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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - 10:07 PM
The view of the present and Vision 2010
By Barry Gee
In this, the inaugural issue of the new Queen City Forum Magazine, we continue our look at Cincinnati’s neighborhoods. Cincinnati Tomorrow, through our weekly After5 Walks, explores different neighborhoods as well as our downtown area. Our mission, to attract and retain creative and young people, causes us to look at areas that would be attractive to the creative class. In this edition, we look at East Walnut Hills, near Eden Park.
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East Walnut Hills is a small neighborhood centered near the corner of Madison Rd. and Woodburn Ave. The neighborhood remains a racially mixed community with a solid housing stock and an up-and-coming business district.
Developed as an early suburb, East Walnut Hills is physically blessed with many styles of architecture, including Italianate, High Victorian Gothic, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Tudor. The Madison-Woodburn business district is on the National Register of Historic Places and the City of Cincinnati created the local East Walnut Hills, Uplands and Cleinview/Hackberry Historic Districts to preserve the architectural integrity of the homes there.
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A broad community based partnership, the “06 Alliance” (named for the 45206 zip code), was formed with neighboring Walnut Hills and several community groups to create a long-range plan for the area, titled Vision 2010. The East Walnut Hills Assembly and the Walnut Hills Area Council have approved the plan which looks at eight areas of community life: Economic Development, Housing, Land Use, Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Leisure, Education, Safety, Transportation and Health and Human Services.
From a Cincinnati Tomorrow perspective, the Vision 2010 plan has some of the same characteristics as our Creative City Plan, particularly in the areas of economic development and the Arts. The Arts, Entertainment, Recreation & Leisure section of the plan calls for establishing art districts with increased artist housing in the area. According to Dorothea Kennedy, of the East Walnut Hills Assembly, “we’re very close to Eden Park and the Art Academy so we have a great number of artists who live nearby.” They hope to capitalize on this to help create artist districts, despite the pending move of the Art Academy to Over-the-Rhine.
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The community is also striving to improve the business district and the new DeSales Plaza development at the corner of Woodburn and Madison is the cornerstone of that renaissance. Built to fit in with the existing structures in the neighborhood, the development is thriving (with a bank branch and coffee shop to open soon). Simone’s Restaurant, the newly re-opened contemporary restaurant moved from a small strip center on Woodburn Ave. to anchor the new development. Now with 130 seats including a 40-person patio area, Simone’s owner Atif Randolph provides an eclectic menu, jazz Thursday through Saturday and an impressive array of art on the walls. Simone’s also has one of the most racially mixed clienteles of any restaurant in the city.
Other businesses have also recently moved to the neighborhood including the WAIF Radio studios on E. McMillan, U.C. Physicians (administrative offices), The Children's Palazzo (clothing), Emmis Books (publisher) and Galemmo Investment Group, all moving to Madison Road and the Coach & Four restaurant in the Edgecliff Apartments, which recently moved from Covington.
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While a community council such as the East Walnut hills Assembly can only have limited impact on economic development from a monetary perspective, it appears that they have used what funds they do have wisely by making streetscape improvements and helping create an environment attractive for development. Major 2003-4 grants through the Assembly are in the process of putting in place a dramatic new streetscape for the DeSales Corner Business District. According to Kennedy, “The Assembly has spent countless hours in helping revitalize the district. We have been involved in preparing the area for investors.”
No article on East Walnut Hills would be complete without a mention of an old favorite business of mine, Schulhoff Tool Rental (2709 Woodburn Ave.) For close to 70 years, this local landmark has served this community, first as an electrical repair shop, then as a hardware store and finally as the tool rental “corral” that still exists today. Within this replica of a Western town you can rent every conceivable tool, from a ladder to a Bobcat loader. Perfect for the rehabber or do-it-yourself type.
The wide variety of housing options, the new businesses and the close proximity to Eden Park and Downtown make East Walnut Hills an attractive option for the creative class.
Barry Gee, Executive Director of local organization Cincinnati Tomorrow, also writes the “Neighborhood Spotlight.” The column breaks down the fabric of Cincinnati area neighborhoods and discusses who is in the neighborhood, why, how long and where the neighborhood is going.
Links
· Cincinnati Tomorrow and Cincinnati Tomorrow CL
· Vision 2010
· Cincinnati Tomorrow Creative City Plan
· Cincinnati Tomorrow After5 Walk schedule
· About the 06 Alliance
Contact Information
· barryg@queencityforum.com
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