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From ‘crime spot’ to ‘prime spot’: Avondale location prepares for community and economic development

Avondale residents and community leaders celebrated the long-awaited revitalization of Burnet Avenue at a dedication ceremony on September 24. The event included music by the Rockdale School Gospel Choir and Firelytes Steel Drum Band, keynote speakers, food and fun! The new development that is spurring Avondales revitalization is led by the Uptown Consortium and influenced by ongoing community input.

Phase I of the Burnet Avenue plan will feature a building to house the Cincinnati Herald and a building to house medical clinics and offices for Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center. There will also be room for mixed-use retail. Local firm DNK Architects has created a design theme called Weaving Together the Community, which pays homage both to Avondales cultural identity and the redevelopment principles of a strategy developed by the Burnet Avenue Revitalization Team (BART). Design elements, building materials, and an UrbanScape site plan that features meandering walkways will create a warm, neighborhood feel. The structures themselves will be scaled to suit the neighborhood setting.

"Weaving and braiding are key elements in African-American culture and are symbolic of how the community has come together to help revitalize Avondale,” said DNK President David Kirk, who developed the design theme. “Our shared goal is to help make Avondale, in general, and Burnet Avenue, in particular, a destination.”

The Uptown Consortium is master developer for the project and is investing more than $50 million for site acquisition and development. The City of Cincinnati has contributed more than $1 million in land grants for this first phase. “We are taking back Burnet Avenue,” said Tony T. 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.”

BART will monitor implementation of the plan. The group—which includes residents of Avondale and surrounding communities and the Avondale Community Council (ACC)— has become a committee of the ACC.

Phase I of the Burnet Avenue plan will feature 150,000 square feet of office, retail and additional workforce space. The second phase will focus on neighborhood retail services and additional housing. The Uptown Consortium, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and DNK Neyer (the project contractor) are working together to ensure that small and minority-owned businesses and Avondale residents have opportunities to work on these projects.