Alumni to Redevelop 43 E. College into Multi-Use Facility
by Scott Ewart

“Sprawl does not occur because people don’t care about farmland,” senior Naomi Sabel said. “It happens because land a mile down the road is one-thirtieth of the cost of land in town. People don’t build ugly houses that all look the same because they have bad taste — they do so because an ugly house identical to all the others is usually the only financially feasible choice. In general it doesn’t pay to go green or go downtown.”
Sabel, along with Ben Ezinga and Josh Rosen (both OC ’01), has decided to do something about these problems. Together they have arranged to buy 43 East College (the former Schubert Buick dealership) and on the 1.1 acre plot construct a two-story, environmentally responsible multi-use facility including residential units, street-front commercial space and a youth development center that will focus on College outreach into the city of Oberlin. The building will house The Catalyst, a nonprofit in line with similar youth development centers which have proven successful across the country.
“We realize that the challenges facing the town are all interconnected and we believe that they can best be addressed as such,” Sabel said. “The most important part of the building are the links between housing, community involvement and economic revitalization.”
Rosen, co-creator of WOBC’s “i’m on the stereo” — a show produced by middle and high school students from the Oberlin schools — has worked this past year at Oberlin Community Services, and his involvement in the town and Oberlin schools has provided further impetus for the project. “We’re trying to set off a trend,” Rosen said. “One of our goals is to get people from both the College and the town more involved in the downtown area to better the relationship between the town and the College, partner individuals and not just institutions and also, more broadly, show that small town centers are a viable commercial and residential alternative to big box development and suburban sprawl.”
The trio were recently incorporated as Sustainable Community Associates, Ltd., and were joined in SCA by senior Jacob Kramer-Duffield this Winter Term (full disclosure: Kramer-Duffield is co-editor in chief of The Oberlin Review). Part of the trend SCA hopes to establish involves environmentally sustainable building and living practices. “We want the building to be a model of low-tech, cost effective green design that visibly demonstrates to the average home owner all of the ways they can make their homes more energy efficient,” Sabel said.
SCA hopes to create a space that will serve as an example of how environmentally friendly multi-use buildings can improve community life and the economy of a town where half the houses are renter-occupied, mostly by students. The trend of (mostly student) renter-occupation of houses has only worsened over the last decade, with several hundred Oberlin residents moving out of town as they were priced out of the market. The residential space would house up to 30 students and townspeople, beginning in August 2004, who would be active participants in the activities of the community center. But beyond centering in-town community involvement efforts, SCA aims to make 43 East College a place where alumni can give back to the town, lending their skills and assistance to the youth development center.
A major part of those activities would be mentoring and tutoring programs administered by The Catalyst. Town kids would be matched with college students who had expertise in the area of the kids’ interests. “If you’re at the middle school here and you’re into comic book animation, we would get you together with a college student who had animation experience, and could help you with your work,” Rosen said.
In addition to the volunteer opportunities The Catalyst will create, SCA wants to work with existing service organizations and provide space in their building for offices and meetings. “Mixed-use buildings are an essential component of thriving new-urban cities,” Sabel said, referring to the recent success of cities such as Portland, Ore. and Chattanooga, Tenn. in reviving commercial and residential interest in downtown areas instead of suburbs. Following the recommendations of the 1998 city-commissioned Main Street Report, SCA hopes the redevelopment of 43 East College will help bring a greater diversity of businesses to Oberlin. The hope of many in Oberlin is that the town could become a unique, one-stop shopping destination and eventually rival nearby malls.
Ezinga and Rosen originally became interested in alternate uses for the property last spring while seniors at Oberlin, and at that point formulated a proposal for OSCA to purchase the property. Their original conception included a community center for kids in the front of the current structure and a co-op in the rear, and it garnered widespread support in OSCA, but, according to Ezinga, “It was very close to happening, but in the end our priorities didn’t line up.”
Sabel joined the pair on the project over the summer and in the fall they began discussions with community leaders and College administration about an expanded multi-use facility. Over the course of the fall, Ezinga, Rosen and Sabel continued discussions with community leaders, lawyers, accountants, the Oberlin Design Initiative and the College administration, and at one point approached the College about partnering for the residential portion of the building.
Once again the timing wasn’t right and the College did not become involved. “This project is in no way financially supported by Oberlin College,” Rosen said. “This is a private endeavor put forth by Oberlin College alumni who during the course of their education, fell in love with the town and its people.”
However, that does not mean that there is no enthusiasm for the project coming from the College. According to Rosen, “The Oberlin Partnership has been working with and is excited about SCA as developers in Oberlin. The Partnership has facilitated numerous meetings with city officials who also expressed excitement over our development plans. Both the Partnership and the City Planning Office see our project as the lightning rod that shows outside developers that Oberlin is a safe and profitable place to do development.”
Sabel puts a positive spin on the lack of direct College involvement: “In the end, more private endeavors with less institutional backing will help the town grow to be more sustainable and less dependent on the College.”
Rosen concurs, saying, “There is no way in which this project can do anything but help the College; we started this project to do just that. It helps the College’s reputation, PR and the achievement of its stated goals of easing the housing shortage for middle to low income residents and connecting more College students to the community. In addition, it creates a quality residential space that has a service-based component and improves the health of downtown Oberlin — it’s learning and labor for the Oberlin of the 21st century.”
SCA initially incorporated as a Limited Liability Corporation, rather than a nonprofit, for several reasons. “First, we wanted to maintain creative control over this project in order to insure that its integrity was never compromised,” Rosen said. “Secondly, we believe that for-profit methods put towards non-profit ends are the most effective means of ensuring that this project will stay a responsive and viable part of the community. Moreover, whatever profits are generated from the building will be kept in Oberlin.”
SCA is on the web at www.sustainablecommunityassociates.com.