About 3,000 people are expected to come downtown this weekend to glimpse urban living options from trendy Over-the-Rhine lofts to converted downtown factories.

        But what is perhaps most unusual about this year's annual Downtown Tour of Living is a collection of new apartments and homes in a third neighborhood added to the tour — the dramatically reworked West End adjacent to downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

Work continues on new housing on Linn Street near Ezzard Charles Boulevard in City West. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        “This is clearly one of the biggest transformations of a neighborhood ever in Cincinnati and everybody needs to see it,” said Kathy Schwab of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., which is organizing the tour.

        Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the first batch of 35 homes and 168 apartments at the site of the demolished Lincoln Court and Laurel Homes public housing complexes. The development will eventually include more than 850 apartments and 211 owner-occupied homes in the historically African-American neighborhood — the largest development of new housing in a city that is struggling to keep residents.

        Cincinnati's homeownership rate of 38 percent is among the lowest in the nation, but a bigger culprit for the city's 9 percent population decline in the 1990s was a loss of renters. Families are leaving the city's collection of outdated apartments and rental homes for newer suburban homes.

        So far, all 18 market-rate townhouses priced from $157,900 to $210,000 have sold, and all but five of an additional 17 homes set aside for low-income earners have buyers.

        Of 168 apartments built for families and seniors, 130 are leased or occupied.

        The leasing and sales at the reworked community dubbed “City West” are encouraging, said Donald Troendle, executive director of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. It shows that a mixed-income community, where middle-income earners live side-by-side with low-income residents, can be successful in Cincinnati.

Tour stops

Featured stops on the Downtown Tour of Living on Sunday will include:    Emery Center Apartments, 100 E. Central Parkway, Over-the-Rhine.    Sycamore Place, Seventh and Sycamore streets, downtown.    Fourth and Plum apartments, downtown.    One Lytle Place, East Pete Rose Way, downtown.    City West, 13th and Clay streets, West End.    Renaissance at the Power Building, Eighth and Sycamore streets, downtown.    Lofts at Shillito Place, Seventh and Plum streets, downtown.    Information: call Downtown Cincinnati Inc., 421-4440.

        “Creating a mixed-income community isn't an issue anymore,” said Mr. Troendle, whose agency arranged the development largely with $66.1 million in federal grants. “It's getting all the ducks in a row to get it going at a faster pace.”

        If there has been any trouble, it's been building homes fast enough and finding qualified low-income buyers, Mr. Troendle said.

        Current or former housing authority tenants are supposed to get first crack at home ownership, but finding qualified buyers has been problematic, said Carol Block, project manager for the developer, Community Builders.

        “Going from public housing to buying a home is a huge, huge leap,” Ms. Block said. “Many of the families never thought of owning their homes.”

        Many public housing tenants and Section 8 renters need to repair credit histories to qualify for home loans, said Ms. Block.

        But there is help for those who are interested. Home ownership classes for public housing tenants offer tips on managing debt. The federal grants help low-income buyers with down payment assistance and special loans.

        There will be plenty of chances for low-income home shoppers. Of the 211 for-sale homes being built at City West, 100 will be reserved for former public housing or Section 8 tenants.

        If Community Builders is unable to find a former housing authority tenant to buy a home 90 days after completion, the homes will available to any qualifying low-income resident.

        The idea of demolishing the Lincoln Court and Laurel Homes complexes has been a social experiment as much as a housing development.

        Combined, the World War II-era complexes had more than 2,000 apartments reserved exclusively for low-income tenants.

        But the public policy of concentrating the poor in one area locked the West End in poverty and led to neighborhood decline. Its population skidded from 42,000 in 1960 to 8,115 in 2000. The decline was exacerbated in the historically black neighborhood by the Interstate 75 extension and industrial development that effectively sliced the West End in half.

        Former Lincoln Court and Laurel Homes tenants who lost their homes to demolition have been given Section 8 rent vouchers and moved to other neighborhoods across the Tristate.

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