Burnet Avenue in Avondale displays the great disparity in wealth and investment between the rapidly expanding Children’s Hospital complex along Erkenbrecher and the struggling community and business district one block north. In 2006, Uptown Consortium, a non- profit community development corporation created by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, TriHealth, Inc. and the University of Cincinnati, sought to bridge this gap and use their influence to bring back the community.

In the summer of 2009, the Uptown Consortium solicited the Community Design Center for architectural consultation on a pair of projects aimed at developing the business district by renovating currently unoccupied storefronts and filling them with locally owned and operated businesses. The CDC has since been working closely with Uptown Consortium and Avondale community groups to design and open a restaurant at the intersection of Burnet and Rockdale Avenues.