Former Northside church grows into health hub
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Florence Rothenberg is turning a historic church into a sanctuary for community. Photos: Kristen Swilley/Axios
A 47,000-square-foot former Presbyterian church on Hamilton Avenue is quietly becoming one of Northside's most ambitious community health projects.
Why it matters: Heart of Northside is part event venue, part urban farm, and part future home for cardiac rehabilitation services.
- Local cardiologist Florence Rothenberg wants to make it "so easy to be healthy in Northside that you can't not be healthy" — and hopes the model can eventually be replicated in other neighborhoods.
Flashback: Rothenberg bought the shuttered North Presbyterian Church building in 2022 through her company, Heart in Balance, LLC.
How it works: The project involves three connected entities:
❤ Heart in Balance owns and operates the building, renting event spaces to help fund the broader health mission as it grows.
🩺 Ounce of Prevention, Rothenberg's preventive medicine practice, works one-on-one with patients to reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke through lifestyle changes.
🍊 Food for Thought Cincy, the project's nonprofit arm, is planning a rooftop farm to grow fresh produce, offer classes on cooking healthy meals on a budget, and provide community programs designed to make nutritious food more accessible.
What's inside: The building already features a patchwork of other community uses.
- There's an event space for folk concerts and weddings, and it has even held a sold-out death metal Christmas show.
- A church kitchen is slated for a full renovation, including a teaching station with a camera so people can "cook along" remotely.
- It also has a podcast studio and a Black men's support group that meets there.
The intrigue: Rothenberg dreams of later converting one space into a cardiac rehabilitation and community exercise area.
- It would serve patients during the day and open to neighbors in the evening after many city rec centers have closed.
Yes, but: There remains a funding gap. The building being owned by a for-profit company makes it ineligible for many grants available to nonprofit-owned facilities.
Get involved: Public events include a Healthy Harvest mobile produce market held twice a month, with additional programming listed on the online calendar.
- Donations supporting the project can be made through the website, which features an item wish list.
