Cities focus on downtown revivals
Hamilton, Middletown see projects as catalyst for more activities.
By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer
9:30 PM Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Page 2 of 2

Middletown

    Middletown has deals in hand for Cincinnati State to open a branch campus in the fall, plans to develop downtown housing and a new restaurant on Central Avenue on the way. Downtown Middletown is actively pursuing Main Street status, which would help with name recognition and in securing funding, Kay said.
    Pendleton Art Center, art studios, opened last year.
    “It’s going to happen whether we like it or not. The explosion in Middletown. You’ve got one exit up from Middletown, you’ve got developments, you’ve got big swath of shopping malls, you got residential properties. One exit down, same thing. Middletown’s kind of that last little stop on I-75 for things to really explode and developers are starting to see that and they’re starting to see the fact that properties are very inexpensive right now in Middletown. We need to be prepared for that,” Kay said.
    City Manager Judy Gilleland said she thinks there’s a future for the city in having an educational environment downtown.
    “We’ve certainly been down in the trenches for a few years now. I would like to think we’re able to poke our heads up and see a few successes at this point. There’s nothing easy about working against the economy, so we certainly have our work cut out for us in the future,” Gilleland said.
    Jay Moorman owns BeauVerre Riordan Stained Glass Studios. The oldest continually operating stained glass studio in the U.S., it has been a staple on Central Avenue going on nine years. For six of those years, it was alone, Moorman said.
    “It was a scary time,” he said.
    He was part of a group that looked to form a Main Street organization and first approached Pendleton about opening the art center, now caddy-corner from BeauVerre. News of Cincinnati State and the opening of Pendleton was a tipping point, Moorman said.
    He said he never thought five years ago, things would be where they are now.
    “People want to get involved in downtown and care,” he said. “I couldn’t be more encouraged.”