Thursday, September 16, 1999
Corryville's loss turns into gain
Rec center sold; now, a new one
BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
What looked like bad luck for Corryville four years ago, when the University of Cincinnati bought the site of its recreation center and playfields, has turned into good luck.
The community will open a new $2.7 million, 20,000-square-foot recreation center in two weeks. It's two blocks from the old center.
“It turned out to be a piece of luck for us because land that the University of Cincinnati wanted was located in our community,” said Clyde Nowlin, treasurer of the Corryville Community Council.
The sale propelled Corryville up the city's priority list for rec centers and paid for the new facility.
Mr. Nowlin, who was president in 1995 when the city negotiated a deal with UC to buy the land, said the luck didn't come easily.
He said the city negotiated with UC without talking with residents.
“We didn't like not knowing about it and we didn't like it when we heard that the city would sell the land for $1 million,” Mr. Nowlin said. “We didn't think that was enough for the land. And we didn't like the idea of the city selling land where we had playfields and a recreation center.”
Angry residents took the protest to City Hall and, suddenly, Corryville was ahead of other communities on the waiting list for recreation centers.
“We reached an agreement with the community, the city and the university to use the money for purchasing the land to build a new center for Corryville,” said Ron Kull, UC associate vice president and architect.
Corryville had had its share of problems with recreation centers. A 15-acre site it used for a recreation center and playfields from 1936 to 1949 was sold to the federal government in 1950 to build the Veterans Administration hospital.
The city built a 9,000-square-foot building at 116 Piedmont St. on 5.5 acres in 1954. The community used it as a recreation center and playfield until the city sold it to UC for $3.4 million in 1995.
For 41 years this had been the center of outdoor recreation for the neighborhood of 4,439 residents. It had two ball fields, a tennis court and a small pool.
“The advantage to Corryville is that it did not have to go on the waiting list to compete with other communities for funding. The agreement provided the funding,” Mr. Kull said. “Chances are, Cor ryville would have been very low on the priority list because of its small population.”
The new center will be dedicated to Corryville on Sept. 26. During construction, UC provided temporary ball fields across the street from the old site.
“The agreement was to build a center that was comparable to what the community of Corryville was accustomed to,” said David Scheer, principal owner of Scheer & Scheer, architecture and urban design company.
“The building keeps the scale of existing houses in the area. It contains a gymnasium, weight, activities, kitchen and locker rooms and office space. It has on-site parking in the rear of the building.”
Mr. Nowlin said the agreement has created another positive relationship. A nonprofit organization, consisting of the Corryville Community Council, UC and the University Village Business Association, has been created to control development in the area.
“This will stop the university from eating up our land when it wants to,” Mr. Nowlin said. “We figure if we can't beat them, join them.”
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