A mixed-use development is helping move the needle to restore Cincinnati’s Avondale neighborhood to vitality.
The third and final phase of comprehensive neighborhood revitalization, Avondale Town Center is providing “transformation without displacement,” says Jeff Beam, regional vice president of real estate development for The Community Builders. “It is achieving so many outcomes in one project.”
TCB partnered with the Avondale Development Corp. and the Avondale Coalition of Churches to transform an underutilized retail strip into a vibrant neighborhood center with a mix of community uses. The end result includes 119 mixed-income apartments and 76,000 square feet of commercial and retail across three buildings. The mixed-use development includes the first laundromat in the community, a relocated federally qualified health center, a market, and retail space for local businesses.
The housing, which serves households earning 30%, 50%, 60%, 80%, and 120% of the area median income, is also providing opportunity for individuals with financial flexibility that had to leave the neighborhood to find housing.
“This is a community where people are proud to live in but hasn’t had quality housing options for some time,” says Beam. “By providing mixed-income housing, we give an opportunity for people who want to live here because it’s a convenient, historic, and a vibrant African-American community.”
Completed at the end of November 2019, the almost $46 million development paired public and private resources, including New Markets and low-income housing tax credits, Department of Housing and Urban Development Choice Neighborhoods funds, city of Cincinnati proceeds, tax abatements, and institutional investments.
