'Lift up the entire neighborhood.' Local developer plans to build single-family homes throughout Incline District

A local developer has plans to boost redevelopment in East Price Hill's Incline District, beginning with the construction of over two dozen single-family homes.

The homes will be within eight blocks of each other and are estimated to be in the $400,000 price range, according to a recent release by Autumnwood Group.

Kim Knoppe, home builder and Cincinnati native, will host a groundbreaking ceremony at 2 p.m. today at 658 Hawthorne Avenue. Knoppe said he wanted to create a "wonderful single-family community" that would raise local home values and motivate young people to remain in the area.

In the release, Knoppe described the project as "something that would lift up the entire neighborhood.”     

According to a news release the new construction includes plans for:

• A gated community at Price and Mt. Hope Avenues which will include eight, single-family homes featuring rear-loaded two-car garages, wood and beam ceilings, and some rooftop terraces;
• Ten single-family, three-floor homes at the end of Grand Avenue in Cityscape, which will include wood and beam ceilings and rooftop terraces;
• Eight three-story homes within Price, Chateau and Summit Avenues.  These three-bedroom houses will include 2 ½ baths, a two-car tandem garage, and wood and beam ceilings in the kitchen and living room;
• Two a three-story condo building with elevators and rooftop terraces with a view of the city and Ohio River at the end of Grand Avenue; and
• A 2,700 square foot, single-family home on West Eighth near the Incline Public House which will include three bedrooms, two baths, wood and beam ceilings, elevator and rooftop terrace with a view of the city and the Ohio River. 

Like many neighborhoods in Cincinnati, the Price Hill area has been trying to raise home values for years since recession-era losses resulted in foreclosures. East Price Hill's Incline District specifically has inspired other redevelopment projects like the live-work dwellings by developer KB Partners, which aimed to attract entrepreneurs and artists to the area in 2016. 

Knoppe has bought 76 lots with plans to buy more. 

"I can’t tell you what a warm feeling it gives me to be able to go into my old neighborhood and build all of these homes within blocks of where I was born," Knoppe said in the release.