes right now,' as he told the Business Courier, but the new space is filled with promise, and the sushi rolls offer a local flare.
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4) New corporate event space coming downtown
A Norwood entrepreneur who has partnered with the likes of Procter & Gamble, Kroger, GE Aerospace and FC Cincinnati is opening a new corporate events and meeting space in downtown Cincinnati. CEO Joey Haselmayer describes why big companies rely on off-site digs for some of their most important functions.
5) Cincinnati's newest music festival anticipates huge crowd
The Voices of America Country Music Fest in West Chester Township, which is in its third year, is expected to dazzle this weekend with headliners including Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Hardy, Bailey Zimmerman, Darius Rucker, Shaboozey, Carly Pearce and more.
On the calendar
Want a chance to connect with the Business Courier's news team? You're in luck. On Thursday, Aug. 14, the Courier is hosting a Meet the Newsroom event at the Scripps Center. Our reporters will be available in both our newsroom and our sponsor, UB Greensfelder's office, where you'll gain insights into what makes a compelling story and learn the most effective ways to share your news with our team. We'll also host a special session on crafting strong nominations for our Business Courier awards, led by a past Forty Under 40 honoree and program judge who will share insider tips and best practices.
Call for nominations
Nominations are now open for the Business Courier's CLIMB (Cincinnati Lifts Inclusion and Minority Business) Awards. The Business Courier annually honors organizations in the private, public and nonprofit sectors that showcase successful efforts in making their organization more equitable and inclusive. Nominations for individuals are here, and for organizations are here.
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The importance of community development corporations
You might roll your eyes or yawn at mention in a Business Courier story of this or that lowly nonprofit community development corporation, or CDC. The acronyms are tough enough to muddle through without there being two CHCURCs in the city – the Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. and the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corp.
And really, who cares what these entities do? Seems like they're just out there filling flower boxes and advocating for speed bumps.
But in fact they do a lot more than that, and in many ways, they've never been more crucial to commercial real estate development in the city.
It's tough to be a developer right now, and that's true of almost every city in the country. Costs remain high – for labor, materials, land and debt – and outspoken community pushback is more than just a nuisance, it's a deterrent, making a real difference in what and where developers choose to build.
In such a time of enormous risk – and risk aversion – CDCs can step in to fill important roles in the pre-development process. They can perform land assembly. They can seek out site-readiness and building stabilization grants. They can bring in municipal partners and leverage the help of local land banks and port authorities. They can perform consensus building through community input sessions. And they can bid out the sites to prospective developers, who may be more inclined to pursue certain projects the CDC's ground-laying work has taken that much risk out of the project.
Here are four recent examples (of many) of CDCs helping to move projects forward, bringing new life to Cincinnati's historic neighborhoods:
The Pleasant Ridge Development Corp. has filed permits to demolish multiple properties in the neighborhood's business district, including one that's been an eyesore for years, hoping to create a standout mixed-use project at 'one of Cincinnati's best intersections.'
The College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. is hoping to entice a developer to build a mixed-income project on land near its rapidly densifying central business district, where development momentum is taking off again post-Covid-19 pandemic.
Northsiders Engaged in Sustainable Transformation has acquired a historic former theater and expects to proceed with building repairs and stabilization before turning it around into either a commercial space or community asset.
Lastly, Mount Airy CURE is about to demolish six blighted buildings with a notion of bringing in a developer at one of the most prominent sites in the neighborhood, where there hasn't been any new development in decades.
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