Cincinnati Ballet

New Markets Tax Credit Financing Expands Historic Cincinnati Ballet into Walnut Hills Neighborhood

New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing has enabled the Cincinnati Ballet to construct a new, 55,765 square foot “Center for Dance” studio and training facility in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati. Cincinnati Ballet has served the Greater Cincinnati area with professional and community performances, pre-professional dance training, and community engagement since 1963. This major expansion will significantly expand Cincinnati Ballet’s capacity for education and in-demand community outreach programming and double the Ballet’s studio space.

Finance Fund provided $4,000,000 of federal NMTC allocation and
$2,564,103 of Ohio NMTC allocation to the project. Cincinnati Development Fund provided $5,000,000 of federal NMTC allocation; and PNC Community Partners, the NMTC investor, provided an additional $1,500,000 of federal NMTC allocation to the project.

The Walnut Hills community experiences a poverty rate of 47.3%; a median family income equal to 30.10% of the applicable area median family income; and an unemployment rate of 24.7%, nearly 3 times the national unemployment rate. The project site also qualifies as an SBA Hub Zone, a federally designated Medically Underserved area, and a qualified Brownfield site. The site is located next to a heavily used neighborhood park as well as the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Currently, Cincinnati Ballet’s community-focused programming reaches 5,000 underserved children and adults each year and is operating its current studio at full capacity. In order to meet increased demands from educational, non-profit, and other institutional partners, it was critical for the Ballet to expand its physical footprint. With additional studio space, including a dedicated studio for community outreach programming and a 3,000 square foot community event space, the Ballet expects to serve as a community hub and resource for the area’s low-income residents.

This new facility will allow Cincinnati Ballet to offer physical therapy services as well as dance training for people with mobility barriers in a medically underserved area. Cincinnati Ballet’s new facility will be accessible to the Walnut Hills neighborhood via numerous public transit routes and near proximity to education and outreach program partners including the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Public Schools, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

“One of the many impactful aspects of this project that attracted Finance Fund to provide NMTC allocation was the significant expansion of physical therapy that this new facility will provide to Cincinnati residents,” said Diana Turoff, President and CEO of Finance Fund. “The Ballet Moves program currently serves students with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism and will grow to serve seniors and other students with dementia, depression and anxiety, and other physical barriers with the dedicated space this project will provide.”

Project Categories