In its 1800s heyday, Toledo’s Vistula neighborhood was a thriving and vibrant community.
The city’s oldest neighborhood has an opportunity to once again become a Toledo bright spot thanks to an exciting new development proposed for the area.
The planned Gateway at Lower Town will transform an eight-building section of Vistula bounded by Locust, Lagrange, Summit, and Superior Streets. Developers Fred Treuhaft and Blake Underwood plan to invest millions into the project, which calls for refurbishing the former Westminster Church and converting it into office space with a second-floor mezzanine.
Other development plans call for restaurants and a pedestrian walkway on Ostrich Lane. Renderings call for murals on the sides of buildings and new facades for the structures.
The developers envision an area similar to Detroit’s Corktown or Short North in Columbus.
Sitting just on the edge of a rapidly revitalizing downtown, this could be the project Vistula has been waiting for.
Vistula is home to some of the city’s most historic structures and stately homes, yet also has become one of the poorest neighborhoods in Toledo. A 2019 study from the University of Toledo’s Jack Ford Urban Affairs Center found that Vistula has one of the highest unemployment rates in the city, and more than 30 percent of households there receive Supplemental Security Income assistance.
The latest development can build on a blossoming turn-around momentum in Vistula, including the recently opened Toledo Spirits Co. cocktail bar, Bellwether, along North Summit Street.
In this case a federal opportunity-district designation, which will allow landowners to defer tax payments for several years while they make investments in the project, combined with potential historic tax credits, will help make the plan a reality.
Toledo needs more projects like this and more developers with a vision like Mr. Treuhaft and Mr. Underwood to build on the momentum of the city’s nascent revival. Migrating redevelopment outward into residential neighborhoods — particularly neighborhoods in need of a boost as Vistula is — will be the key to making sure Toledo’s revival is lasting.
First Published February 29, 2020, 5:00 a.m.
