The former church and collection of buildings are now the Angier Business & Children’s Center (ABC), a hub of support for the children and families of East Durham, as well as a space for local businesses and nonprofits to grow. The five historic buildings representing 45,000 square feet of office and retail space are now leased to businesses owned or nonprofits run by community members.

The Model Group, one of the most experienced developers in Cincinnati, led the transformation efforts of these historic scattered buildings into connective services that help nurture new businesses, grow the housing stock, and further revitalize the nearby Findlay Market. These transformations become the catalysts for or the continued momentum of broader neighborhood revitalization strategies.

The Model Group began acquiring the scattered historic properties over a two year period starting in 2014 with a vision of a vibrant, mixed-use, and mixed-income Market District anchored by Findlay Market, Ohio’s oldest continually operated public market.

Today, the Jobs Café project has created a mixture of  nearly 70 mixed-income residential units, as well as an expansion on the greater Jobs Café at Findlay Market project, a social enterprise restaurant concept that provides job training and placement for restaurant industry positions.

Several of the restored storefronts are leased back to graduates of the existing Findlay Kitchen incubator program at below-market rates, so small businesses can grow to scale and maintain their own street-facing storefronts.

The 683 Northland development transformed the historic Niagara Machine and Tool Works complex through major stabilization, remediation, and redevelopment efforts. Anchored by the Northland Workforce Training Center, part of New York’s $1 billion “Buffalo Billion” initiative, the project serves as the centerpiece of revitalization in Buffalo’s 35‑acre Northland Corridor. This investment responds to a growing need in the region’s manufacturing sector, which employs over 66,000 people but faces more than 20,000 projected job vacancies over the next decade. The rehabilitated 240,000‑square‑foot facility now provides essential space for training a skilled workforce and supporting innovation-driven manufacturing and energy businesses.

The Owosso Armory project is led by the local community and designed to catalyze economic development. The idea for the project originated from within the Shiawassee Chamber of Commerce whose mission is to stimulate economic development in Owosso and Shiawassee County. The goal of the Armory is to create and spin out new businesses into the community by offering a range of office spaces including turnkey office spaces, cubicle-like spaces, and individual desks. Businesses who relocated to the Armory include the Shiawassee Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) and the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership (SEDP), as well as nine other local business owners.

The Project transformed the vacant St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church building and two schoolhouses into a cultural hub for the arts and education featuring a performing arts venue, a non-profit school, and small business incubation and co-working space.

The rehabilitation of the 70,000 square foot Park Synagogue transforms a former single congregation house of worship into a multitenant arts, education, and community campus while preserving its most significant historic spaces. The restored building will host Oberlin College’s satellite arts program, Park Arts performance and event spaces, and Colorful Minds Studio, expanding access to education, cultural programming, and community services. The sanctuary and chapel are preserved for religious observance and lifecycle events, maintaining continuity with the building’s original purpose. The vision for the project reimagines and extends Eric Mendelsohn’s original center for education and community, building on the congregation’s legacy of social engagement by opening the site to broader public use while preserving a place for Jewish life. Rehabilitation work prioritizes long-term sustainability, including a geothermal heating and cooling system and major improvements to the building envelope to improve energy performance.

Once complete, the historic Ontario & Western Railway Station will consolidate Head Start and other childcare programming operated by the Regional Economic Community Action Program (RECAP) that is currently spread across two leased locations in Middletown. Today, RECAP serves 136 Head Start children in facilities housed within active churches that cannot effectively support the needs of children, families, or staff. These two locations will be relocated and expanded at the Project, enabling RECAP to serve additional students while improving the quality of its services. 

The redeveloped facility will provide larger classrooms with accessible bathrooms, space for disability services, adequate storage, private offices and meeting rooms, a separate parent area, a large-group training space, an indoor gross-motor space, and ADA-compliant access throughout. Outdoor improvements are anticipated to include three preschool environments: an accessible playground, an active playground, and an outdoor classroom with a tricycle track, art studio, and dramatic play stage.

More than a century after it first opened its doors, the 250,000 square foot space in downtown Cleveland is giving young artists, designers, filmmakers, photographers, and coders a unique, adaptable space to hone their crafts, while helping to revitalize an entire Cleveland neighborhood. In 2015, the revived and expanded Center opened its doors with revamped galleries, additional classrooms accommodating CIA’s variety of aesthetic disciplines, a new library, a large atrium connecting the old and new wings, and individual creative studios for each student.

The new Center projects student art on large screens outside the complex, allowing the neighborhood to enjoy some of the innovative and dramatic creations by CIA students. It also boasts the Peter B. Lewis Theater, a state of-the-art 4K cinema complex to house CIA’s long-running and nationally recognized Cinematheque theater, which shows beloved classics, arthouse favorites, and new programming to students and members of the public alike.

The rehabilitation of Loray Mill Lofts Phase 2 completes the adaptive reuse of the historic Loray Mill by converting the long-vacant west block into 143 market-rate rental apartments and resident amenity spaces. The project builds on Phase 1 of the redevelopment, which delivered nearly 200 market-rate apartments along with commercial space and shared amenities that anchor the mill campus today. 

Phase 2 continues this momentum with one-, two-, and three-bedroom units designed to highlight the building’s historic industrial character through open floor plans, high ceilings, exposed brick, and original structural elements. New amenities include a clubroom, fitness room, and indoor garden, with residents also accessing Phase 1 amenities such as the pool, clubhouse, and outdoor gathering spaces. Together, the project represents a key component of the broader revitalization of the Loray Mill Village, restoring historic structures and returning the site to active residential use. 

Upon completion, the former Chicora Graded School will be rehabilitated into a college‑preparatory high school serving exclusively low‑income students from the greater Charleston region. The renovated facility will include modern classrooms, administrative offices, science and technology labs, a cafeteria and commercial kitchen, assembly and gathering spaces, and outdoor areas designed to support both academic instruction and workforce development programming.

The school will operate as part of the Cristo Rey network, which combines rigorous college‑preparatory coursework with a corporate work‑study model that allows students to gain real‑world professional experience while offsetting the cost of tuition. Tuition at Cristo Rey operates on a sliding scale based on need, with most families not paying any tuition at all. The project is designed to accommodate up to 400 students and to create an education environment intentionally structured to expand access to opportunity for underserved families.