For Immediate Release
September 24, 2007

Contact: Joe Shields
(513) 271-7222 x10
jshields@wordsworthweb.com 

Avondale residents, community leaders, elected officials and Uptown businesses and organizations came together today to celebrate the beginning of the long-awaited Burnet Avenue revitalization.

“Together, we’re going to take back Burnet Avenue,” said Tony Brown, president and CEO of the Uptown Consortium. “This area known as a crime hot spot will become Uptown’s prime spot for community development and economic empowerment.”

The two-phased plan will bring housing, office and retail to Burnet Avenue in Avondale, Uptown’s most populous neighborhood. Phase one will feature more than 150,000-square feet of office and retail space and up to 60 units of new workforce housing. Site preparation began in August at Burnet Avenue between the intersections of Erkenbrecher, Northern and Harvey avenues.

Phase two will focus on neighborhood retail services and additional housing. The consortium and the Avondale Community Council have purchased the shopping center at Burnet and Forest avenues, with plans underway to recruit small and minority-owned businesses. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is funding a “project facilitator” position as part of an Outreach Inclusion Program, designed to ensure minority and women-owned businesses are hired as contractors for various projects. And a workforce program is being implemented to recruit Avondale residents for construction jobs created by the redevelopment.

“The beginning of this revitalization project is great news for the residents of Avondale,” said Patricia Milton, president of the Avondale Community Council. “This project really extends the benefits of revitalization to the entire neighborhood, with job opportunities, new housing and new retail. We’re very excited.”

The Uptown Consortium is serving as master developer for the project and is investing more than $25 million for site acquisition and development. The Burnet Avenue Revitalization Team (BART) – a committee of the Avondale Community Council comprising residents of Avondale and surrounding communities and the local business association – will monitor implementation. And the City of Cincinnati provided $2.3 million in financial assistance and land grants.

The project has been guided by redevelopment principles created by BART. “We listened to the community,” said Jim Anderson, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children’s, whose medical office building is part of phase one. Anderson is also co-chair of the consortium. “This plan is bold and big enough to make a real difference for the people who live and work in the Avondale area.”

Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney is publisher of the Cincinnati Herald, which will relocate to one of the buildings being constructed in phase one. “We’re proud to be part of this project,” she said. “Among many other benefits, this project will go far in providing a new face to Burnet Avenue and to Avondale. This is a wonderful community.”