News

Leaders from the City of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC), 3CDC, and several other project partners gathered yesterday afternoon to commemorate breaking ground on the construction of the new Findlay Community Center, a catalytic project in a $100M effort to revitalize and uplift the North Over-the-Rhine (OTR) neighborhood.

The celebratory event took place at Findlay Playground, the future site of the new recreation facility. Project and civic leaders – including Mayor Aftab Pureval and City Manager Sheryl Long – spoke to the need for the community center and the positive and transformative impact it will have on the North OTR neighborhood. The event concluded with the ceremonious shoveling of topsoil at the project site.

“We’re excited to be here today as a community-centered vision is realized after years of planning, collaboration, and commitment. We believe this project will have a catalytic impact on North OTR’s revitalization, much like the redevelopment of Washington Park had on the neighborhood south of Liberty Street 13 years ago. Findlay Community Center will serve as a vitally important place to gather, celebrate, and strengthen our bonds of community,” Katie Westbrook, 3CDC Senior Vice President of Development

The 18-month, $46 million construction project will transform the underutilized park into a state-of-the-art community center—a pivotal step toward neighborhood revitalization that has been made possible by a robust financial stack. In addition to the City of Cincinnati committing over $25 million in necessary project funding, Fifth Third Bank and McCormack Baron Salazar provided New Markets Tax Credit equity, and over $8 million has been raised in private philanthropy from a series of organizations and donors, including The Haile Foundation, Union Savings Bank and Guardian Savings Bank, The Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust, The P&G Foundation, The Farmer Family Foundation, and Fifth Third Foundation. Funding from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development – secured by former US Senator Sherrod Brown and current U.S. Representative Greg Landsman – and from the State of Ohio, via the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, were also critical to moving the project forward.

Construction on the Findlay Community Center begins today and will progress in stages toward a target completion date in late 2026. North OTR’s larger transformational development plan will occur in strategic phases over the next two years. Read on for this month’s full construction update.