Port Shorts: Loth Street Mount Auburn (Video)

Mount Auburn, Ohio is a bedroom community of Cincinnati just one and a half miles from the Queen City’s central business district.

Its stunning views from most anywhere in the neighborhood and its famous architecture are its calling cards to those who know the 183-year-old community.

But in recent years Mount Auburn has lost a bit of its luster in some places… like here on Loth Street.

It’s an area of Mount Auburn sorely in need of an upgrade

“This street has been neglected for years. There are only a few homeowners on the street and there is no equity in their homes because it’s been pretty much been ignored for decades." - Carol Gibbs, President & CEO - Mt. Auburn Community Development Corporation

And that’s where The Port comes in.

Over the next several years newly constructed townhomes will begin to line the partially abandoned street.

In the first phase of construction, six new townhomes will be built on this vacant lot on Loth Street.

It’s all part of The Port’s Neighborhood Revitalization strategy.

The intent is to transform vacant, blighted residential properties into safe, high-quality single-family homes to increase homeownership, protect surrounding property values, and provide housing options across a range of price points from affordable to market-rate.

The six new townhomes being built on Loth Street will list in the range of $400,000, with profits from these first six homes used to subsidize future affordable housing development in Mount Auburn.

A high price tag for some, but with benefits for all.

“It seems a little high for me, but if it’s being balanced out with other sort of mixed-income areas, I like that idea.” - Matthew Gilliam, Mt. Auburn Loth Street Resident

So much of the work done by The Port is one lot, one home, one property at a time.

And for communities like Mount Auburn, our work sometimes makes dreams come true.

"My dream for Mt. Auburn is to improve the areas that have been neglected for decades. It is to take all of the abandoned buildings and restore them, make them vital, make families want to come and move to Mt. Auburn to get more kids in our schools. Just to build our community." - Carol Gibbs, President & CEO - Mt. Auburn Community Development Corporation