The regular cadence of new real estate and economic development continues in Avondale, with this week’s groundbreaking of a $43 million Avondale Town Center.
To make way for the project, a majority of an existing strip mall at the corner of Reading Road and Forest Avenue will be demolished for the new two-building center, which is slated to include 80,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 119 units of mixed income housing on the upper floors. UC Health and the Cincinnati Health Department have already signed agreements to open a jointly-operated medical clinic and dentist office anchoring the north building. The Community Builders and the Avondale Community Council are working to identify a grocery tenant and a pharmacy.
Beth Robinson, President and CEO of Uptown Consortium, and Rick Lofgren, President and CEO of UC Health, at the Avondale Town Center Groundbreaking.
Uptown Consortium granted $2.08 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) to the project. NMTCs increase community development and economic growth by private investors. As a certified NMTCs “allocation authority,” Uptown Consortium uses NMTCs to invest in projects in underdeveloped neighborhoods. To date, Uptown Consortium has invested more than $600 million in the community through the program.
The Uptown Consortium is the master planner of the Uptown Innovation Corridor, emerging from the new I-71 MLK Interchange. The goal is to create pedestrian-friendly mixed-use developments that build on the regions existing research and innovation institutions. Other developments in Uptown that incorporate retail, office, and residential space, like the Avondale Town Center, contribute to the Consortium’s larger vision for the area’s renaissance.
The Avondale Town Center is the third phase of development funded by Community Builders’ $29.5 million Choice Neighborhoods grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Earlier projects funded by the grant include 319 units of new or refurbished housing, including 140 units of affordable housing.
For more information on Uptown Consortium New Market Tax Credits, click here.