Perhaps no souvenir from Cleveland quite captures the city’s underdog pride as the popular T-shirt that reads “Cleveland Against the World” by the artist Glen Infante. It’s a quick two-mile shopping trip west of downtown to get one at his store iLTHY, short for I Love The Hype, one of the lively shops in the arts- and entertainment-friendly Gordon Square Arts District.

Like many good-news stories in Cleveland these days, the growth of Gordon Square owes something to LeBron James. The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar acted as the executive producer on a 2016 CNBC reality TV show called “Cleveland Hustles” in which budding entrepreneurs, each mentored by established business owners, competed to win financial backing and open retail outlets in Gordon Square.

Whether the rebound needed Mr. James’s help is a matter of some debate in the area.

“To create good TV, you have to create a villain. That villain was vacancies,” said Ben Bebenroth, the chef and owner of Spice Kitchen & Bar who has been operating his farm-to-table restaurant in the district since 2012. He characterized growth in the past five years as “explosive,” adding that the last 12 months have been “epic.”