Inside Northside’s Most Talked-About Transformation
There’s a moment Lonnie Mincy describes that says everything about how he and his wife Rickie see the world differently than most people.
When he first walked into a crumbling, abandoned building on the corner of a Northside street — a place that had once been Knowlton’s Tavern, a bar so troubled it lost its liquor license amid drug activity and neighborhood unrest—he didn’t see a problem. He saw a triplex. A spiral staircase. Natural light flooding through glass walls. A future.
“The massive size of it,” Lonnie says. “That’s what drew me in.”
That instinct—to look past what something is and see what it could become—is the engine behind everything the Mincys do. And after nine flips, twenty rental properties and even a stint on HGTV’s House Hunters, they’ve turned that instinct into an art form.
The Mincys didn’t come from real estate money. They came from nine-to-fives and a borrowed 401K. “We started with rentals on the west side,” Rickie says. “We’d work all day, then go to the properties after work—with the kids. We look back now and say, ‘How did we do that?’”
They did it house by house, deal by deal, building a portfolio of 20 single-family homes before the market shifted and the flips began in earnest. Eventually, Rickie left her day job. Lonnie followed a year later. Today, they answer to no one—and love every minute of it.
“He says we’re retired,” Rickie says. “But we work more now than we ever did.”
Their partnership is a study in complementary strengths. Lonnie is the visionary and the GC—he’s the one who walks into a space stripped to the studs and sees load-bearing walls that need to come down and basement floors that need to be dug out. Rickie brings the design eye, the finishes, the soul of a space. Together, they’ve built a trusted crew of contractors they’ve worked with across five or six consecutive projects.
“That’s the hardest part,” Lonnie says. “Finding people you can trust to come in and do it right.”
The Northside property wasn’t just a construction challenge. It was a neighborhood story.
Knowlton’s Tavern had a complicated legacy—a place where older residents once met their spouses and made memories, but one that had, in its final years, become synonymous with trouble. The owner, an older woman, had lost control of what came through her doors. The bar ended up on “don’t go there” lists. There were shootings. The liquor license was revoked. And then the building sat.
When the Mincys arrived, the neighborhood noticed immediately.
“People would stop and ask—is it going to be a steakhouse? What’s it going to be?” Lonnie says. “They were just so ready for something good to be there.”
They weren’t disappointed. The Mincys opened the walls, chased the natural light and made a decisive call early on: no partitions on the upper floor. The glass stays open. The light pours in.
One contractor—a guy who used to come to Knowlton’s back in the day—walked in during construction, went straight to a pile of salvaged pool cues and found his own, identified by a small marking he’d left on it years before.
The history didn’t disappear. It just got a better ending.
Now listed at $750,000, the property is a rare find in Cincinnati’s market—a one-of-a-kind, architecturally distinctive home that carries both character and significant financial upside.
Among the most compelling details for buyers: the property comes with a tax abatement of up to $300,000, the largest available short of full lead certification—a meaningful advantage at this price point that serious buyers will want to explore with their agent.
The space itself rewards those who love to entertain. The upper level—with its expansive glass and open sightlines—is made for weekend mornings and social evenings alike. Lonnie jokes that you don’t have to be an alcoholic to appreciate it. The backyard is fully fenced, creating a private outdoor sanctuary on what is otherwise a vibrant urban corner lot.
And that corner lot? It’s in the heart of Northside—a neighborhood that Rickie calls one of Cincinnati’s most genuinely connected communities.
“You’re not out in the suburbs, disconnected,” she says. “Here, people walk their dogs, they stop and talk, they know each other. There’s a woman down the street who’s known everybody for years—different backgrounds, different ethnicities—and they all come to her. That’s not something you manufacture.”
Dog walkers. Joggers. Live bands. Street vendors. The Bluebird Café. Walkable restaurants. Ten minutes to downtown. This is Northside—and this property sits right at its center.
When asked what advice they’d give the family or individual who gets the keys, Rickie doesn’t hesitate. “Explore the neighborhood. The home is beautiful—but get outside of it. Talk to your community. That’s what makes this place.”
The Mincys have now developed three properties in Northside—including a nail salon run by their daughter just around the corner on Joe Williams. None of it was the plan. It just kept making sense. For the right buyer, this home will too.
Interested in learning more? Contact your agent for a showing. The property is listed by Amy Richard with Comey & Shepherd.
