Northside HOME project to be first in nation

S. Flavio Espinoza's "Suburban Loft" design

Two new single-family homes at Chase and Fergus streets in Northside will be the first of their kind in the nation.

The Cincinnati Northside Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CNCURC) project is a result of David Brown's HOME House Project, a national design initiative aimed at providing well-designed, environmentally-friendly affordable housing.

Brown launched the project at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem. In 2003, an open competition for the best design drew 400 entries from the United States and six other countries.

Soon after, a travelling exhibit was arranged with the hope of teaming with local community development corporations in each city where the exhibit was hosted to build at least one of the designs. The Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, which hosted the local exhibit, chose to sponsor the CNCURC as its local development corporation.

The Northside homes will be the first two HOME House Project designs to be completed in the nation. Five other designs have been chosen to be built in Winston-Salem and one has been chosen to be built in El Paso.

This project is also one of the two projects in the City of Cincinnati participating in the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED pilot program.

Construction began in late August. On September 6, the City hosted a ceremony celebrating the kickoff of Phase I of the Fergus Street Homeownership project and the beginning of the Northside Neighborhood Enhancement Initiative (Blitz).

The design, by architect S. Flavio Espinoza, is called "Suburban Loft" and features a two-story stairway atrium and a butterfly-shaped roof with solar collectors to generate electricity. Espinoza worked alongside local Northside architect Alice Emmons to refine his design.

Each home will be two stories and approximately 1,400 square feet in size. Each will include three bedrooms, two baths and a detached garage.

The homes will cost $226,000 apiece to build but will likely be sold for around $180,000.

The CNCURC plans to have the homes ready for sale by mid-to-late December.

During construction, the CNCURC will be conducting instructional on-site tours about green building. To date, those participating in the tours include the USGBC, the American Institute of Architects and the Congress of Residential Architects.

A third environmentally-friendly house, to be desiged by Alice Emmons and to be built at Chase Avenue and Mad Anthony Street, will round out Phase I.

As a condition of CNCURC's construction loan with North Side Bank & Trust, construction on the third house will not begin until one of the HOME houses is sold.

Current sponsors of the Northside HOME project are the City of Cincinnati, the Contemporary Arts Center, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the MetLife Foundation, Pella, the Habegger Corporation, the Ed and JoAnn Hubert Family Foundation and an anonymous donor. The CNCURC is seeking more sponsors.

The Fergus Street Homeownership Project was designed to boost homeownership and to stem the tide of foreclosures, vacancies and crime in the area bounded (roughly) by Pullan Avenue, Knowlton Street, Mad Anthony Street and Langland Street.

Phase II of the project will be the acquisition and rehabilitation/demolition of 20 properties in the target area. The CNCURC purchased six of these properties from the City earlier this year for $1.

Building Cincinnati is currently awaiting architectural sketches. Those will be posted as soon as the are received. Photos of the building site will be posted next week.

WINDOWS LIVE BIRD'S EYE VIEW
GOOGLE AERIAL MAP