There’s a new twist this year to College Hill’s annual meeting. Executive Director of the College Hill Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHURC) Seth Walsh decided to offer behind-the-scenes tours of buildings in various stages of redevelopment. It’s called “The Avenue Experience.” The Wednesday event from 6-9 p.m. is at the Patrick Wolterman Memorial Park on Hamilton Avenue.
He wants people to see how far the Cincinnati neighborhood has come. “Our entire work is encompassed in a six-block business district," he says. "In the last six years we’ve led over $83 million in redevelopment efforts here, including the corners of Hamilton and North Bend that are finally coming back to life.”
Walsh says CHURC is putting the pieces together one step at a time. Within a year, 18 new businesses will be located in College Hill. Here are some of them:
Brink Brewing
Tortilleria Garcia
Kiki
MashRoots
Manga Manga
Soon, Sleepy Bee Café will be opening and so will an ice cream and bar place. One-hundred apartments are also set to open. Then there are other businesses Walsh can’t name.
Wednesday tours include:
HaNoBe at Linden Square (6201 Hamilton Ave), the $9.5 million KeyMark development project, which includes four buildings:
- RuthEllen: 5906 Hamilton Avenue
- The Nameless White Building (Future Home of Big Chill): 5910 Hamilton Avenue
- The Furniture Store (Future Home of Sleepy Bee Cafe): 5920 Hamilton Avenue
- Mergard Lanes: 6060 Hamilton Avenue
The Hollywood Theatre: 5916 Hamilton AvenueOurShop: 5852 and 5846 Hamilton Ave
Hollywood Apartments: 5818 Hamilton Ave.
Marquet (top floor): 5854 Hamilton Ave.
College Hill CURC’s Office: 6107 Hamilton Ave
The Dixon Building: 6128 Hamilton Ave
“We are right at the cusp of something really cool happening in College Hill,” says Walsh. “If you saw it five years ago compared to today you’d be like wow — it’s night and day different.”
