A state grant will kickstart development plans for a long-empty lot in Bond Hill. The Port purchased and demolished the Swifton Commons Shopping Center in 2013.
Lindsey Florea is the Port's senior vice president of real estate. She says several development plans have fallen through since then and the Port convened an advisory committee for what's now called MidPointe Crossing.
"We didn't want to drive the vision, but we wanted it to be very inclusive," Florea told WVXU. "What came out of that was residential heavy. The community really wanted to see a residential community with a mix of options."
Florea says the community specifically wanted to see more homeownership opportunities. The first phase of development for the 17-acre site will include several detached, single-family homes, as well as a few dozen single-family townhomes.
The site is between Seymour and Reading roads, just south of Allen Temple AME Church. Bond Hill Community Council President Jacqueline R. Edmerson said in a city press release the community is grateful for the collaborative relationship.
"This important investment represents a shared commitment to community growth, economic opportunity, and neighborhood revitalization, and we are excited to see this project take shape," she said.
Florea says future phases of the project will also be informed by continual community input, and could include multi-family housing like duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes.
"We're kind of seeing how the market reacts to phase one," she said. "The plan is to probably get a development advisor on board to work through some of that with us, but we're still deciding what that next path is."
The $2 million state grant is from Ohio's Residential Economic Development District (REDD) program. It will be used for site preparation like grading, stormwater design, and utility work.
It’s not yet clear how much future construction will cost or when it could begin.
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