The $5.5 million Spring House Estates, tucked away on a hillside in North Avondale, will finally be developed after a three-year delay.

        The official groundbreaking will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday where Spring House Lane dead-ends into 14 acres of vacant land.

        Bulldozers are smoothing out the area for 17 upscale, custom-built homes, ranging in price from $250,000 to $350,000.

        “We call it an urban gem,” said Carolyn Wallace, marketing and sales representative for Avondale Redevelopment Corp., or ARC. “It is in a quiet, urban setting with a country aura.”

        A dispute among residents of Spring House Lane, the city of Cincinnati and ARC held up development of the site for three years.

        ARC purchased the site in 1997 for $500,000. Spring House Lane, a private street, was the only entrance.

        Very little maintenance had been done on the street in the last 70 years. There were no sidewalks, which is what residents wanted.

        Michael Quaranta, 3895 Spring House Lane, said the improvements would be too costly. “To do what needed to be done would have cost us $60,000 apiece.”

        The city couldn't do it, either. “It was like a driveway, we couldn't touch it,” said Sue Ernst, city sidewalks manager.

        Negotiations started among residents, ARC and the city in 1999 to make the street public. The city required sidewalks on both sides.

        The residents balked, claiming sidewalks would destroy much of the street's natural beauty.

        In June 1999, an agreement was reached to build only one sidewalk, leaving the east side of the street intact.

        The city spend $600,000 to tear out the rotted street, repave it, and put in storm and sanitary sewers, a sidewalk, and several retaining walls.

        “I like the sidewalk,” Mr. Quaranta said. “I think Spring House Estates will add to the ambiance we already have here.”

        Jim King, director of ARC, said six of the homes for Spring House Estates have been sold.

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