The Smith Foundation has applied for demolition permits to demolish five buildings in Over-the-Rhine.
On the chopping block are 208-214 W Liberty Street and 1711-1713 Elm Street.
The properties on Elm were built around 1880. 212 Liberty was built around 1865 and 214 Liberty was built around 1885. 208 Liberty is a newer commercial space.
This is property of Smith Foundation Properties (Gale Smith), which began buying properties in the early 2000s.
The purpose was to rehabilitate the buildings in one of Over-the-Rhine's worst stretches and to make them a viable part of a new, revitalized Over-the-Rhine.
Instead, the strategy appears to have been to let the buildings disintegrate and then to demolish them.
No plans for redevelopment of the newly-created vacant lots or any of Smith's other properties in the immediate area have surfaced.
According to its website* , Gale Smith is the President and Treasurer of the Smith Family Foundation, which is a non-profit serving the needs of local youth.
The Smith Family Foundation offices are on the 200 block of W Liberty Street.
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* The website looks like it hasn't been updated in a while. This seems pretty commonplace with non-profits' websites.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Smith Foundation to demolish neglected OTR properties
