The corridor rebuilding itself, one Black-owned storefront at a time
A look at how owners along one Columbus corridor are buying buildings, hiring neighbors, and keeping the money on the block.
By Kin Newsroom
· Updated
Sample story. The stretch of storefronts reads differently than it did five years ago: fewer papered-over windows, more names on the deeds that match the names on the awnings. Owners here describe the same arc — a booth, then a lease, then a building.
Buying instead of renting
Ownership changes the math. A fixed note replaces a landlord's annual increase, and the equity stays on the block instead of leaving it. Several owners pooled advice, contractors and, in two cases, financing.
“Nobody was going to hand us the corridor. We bought it one storefront at a time.”
- Shorter build-outs when trades are hired from the neighborhood
- Leases replaced by notes at fixed rates
- Hiring pipelines that start at the high school two blocks over
What comes next is the harder part: keeping the corridor affordable for the next owner who wants in.
- Columbus
- Business
- Ownership