This appeared in the 7/21/04 Enquirer and is good for the village of Greenhills.  Most of the housing there dates from the late 1930s (mostly 1938) and the style is utilitarian at best:

 

 

Greenhills launches home-building phase

 

GREENHILLS - The rebuilding phase of the village's $3.1 million redevelopment begins today with an 11 a.m. groundbreaking for 16 new homes on DeWitt Street.

 

The redevelopment could bring as many as 100 new homes to the 4,000-population village, according to officials.

 

The village, built as part of a federal greenbelt experiment in the 1930s, has bought 78 run-down housing units, remodeled some and torn down 32

 

The village invited developer Potterhill Homes to build homes where deteriorating apartments once stood. Potterhill says it plans to sell the houses for $190,000 to $290,000, beginning this fall.

 

Greenhills is preparing to put a 1-mill property tax levy proposal on the November ballot to continue its redevelopment, said Village Manager David Moore.

 

The levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $35 more in taxes a year and generate about a million dollars annually for the village, according to officials.

^ That's not a very big tax increase for a pretty good size development. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Agreed. The only things I don't like about Potterhill Homes though is that they are kind of like manufactured homes and have no basements. They are attractive enough, though, and usually feature an option for detached garages and/or sheds:

Potterhill Homes

Here are renderings from the Village of Greenhills website.  The homebuilder is the same one who did the Mills of Carthage.  Though these are manufactured homes with no basements, they actually look pretty good.  They come with detached sheds or garages, or neither.

 

I haven't been by the site, so I have no idea on the progress.

 

Anyway, this is a look at the project, which is really pretty small:

 

DeWitt St.:

 

Drummond St.:

 

http://www.greenhillsohio.org/  (click on DeWitt Landing)

 

I think these will really fit in well in Green Hills.  Lots of trees and a pretty walkable area mixed with these houses sounds like a huge improvement for Greenhills!

The deteriorating apartments were similar to these, which have been left:

 

Those look nice if you don't want much of a yard.

Since i just finished up a 10 week study on Greenhills i have a little info on these new houses.  As of the begining of this month, that was the last time i was out there, they had 1 of the homes pretty much finished and opened up for tours, they also had the foundation for 2 other homes.  I'd look for this trend to continue throughout more of Greenhills.  I talked to the mayor a couple of times and the village is really progressive in buying up old and dilapadated properties throughout the village, mostly those old barrick style apartment buildings, and building new affordable homes in their places.  Although the quality of the new homes are not the greatest and they are rather small, i think this can turn out to be a good example of a public-private cooperation from all sides for the betterment of the community.

I think they should go to town on almost the entire eastern side of the village.  They should leave the apartments near the village green, but the street after street of boring ranch houses needs to go.

 

In my opinion, that area is worse than the western side, though I wasn't much of a fan of those barracks style apartments, either.

 

    Please tell more of this 10 week study of Greenhills.

UPDATE: 4/9/05:

 

 

At the corner of DeWitt and Drummond:

 

 

Four homes have been built on Drummond Ave. at the eastern end of the site:

 

 

 

Drummond House is the only building left standing:

 

 

The rest of the site is a wreck:

 

 

 

 

Buildings on surrounding streets remain:

 

 

There are some derelict and abandoned townhouse buildings farther east of the site.  I don't know if they'll bulldoze them.  Maybe I'll post those pics later.

 

Here are the derelict properties at Drummond and Damon I was talking about at the end of the last post, which are now a pile of rubble:

 

 

 

 

 

In Greenhills, a village redevelops itself

Aging inner suburb builds new, upscale homes

By Steve Kemme Enquirer staff writer

 

From his front porch, Tom Barth likes what he sees. Across the street, four new houses sporting big front porches and carriage houses in back sit where old, deteriorating, termite-infested apartment buildings once were. The new houses - one has already sold - are priced from $250,000 to $322,000.

 

"It's a big improvement," says Barth, who has lived on Damon Road for 31 years. "We're tickled to death with the aesthetics." These four houses, built by Potterhill Homes of Milford, are a milestone for Greenhills and may inspire other older communities struggling to attract residents.  Greenhills, one of the original three planned greenbelt communities in the United States, has embarked on a unique initiative to improve its housing.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050812/NEWS01/508120392/1077/

Building continues despite protests

BY HEIDI FALLON | COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

Despite opposition from a group of residents and the village historical society, work will continue on the DeWitt Landing project.  Debbie Mills, president of the Greenhills Historical Society, said she did not want to make a formal statement, but does want the single-family home construction to stop.

 

"We don't trust the media right now," Mills said. "I can say they are tearing up an historical district and it needs to stop."  Village voters approved $1 million in bond sales in 2004 to continue funding the housing project. Four of the 16 houses planned for the project are completed and a fifth under construction.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/NEWS01/604190456/1074/Local

Anything is better than those army barricks.  NIMBYs (shakes head)

Greenhills decided take the unusual step of becoming its own developer.

 

Good for them!

Wow! Those homes look great!

Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is.  Those houses will look great in that neighborhood.  I can see a point about the steps, but that's a pretty minor argument.  Especially since when I went by there on a weekend a couple of weeks ago when the model was open.  Several people went in and out, including an elderly couple.

Greenhills home has buyer

Village investment large in project

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

Never have so many strangers celebrated the sale of one house.  When the moving truck rolled up Drummond Street last week, even village officials took notice. Being furnished was the first sold and occupied house in DeWitt Landing, the controversial redevelopment that - depending on whom you talk to - is either going to save the village or ruin it.

 

The project with Potterhill Homes has the village spending more than $3 million since 2000 to buy properties, most of which will be torn down as the village accumulates more money to pay for asbestos removal and demolition.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060911/NEWS01/609110366/1056

Completed...

 

Old vs. new sparks Greenhills fights

Protests followed razing of 1930s buildings

By Quan Truong, Cincinnati Enquirer, February 15, 2009

 

Some people now call it Ground Zero.  Hidden inside the lush belt of Winton Woods, the Greenhills Historic District is an escape from the modern world. The homes along Winton Road, built in the 1930s, are a glimpse of life during the time of fireside chats and the Great Depression.

 

The district represented hope for those who suffered through a time that seems all too familiar now, as the country tries to steady itself during a dire economic slump. For many residents, it is history - living and breathing around them.  Then, the bulldozers showed up.

 

In the late 1990s, the village bought up a chunk of the district's property and embarked on an ambitious redevelopment plan aimed at alleviating its debt. The goal was to revitalize Greenhills' housing, attract young, higher-income families and increase property tax revenues.

 

Read full article at link above.

Sure, the homes look nice but out of place, opponents say.

 

Terri Treinen lives in one of the original homes that she and some others have dubbed "Ground Zero."

 

Treinen, who is also on the board of the local historic society, said the new homes do not fit in.

 

"I love my community and I love the architectural style. This is a planned community with wonderful, interior parks that are interesting and very unique," she said. "I'm very proud and consider myself very fortunate to live here but I'm not happy with the construction and demolition right across the street from me."

 

I spent a good two weekends walking Greenhills and taking pix of the place, so Im as familiar with this place as anyone on this board, unless they 've lived there.  And if this is the development Im thinking about the houses are grossly out of place in architectural style and scale.  It is a real work of insensitivity to put in the kind of replacement housing they did.  Which is tragic as the housing would be great infill in a 1900-1920 neighborhood somewhere. 

 

I am really wondering why they chose such an out-of-place style.