If you’ve spent any time in Cincinnati, you know the hulking white building with the tower on top that rises just west of I-75. In a city of architectural gems, the Crosley Building in Camp Washington stands out for its size and its neglect.
What might not be apparent gazing at the crumbling building is that a significant amount of history took place there. This podcast is the story of how a now-empty building helped change the world, and how the fate of the neighborhood around it is tied up in its construction, its boom years, its decline – and efforts to resurrect it.
As you might guess, decades of industrial activity leave quite a residue. And the Mill Creek Valley in which Camp Washington sits is a prime example of environmental degradation and neglect.
From a devastating flood and fire that destroyed the building next to the Crosley Building just a few years after it was completed to the lingering effects of pollutants in the valley, the environment has long struggled in Camp Washington.
There are plans to address that — and to rehab buildings like the Crosley Building. But such plans often bring tension with them. When buildings get fixed up, property values rise and sometimes long-tenured residents have a hard time keeping up. Will that be the case in Camp Washington?
The Crosley Building faces a number of challenges before it can be brought back to useful life, like many places in the Mill Creek Valley. Camp Washington community organizer Joe Gorman and Camp Washington Business Association President Matt Wagner talk more about the challenges ahead and the promise of a cleaner Camp Washington.
"First I'd like to see the building revitalized so we're not having to worry about glass on the sidewalks and neighbors complaining about seeing people come into the building — we've had to weather that storm for 20 years," Wagner says. "I see, hopefully, folks coming here, hopefully before a soccer game or a Bengals game, and having different parties and doing different things here in Camp, instead of working here and going somewhere else. We're really excited for that vision."
Questions about what happens after a neighborhood starts drawing more attention and investment are nothing new. Could it lead to gentrification in Camp Washington? The University of Cincinnati's David Stradling and Anne Delano Steinert discuss.
"The question is, is the infrastructure here and the architecture in this neighborhood attractive enough for the next wave?" Stradling posits. "Which is to say, it has lots of qualities that are attractive to arts folks — it is funky — the question is, will the middle class folks find that attractive? And my guess is, probably not."
Delano Steinert disagrees.
"New York City, where I lived, is incredibly expensive — and you put up with that, because there is so much great stuff that you get," she says. "But once you get hit by a hurricane every five years and you're wiped out, I think people on the East Coast — particularly due to global warming and economic reasons as well — are starting to look around."
Recent grants and a proposed redevelopment of the Crosley Building could mean remediation and full-scale rehab of the site for residential use. In the next episode, we'll talk about what that could look like.
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