One of the most highly-publicized battlegrounds of gentrification today is certainly the Metropole Apartments. Located at 609 Walnut Street downtown, this historically significant building is directly adjacent to the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and across the street from the Aronoff Center for the Arts. This area, now known as the Backstage District, has received extensive investment from its cultural institutions and from 3CDC. First built as a luxury hotel in 1912, the Metropole was converted into 225 federally-subsidized low-income rental units in 1971. Since this time, the Metropole Apartments have constituted a substantial portion of the project-based Section 8 units available downtown. On November 3, 2009, 3CDC purchased the Metropole Apartments from Showe Builders, Inc. for $6.25 million. The next day, a $48 million renovation was unveiled, transferring the Metropole to a world-class boutique hotel, a spin-off of the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville.
The residents of the Metropole have been given 12 months to relocate, and 3CDC has offered relocation services through Brickstone Properties. This grace period, required by federal law, is the tenants’ only legal claim to the building, as Showe’s contract with HUD expired in 1991. At the urging of Josh Spring and the Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, residents filed a fair housing complaint to HUD. Tensions peaked at a November 5th confrontation between the Homeless Coalition and 3CDC at a scheduled tenant meeting.
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