Tuesday, September 21, 1999
Torrid development has Woodlawn folks bragging
BY SARA J. BENNETT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WOODLAWN — Village leaders, toting poster boards emblazoned with sketches of buildings under construction, gathered at the Century Inn last week to celebrate.
They were there ostensibly to mark the business group's changing its name from the Beautiful Woodlawn Business Association to the Woodlawn Chamber of Commerce. The move should attract new members through better benefits and affiliation with the Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance.
But the party really was about something bigger.
The village of 3,600, between Glendale and Wyoming 15 miles north of Cincinnati, is a pocket of surging redevelopment. Many said the boom means economic growth and added services, not just for Woodlawn residents, but for folks from other communities.
“Truly we are on fire, and some days it feels we're burning out of control with so much going on,” Mayor Susan Upton Farley told the crowd.
Several projects are going up just blocks from the Century Inn on Springfield Pike:
• Fieldstone at Glenwood Crossing: This $22 million, 352-unit apartment complex is expected to add more than 700 residents.
• A Kroger and nine other stores, including a possible fast-food franchise, will go in the new Glenwood Crossing Retail Center. This $9 million project could be completed by next summer.
• Woodlawn Commerce Center: Trane Co. will house its Greater Cincinnati offices in this $15 million to $20 million office, industrial and retail complex. The project is the first phase of the Springfield Pike downtown district revitalization program.
The development surge sparked reminiscing at last week's luncheon between Tra cey Artis, Ms. Upton Farley's daughter and campaign manager, and Mark Jackson, the mayor's challenger in November's election.
They ticked off the names of restaurants, a grocery store and other businesses once located in Woodlawn. They remembered the days before the village experienced a lull. And they talked of a bright future.
“I like the fact that people won't have to go outside the village for services,” Ms. Artis said. “Now they'll have restaurants to eat in and grocery stores to shop in.”
All the talk about growth tickles Stan Grueninger. The former owner of Grueninger Oldsmobile helped form the Beautiful Woodlawn Business Association in 1977. He lives in Glendale now but maintains an interest in the village. “It's a new time,” he said. “Woodlawn in a short time is going to surpass many of the villages that thought they had it made.”
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