If you build it on beer, they will come. It’s a mantra that has served a key part of Cleveland, Ohio‘s Ohio City neighborhood well.
In 2008, Market Garden Brewery owner Sam McNulty snapped a ghost town picture of the iconic West Side Market corner of West 25th Street. He and his business partner were literally tossing a football up and down the street.
But now Ohio City’s revitalization is so successful, it’s spreading. Economic renewal is taking root beyond the borders of the neighborhood that beer built.
“It’s the underlying fuel for Ohio City’s renaissance,” said McNulty.
It’s like it’s contagious, this growth that’s off and running in this city on the rise. There are already six Ohio City craft breweries, and three more are on the way.
As a result, median home values in this recent ghost town have skyrocketed 800% since 2000, which means affordable housing will likely be developed soon around this newly-thriving downtown.