CINCINNATI — A new, state-of-the-art recreation center in Over-the-Rhine may be a huge benefit to a neighborhood that has been plagued with drugs and violence. But not for resident Peter Howe.
Howe learned in late December that Cincinnati officials plan to shut down a small section of Republic Street to create an entrance to a day care that will be part of the recreation center project set to break ground on May 1. He and his neighbor will no longer have parking spaces in front of their homes.
“I don’t want my street to turn into a sidewalk or a pedestrian entry for a daycare. I don’t know anybody that would want that,” Howe said. “If this is how the city is going to operate, I don’t know why I’m down here investing, I don’t know why I’m living here.”
Howe has already emailed city council members and said he will do whatever it takes to keep his parking.
“The public really needs to know what’s going on down here … they can come in one day and just take your street away. People need to know about that,” Howe said.
This is the first phase of a nearly $100 million investment that the city and nonprofit developer Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, or 3CDC, plan to make in a neighborhood where the drive-through drug market was so severe that police barricaded a street for six months last year.
While most residents seem to approve of and appreciate the expansive projects and Over-the-Rhine Community Council overwhelmingly voted in favor of it during its November meeting, some have lingering questions.
“It’s change, and I think change is hard, and there are a lot of issues to be worked through,” said Over-the-Rhine Community Council President Kevin Hassey, who wasn’t familiar with Howe’s situation or the closure of Republic Street, but said others also have concerns. “It was overall approved but that’s not to say there aren’t things that are challenges that we need to discuss further.”
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Some residents are concerned about where neighborhood children will go for after-school and summer programming, once the current Over-the-Rhine Recreation Center closes in May and June for construction, Hassey said.
A city spokesperson said the Cincinnati Recreation Commission is working with 3CDC to finalize plans for OTR children. They will likely offer summer camp and after-school care at the Lincoln Recreation Center. Other summer options will be at the Corryville Recreation Centers, Ziegler Park and pool, and Wesley Chapel Mission Center which will offer enhanced programming. CRC is also exploring transportation options for camp participants.
“The neighbors are collecting their ongoing issues during a six-month test period and then everybody is going to get back together again and see how things stand at the end of six months, maybe summer or fall,” Hassey said.
Cincinnati City Council will likely vote on funding the project in the coming weeks. This is after four years of community engagement.
3CDC and city officials have been meeting with residents since 2021 to incorporate their feedback into design changes,such as adding a full-sized roller rink to the recreation center.
“I don’t think with any development you’re going to have 100 percent approval. But I feel like on this one, the vast majority of people feel very comfortable and happy with where we’ve landed on the design and what this is going to do for the neighborhood,” said Joe Rudemiller, vice president of marketing and communications for 3CDC.
Rudemiller said the city and 3CDC have had many conversations with Howe to try to accommodate him within the broad needs of the community.
“I feel like we came to a good solution for everyone where there is temporary parking and he can access his building for short periods of time to do things like take groceries in, and then there is other parking in the surrounding area that he can use for longer term,” Rudemiller said. “It’s (that section of Republic Street) not very conducive to vehicles getting in and out, and so we feel like this was a reasonable compromise that the city really presented, but we certainly support.”
Howe said there is almost no street parking for residents on nearby West McMicken Street, especially for his full-sized pickup truck.
“That street is already always full … it’s not like spaces are readily available,” Howe said. “You have to go blocks, over and over until you are lucky enough to find a spot.”
The new Findlay Garage is also an option, but he said it is expensive and a three-block walk. He’s also concerned because he sometimes must carry one of his senior dogs into his home.
“I think that parking is always something that is discussed in Over-the-Rhine,” Rudemiller said. “You have residents, you have businesses, you have visitors. I think trying to make sure there is parking available for all of those groups at the same time certainly presents challenges and there is a lot of push and pull and give and take on that.”
A city spokesperson did not respond to WCPO’s question about Howe’s specific situation. City council passed a new parking plan for North Over-the-Rhine late last year which changed some previously unrestricted parking into set areas and hours for paid visitors and residential parking permits, while also adding flex parking.
In a statement to WCPO, city manager Sheryl Long praised the projects coming to the neighborhood.
“I am intensely focused on facilitating thoughtful, deliberate investment in North OTR. There is so much momentum and potential for growth in this area and with the help of our partners, like 3CDC, we are moving forward with community-centered projects. This marked increase in development will reduce vacancy, blight, and crime while following through on my commitment to create thriving neighborhoods for all our residents,” Long said.
For more than a decade, developers and the city have spent hundreds of millions of dollars south of Liberty Street, transforming it from a dangerous and blighted neighborhood into an urban hotspot with hip restaurants and bars.
That revitalization is finally moving north.
In the coming years, a slew of new public projects are planned: a new recreation center, a new and expanded health care center, a revitalized Grant Park, new streetscaping with cleaning ambassadors and new housing and first-floor retail inside once-vacant buildings.
The Findlay Community Center is the first to be built at the playground and park next to Howe’s home. The 60,000-square-foot facility is set to open in the fall of 2026.
“The rec center is going to be an impressive space. It’s going to have a lot of community rooms, there’s going to be a dedicated roller rink,” Rudemiller said. “There will be a workout room, gymnasium, track, indoor aquatics, as well as green space and park space.”
Other projects include:
- The Crossroad Health Center will move from its current location on Liberty Street to a few blocks north and the current site of the OTR Recreation Center. The new facility will add pharmacy and dental services and allow double the number of patients to be treated.
- A newly renovated Grant Park will have a new playground, dog park, sports courts, youth programming, and summer camp.
- Findlay Flats is a project that renovates 11 buildings at Vine and Elder Streets into 45 mixed-income housing units with seven new commercial spaces.
- New streetscaping and beautification along the northern section of Vine Street with pedestrian safety improvements, underground utilities, and water main replacement. Cleaning ambassadors will work on picking up trash and cleaning graffiti, while four annual multi-day blitzes address larger cleaning projects.
“Any time you take an empty building that is vacant or a park space like Findlay Playground that has been plagued with crime over several years and you breathe new life into it, and you activate that space with programming, with residents, with businesses, I think naturally crime tends to go down,” Rudemiller said.
Meanwhile, 3CDC has already started talking to residents about the types of teen activities to plan at the Findlay Community Center.
“A great example is the youth programming that we’ve done over at Ziegler Park. I think it has made an impact,” Rudemiller said. “In addition to free swim lessons and a low-cost summer camp, we’ve been trying to do more teen programming and trying to give folks and youth in the neighborhood something productive to do.”
Hassey said youth crime is a worsening problem in this neighborhood, and he’s hopeful the new development will help.
Howe is also hopeful for a solution that allows him to keep parking near his home.
“Work with my neighbor and I. Give us something. We’ve invested well over a million dollars between the two of us,” said Howe, who spent 10 years renovating his 1870s home. “For me, it’s 10 years of hard labor, sweat and tears. Why not work with me?”
