Middletown South

If you want an older house to restore etc... You could try the newly created historical district ,would love to have a new quality family in town nothing is happening in that area,Too listen to everyone else it's the worst part of town.

kujani--if the S.Main St.properties were in good order, you wouldn't be able to buy them so cheaply. Unless you go to an up-scale community, Ohio is full of similar issues in most areas.

My prayer in 2010 is for City Council members to insist upon transparency and accountability from senior City staff at One Donham Plaza.  How refreshing it will be for average citizens to know what is really going on at City Hall and for senior staff to be held accountable for their actions (or inaction). 

Thank you, I really appreciate that. We actually found a few homes in Franklin, one in the Mackinaw Historic District? They do look really nice. My friends will be looking at them this weekend. We do really like the area. We were so upset with the South Main houses. They looked so beautiful and have so much character. There are some older houses that are for sale in Middletown that look really nice, but ...... Anyway, thanks for helping out. Take care.

Spiderjohn, why would you doubt my sincerity? Do you think I have nothing better to do than to read hour after hour for days on end until 3 or 4 am about Middletown and the available homes? To watch every video on Youtube about Middletown? To read every newspaper article that I could find on Middletown? I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I could find something better to do than to waste your time. You have no idea how serious I was. My wife and I talked non stop for a month about moving to Middletown. We fell in love with the pictures of 700 South Main Street. We had already made many plans on what we could and would do with the house. We plan on opening a business near the area and even joked that if our business became successful enough we would buy more of the historic homes, renovate them and sell them to single families and personally save Middletown. Obviously, that's not even a remote possiblity even if we became millionaires. As far as my intention, we have decided to look elsewhere. Believe me, it is a very painful decision. I had my brother in law, who is a realtor, my sister and her husband and my best friend, who is a licensed housing inspector, go and check out 700 South Main Street and 514 South Main Street. They all agreed that both houses, the bones of them anyway, were absolutely beautiful. But they had been neglected for so long that it would take approximately $100k to renovate 700 South Main Street. We were trying to suprise our family so I was trying to use another realtor. She failed to mention to us that the house had been CONDEMNED and all of the windows were boarded up and that it had been used previously as what appears to be a homeless shelter. It needs a roof, wiring, plumbing, etc... 514 Main Street has had a lot of work done on the inside, but it has a big mold problem. They also found that quite a few of the other homes around it had their windows boarded up. Now, in all of my years as a police officer, I've worked in many neighborhoods that had many vacant homes. Not all of them had to board up the windows in order to keep them from being broken into or damaged. The ones that did were normally very bad neighborhoods with a lot of crime. Now, I'm hearing talk of an active gang problem from some of my police friends. I've considered all of those factors; the crime, section 8 problem, the condition of the homes, the state of the education (approximately 30% of students don't graduate and 2% attend college). I'm not trying to talk bad about anyone. It sounds to me like there are a lot of good people stuck in a bad town with not much hope. I'm not that brave of a person to subject my 2 toddler children to an uphill battle.

Those of us, like myself, who try to look at Middletown and its future in a positive light often come under a lot of criticism on this site. However, just because we keep a positive attitude doesn't mean that we aren't equally as frustrated with some of what's happened in our town--in particular the Section 8 and subsidized housing issues.

That being said, Middletown’s future is in people who are willing to make an investment in our community, such as Kujani. And I could not be more thrilled that he or she is considering Middletown as home—and even more thrilled that he or she is looking at our historical district. I agree with Kujani that the bickering and negativity could be a big turn off for perspective residents that this community desperately needs. A lot of you hammer the city on not being business friendly. Take a look in the mirror and see just how friendly you are being to potential residents yourself.

To answer your questions about the school district. I am a firm believer that a child can get a great education in Middletown’s schools, so long as education is a top priority in the family’s household. Middletown’s school “issues” are in the form of test scores. Research shows that low income kids perform poorer on tests, and with the abundance of low income kids in our district, it’s no wonder test scores are lower and progress is slower. The issue with purchasing a home in on South Main is the elementary school for that neighborhood—which is Rosa Parks Elementary. It has consistently been the poorest performing school in the district. Students, however, qualify for school of choice which I believe means you can send your child to another elementary school in Middletown. Middletown currently has two middle schools—Vail and Verity. They are both about equal in terms of performance, but Vail is the larger of the two schools. As long as your child gets on the “advanced” track in middle school and stays on that track through high school, he or she will be fine. Also, high school students can also enroll in Miami University Middletown coursework their junior year (I think), and it is right across the street from Middletown High School.

As you probably have come to the conclusion, South Main Historical District is a mix of single family and converted multi-family homes. There are both single family and converted homes on the market at the moment. Converted homes tend to be less expensive. Some multi-family have been converted back to single family homes. Marty Kohler—Middletown’s Planning Director—lives in the district. He is currently restoring a home that was used as a nursing home for many years. I was in it a couple of years ago and saw some of the renovation. He would be an excellent resource for you. And because the house is part of a district that is listed on the National Register, you may be able to qualify for federal funds for help with renovation. I am no expert in that regard, but again, Marty may be willing to help you.

Here are some amenities close to the historical district:
Middletown Public Library—has been top rated in the nation
Middletown Area YMCA
The Great Miami Connection Recreation Trail which will eventually link up to Cincinnati and Dayton along the river. In Middletown, it connects you Smith Park.
Middletown Tennis Club is on the edge of the district, which historically has been a top-notch club http://www.middletownsportscomplex.com/home/
You have a 9-hole golf course in the district with pretty reasonable rates to join the club—which also has a pool.
Three long-time congregations within walking distance—First Methodist, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ and Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Catholic community not too far away either.
Miami University Middletown has a center downtown with lots of activities
There’s the Broad Street Bashes and other activities around Governor’s Square throughout the year. Used to be a Farmers Market—not sure.

As far as shopping is concerned, there is a newer Kroger just down Main Street at Engles Corner along with a CVS. There are some restaurants in that area as well—mostly fast food. More fast food and convenience type places along Verity near Germantown Road.

Downtown does not have much to offer in terms of dining and shopping at the moment, but I believe in the next five years Downtown could see a major transformation. There are some things in progress that could be very good for the area in general.

There is a great spirit of volunteerism and giving back in Middletown. And there is still a lot of pride. And a lot of apathy. And a lot of frustration at the same time. Middletown has a great history, much potential and many challenges to overcome. But no community is perfect. You seem to like older homes. Middletown is a community full of them. West Chester, Mason, Monroe, Trenton, Springboro, eh not so much.

Well Pac, what other explanation would you have for the lack of interest, apathy and general malaise from the general populace of this town? IMO I'm not treating my statements as assumptions at all, but rather observations over time. I don't need to know each individual in town to make a generalized statement about the absence of enthusiasm and citizen involvement, do I?

You guys as making some big assumptions about people you either don't know or have only met once or twice.

randy- they won't show up at council meetings to speak their mind for the same reasons they wouldn't show up at Nick Kidd's meeting a few years ago at the old Montgomery Ward building, nor the Sunday Library sessions a while back, the 3rd Ward Marconi thing at the Senior Citizens Center nor the "Meet The Candidates" sessions before the last election ........they are angry, frustrated and feel helpless and without a voice, but they won't get up off the couch, jump in the car and come to the meetings to voice their feelings or ask questions. The old "Apathy Disease" is always with us. Apparently, it's going to take much more than what is currently happening to get the people out in numbers. I guess the town just hasn't gotten bad enough yet or the people haven't been personally affected enough by the city for them to react. Too busy fighting the day to day problems at home to add another problem fighting the city, or, they would just rather move out of the city and leave it all behind. Alot of people sitting on the sidelines watching but not wanting to get in the game. JMO

Sorry. My email is joshual@cityofmiddletown.org 

new potential resident--the BEST real estate values are in mid-city imo.

The two area Private schools that are probably the most well known are: