Middletown Community Foundation Offices To Move In Sept.

Soon, visitors to the Middletown Community Foundation will have an extra block to travel as the charitable nonprofit organization moves to a new home.

The Community Foundation, housed in The Manchester Inn for a decade, will by late September have relocated catty-corner across the street, taking about a third of the second floor office space previously occupied by the Frost Brown Todd law firm. Its new address will be 300 North Main Street, Suite 300, Middletown, OH 45042.

“We had outgrown our longtime home in the historic Manchester Inn and spent the past two years evaluating potential alternatives throughout the community,” explained Middletown Community Foundation Executive Director T. Duane Gordon. “While we will miss the atmosphere, the good food and especially the many friendly faces at the Manchester, our Board of Trustees concluded that this was the best location for our long-term future. At least we can still walk across the street to see the hotel’s staff and enjoy a meal!”

He added that the target date for opening the new office space is approximately Sept. 20.

The Community Foundation was created in 1976 as a component of the Middletown United Way, separating into an independent organization in 1986. Shortly thereafter, it hired its first paid staff and moved into its own office space in the United Way’s building on Manchester Avenue, where it remained until the move to the former Chamber of Commerce offices in The Manchester Inn in 2000.

“I guess we’ve come full circle, as we’ll now be the upstairs neighbors to the United Way,” Gordon added. The United Way of Greater Cincinnati – Middletown Area moved its offices to the building’s first floor in early 2008 upon the sale of its former location. The other first floor tenant is a branch of First Financial Bank.

The property, which will have about 6,000 square feet of vacant space remaining on its second floor after the Community Foundation’s move, is owned by Charles J. Kubicki, LLC, and managed by Cincinnati United Contractors. The building was constructed in 2000 and is one of the newest structures downtown.

The Community Foundation’s 2,900-square-foot space is slightly less than twice the size of its current offices in the Manchester. Gordon said the expansion will allow the currently compacted staff to spread out and storage to improve while still providing room for future growth. He added that a public open house of the new offices will be scheduled once the staff has had some time to settle in.

He noted that the Community Foundation’s Annual Meeting for its members, to be held November 4, remains scheduled for the Manchester’s Great Miami Ballroom.

The Middletown Community Foundation works to improve the lives of those in the greater Middletown area (Middletown, Monroe, Trenton, Franklin, Madison Township, and Lemon Township) by serving as a permanent source of funding for projects to benefit the community under the slogan “Every community requires a strong foundation.” Over the past 34 years, it has distributed tens of millions of dollars in grants and college scholarships, with $25 million granted out in the past 10 years alone. For information, e-mail info@mcfoundation.org or call 513-424-7369.