Cincinnati — The public-private partnership between the university and several other groups will deliver a mixed-use facility by 2014.
Cincinnati — Finance Fund has awarded $8 million in federal new markets tax credit financing for the construction of a $53-million mixed-use development near Xavier University. The project has been in development for six years and includes retail, residential units, office space and parking plus the infrastructure needed for future phases.
The first development phase is a 15-acre mixed-use project near Xavier University’s campus that will be completed by August 2014. This phase includes 176 housing units of student housing, 39,000 square feet of retail, 46,000 square feet of office and more than 1,000 parking spaces. A portion of the housing units will be designated as affordable units for qualifying neighborhood residents such as single working parents enrolled as part-time students at Xavier University.
The University Station site is owned by Xavier University and will be developed in collaboration with Messer Construction and Ackermann Group. Finance Fund is one of five participating community development entities providing federal NMTC allocations. The other four are Cincinnati Development Fund, Enterprise Community Investment, Inc., The Community Builders, Inc. and US Bank Community Development Corporation. The award enables Xavier University to bridge the university with the neighboring Norwood and Evanston communities that have been hit economically since the BASF chemical plant exploded in 1990 and then closed. The area around the development has a 32.8 percent poverty rate and unemployment near 10 percent. Finance Fund connects public and private funding to local and small businesses with the goal of sparking community development and jobs in distressed communities.