After five years of steady work, a once-quiet stretch of Warsaw Avenue in East Price Hill is getting a loud new identity. The Warsaw Creative Campus, a row of restored storefronts, artist studios and new apartments, is nearly through its first phase, with organizers saying construction wraps this month and a public grand opening is set for July.
Price Hill Will, the neighborhood’s community-development corporation, says the campus pulls together eight historic buildings in the 3100 block of Warsaw Avenue and is anchored by the MYCincinnati youth orchestra. According to Price Hill Will, the project is designed to preserve the block’s historic facades while adding commercial storefronts, affordable studio space and upper-floor apartments.
Project documents and nonprofit finance summaries show the work is a multimillion-dollar effort funded with grants, tax credits and loans. The Cincinnati Development Fund lists Phase I of the Warsaw Creative Campus at about $9.6 million and records 13 restricted rental units, and a separate entry shows Phase II adding nine more units. The New Markets Tax Credit Coalition also notes that New Markets Tax Credit financing was used to help close the project’s capital stack.
Price Hill Will says it has rehabilitated six commercial buildings that will house several businesses and affordable housing, and that the project’s first phase is expected to be completed in May with a grand opening slated for July. In coverage of the project, CityBeat quotes local entrepreneurs and residents who say the arts-focused mix, from a youth orchestra to small cafes and studios, is already changing how people use the street.
Funding and public support
According to City of Cincinnati planning documents, Price Hill Will has requested TIF assistance for parcels at the east end of the campus, and the Port of Cincinnati points to nearby projects like ARCO as part of a coordinated strategy to revive Price Hill’s business districts. Local lenders and nonprofit partners listed across project materials include the Cincinnati Development Fund, Fifth Third Bank and LISC, which helped assemble loans and tax-credit financing.
Arts as an engine
Arts groups are intended to be the campus’s anchor. MYCincinnati occupies the old firehouse, and entrepreneurs such as Urbana Cafe and other creative-minded businesses have set up shop along the block. Community leaders told CityBeat that organizations including the National Commission for Black Arts & Entertainment plan free food-and-art programs tied to the campus’s outreach.
What residents can expect
The Warsaw Creative Campus is taking shape alongside separate city street and safety work that is slimming lanes, adding speed cushions and replacing lead service lines as part of a roughly 10 to 11 million dollar corridor rebuild tied to rail-sale funds. Reporting on the streets work and city project pages shows construction will continue through the year even as storefronts open, and Price Hill Will says it plans to keep working block by block to extend the same arts-plus-housing strategy deeper into Price Hill. Local project maps and schedules are available through city planning notices and project summaries.
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