Evanston TIF funding to aid King Studios, other redevelopment efforts

Cincinnati's Evanston neighborhood will receive $400,000 for various projects identified as catalysts for stabilization and redevelopment.

The funding was approved in a pair of ordinances approved by City Council on December 19.

The first ordinance authorized the appropriation of $200,000 in tax increment financing (TIF) funding for the King Studios project at the corner of Montgomery Road and Brewster Avenue and redirected $50,000 in non-TIF funding for commercial façade improvements along the Montgomery Road neighborhood business district.

That increases the project funding for King Studios from $950,000 to $1.1 million, the estimated full cost of preliminary design and property acquisition, demolition and assessment. That work is approximately 70 percent complete.

Being developed in partnership with Xavier University, the project will include space for Flavor of Art Studio, a recording center, and an interactive memorial space and education center.

The project, located just three blocks from its original headquarters on Brewster Avenue, will celebrate King Records' role as the once sixth-largest recording label in the nation. The company, which was an industry trailblazer in putting African Americans into real leadership positions, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum during a historical marker unveiling and ceremony in November 2008.

The second ordinance authorized the appropriation of $150,000 in TIF funding for targeted residential demolitions along the Woodburn Avenue corridor, providing the City's local match for the Ohio Attorney General's Moving Ohio Forward program.

The corridor, stretching from Dana Avenue to Madison Road and including the Xavier University area, the Five Points intersection, and DeSales Corner, was identified in the 2007 Evanston Housing Strategy as the most high-profile area for blight removal, foreclosure prevention, and the stabilization of homeownership.

Community planning efforts have identified additional residential and commercial improvement projects, and, pending availability, City administration may request an additional $250,000 in TIF funds in 2013.

Images courtesy of SHP Leading Design

Previous reading on BC:
King Studios funding approved, renderings updated (7/1/09)
Funding transfer could prepare Evanston site for King Studios (6/17/09)
King Records renderings (12/10/08)
Evanston submits housing strategy (7/2/08)
Evanston looks to tighten "Five Points" business district (6/19/07)