A maker space for budding entrepreneurs is coming to Central Avenue, part of a mixed-use development known as the Central District.
Mackenzi Klemann | The Lima News
LIMA — Organizers behind the forthcoming Central District met Wednesday with the Lima NAACP to discuss how the $4.3 million revitalization project will stay inclusive as it brings new housing, entertainment, restaurants and economic opportunities to the 200 block of South Central Avenue.
The project, which seeks to transform Central Avenue into a trendy urban space, has already secured $1.2 million in grant funding from JobsOhio and $870,000 from other investors.
“It’s been difficult for us to say ‘keep us at the table,’ because once money starts coming in and once things start looking like this, sometimes the poor, the disenfranchised, the minorities get pushed off the table,” Jerome O’Neal, one of the primary organizers behind the Central District, told NAACP leadership on Wednesday.
But O’Neal and others involved in the project described a vision focused on inclusion and empowerment, starting with a makerspace set to open later this year that would create a hub for aspiring entrepreneurs to access mentors, training and collaborative space.
The Potts Center has already relocated to the former warehouse that will soon house the makerspace, while plans also call for culinary arts and other training programs.
All told, Central District organizers have acquired four vacant industrial properties and unused greenspace between Spring and Elm streets.
There are plans for a restaurant, Social House, and a dog park known as Central Bark. Two other properties will be converted into mixed-use space for retail, restaurants, flats, offices and other businesses, possibly including a bakery, coffee shop and yoga studio — all in Lima’s second-poorest ward.
“It’s expensive. It’s risky,” O’Neal said on Wednesday. “It’s all those things that make you feel like you have taken a leap of faith with no net.”
The Central District is part of a broader effort to reverse the trend of population loss by creating venues targeting young adults.
“For many years, as an African-American community our encouragement to our kids was ‘grow up and get out,’” said Ron Fails, NAACP-Lima president. “It was never ‘grow up and stay’ because there was never an example for them to accept that there was a place for (them) to stay.
“I think these kinds of initiatives will begin to address that so going forward we can create opportunities for the entire community, especially those that have been disenfranchised.”
