along slant walk
College@Elm a New Model The heart of College@ Elm, Miami’s former food service building on Elm Street will be a catalyst for economic growth, transforming part of Oxford’s uptown into a hightech innovation and creativity corridor, says Miami President Greg Crawford. The project received a $1 million jump-start from Ohio’s 2021-2022 state capital budget.
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miamian magazine
Miami University and the city of Oxford are work-
ing together to revitalize a three-block business area uptown that includes a university-owned building constructed in 1933 as Miami’s food service operation. It has sat empty for 19 years. The university and city are setting their sights on renovating the 39,000-square-foot building at the corner of College and Elm, across the street on the west side of the Oxford Community Arts Center, formerly known as Oxford College. Under the plan, the building will be transformed into the College@Elm Innovation & Workforce Development Center and will serve as an incubator for startups, workforce development, innovation, and manufacturing. It will have two anchor tenants — Miami, operating an entrepreneurship training and
incubator center, and the Fischer Group, a Butler County manufacturer operating a business expansion that the company is calling an “innovation extension.” Many rural communities across Ohio and the Midwest are facing the same challenges as Oxford — empty storefronts and the struggle to attract new businesses, and with them, year-round residents, Miami President Greg Crawford said. “The vision is that the College@Elm will become a model of revitalization for thousands of similar small, rural communities across the country that find it difficult to compete in this globalized, fast-paced world,” he said. “This joint effort demonstrates how to think big, act bold, and leverage local, state, and federal resources.”
