By David Lyman, Enquirer contributor

It's hard to remember what downtown Cincinnati looked like in the early 1990s, especially Walnut Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets.

In 1995, the Aronoff Center for the Arts opened on the east side of the block. It was a game-changer. No schedule has been announced yet for the Aronoff's 20th anniversary activities. But we thought we'd get a little head start and take a look at what this once-controversial arts center has meant to the city, not just that little stretch of Walnut Street, but to the entire Downtown.

"It's hard to overstate how much of a catalyst the Aronoff was for the revitalization of Downtown," says David Ginsburg, the President and CEO of Downtown Cincinnati Inc. "DCI really came into being in 1994. Rents were going down. Occupancy was dropping. The only real positive story we had going on was the Aronoff."

Some people recall that stretch of Walnut Street as a wasteland. But there was life there. And retail. Batsakes Hats was there, with a dry cleaner attached. There was an optician, too. And Walnut Street Popcorn & Sweets. But after 6 p.m., it was mostly deserted other than the regulars at the Phoenix Bar and a couple of so-so restaurants that stayed open late.

Victoria Morgan, artistic director and CEO of Cincinnati Ballet, came to Cincinnati from San Francisco in in 1997. The Aronoff had already opened. But very little of the development that would eventually change the rest of the neighborhood had begun yet.

"We would come out of the Aronoff after technical or dress rehearsals on a Wednesday or Thursday night and it would be deserted," she recalls. "There was no one there, no one at all. It's so different now. There's really buzzy energy and life and traffic and all sorts of things happening."

Soon, other businesses began to follow. Nicholson's opened directly across Walnut Street in 1997. Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse opened at Seventh and Walnut streets in 1999. The Contemporary Arts Center arrived at the corner of Walnut and Sixth Streets in 2003, followed by Nada in 2007 and the 21C hotel in 2012. Then, just around the corner on Sixth Street, Boca and Sotto restaurants opened in 2013 in the former Maisonette/La Normandie space.

It's a formidable turnaround. But then, with the Aronoff bringing an average of 385,000 people to the block every year, it was probably inevitable.

"The Aronoff opening across the street was certainly a key to us feeling good about opening there," says Nick Sanders, the owner of Nicholson's, who estimates that between five and 10 percent of the restaurant's business is directly attributable to the arts center. "We do have other business. But we definitely like weeks when they have shows in there. We notice the difference. Having them there is good for our business."

That the Aronoff would be an economic driver wasn't always a certainty. Less than two decades earlier, in January 1976, the Shubert Theater, which sat kitty corner from the proposed Aronoff location, had been razed because touring Broadway shows regularly incurred substantial financial losses there. The adjacent Cox Theater was torn down at the same time.

Detractors believed that the city needed business development, not entertainment venues. There was also concern that committing funds to build a new arts center in downtown Cincinnati was part of a long-term campaign to bring about the demise of the city's much-loved Music Hall.

But just as artists and small arts organizations moving into a blighted area are often a bellwether for future retail and residential development, city and state funding agencies saw the success of arts centers of this scale driving economic development in cities like Louisville, Lexington, Portland, Oregon, and Pittsburgh. Surely, such a center would succeed in Cincinnati, a city known for its deep cultural roots.

So began the long and often torturous process of political arm-twisting, property acquisition and public relations campaigns that would see the center designed by superstar architect César Pelli open in October, 1995.

And the increase in activity in the area was almost immediately obvious. During its first year, the Aronoff's attendance was 514,000. According to a 2001 study by University of Cincinnati's Economics Research Group – and funded by the Aronoff's parent organization, the Cincinnati Arts Association (CAA) – the Aronoff had been responsible for $171.2 million in new sales for the region's economy since its opening.

There have been some formidable bumps along the way. During the civil unrest of 2001 and the subsequent boycott of Cincinnati by several performing artists, attendance dropped and the Aronoff was forced to cancel nine major events.

Later, just as it seemed that attendance and funding had returned to normal levels, the country was walloped by the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Tickets sales were definitely affected. But the impact was most deeply felt by the Broadway in Cincinnati series which, with an average of 15 weeks of shows a year, is the Aronoff's most active resident company.

Broadway productions are dependent on investors. And because people with money to invest were feeling the pain of the economic downturn, theatrical producers were having great difficulty raising money to stage new production.

"That slowed down the pipeline of new product – new shows – significantly," says Steve Loftin, president of the CAA. "Like the whole industry, we saw a slowing of available entertainment products. And once Broadway experienced that, we felt the same thing – there was less product available for touring productions."

But thanks to some extremely popular touring productions that were already on the road – "Wicked," for instance – the impact of the weakened economy was somewhat diluted.

As the economy has improved, though, so has investment in new shows. And before long, those shows have begun to make their way into the Aronoff's 2,700-seat Procter & Gamble Hall.

Loftin and his staff have been aggressive in broadening the Aronoff's reach far beyond Broadway productions. In recent years, several local performing groups have been added to the roster of resident companies, including Cincinnati Music Theatre, Exhale Dance Tribe, Cincinnati Playwrights Initiative, de la Dance Company, Cincinnati Boychoir and MamLuft&Co. Dance, among others.

With six weeks of annual performances at the Aronoff, Cincinnati Ballet is second only to Broadway in Cincinnati in terms of production activity. And in September, the company moved its two-week "Kaplan New Works Series" into the Aronoff's 440-seat Jarson-Kaplan Theater.

"We'll continue to grow," says Loftin. "But we want to be certain that we grow in ways that we – and the groups involved – can sustain."

And what, exactly does that mean? Loftin is loath to speculate too much.

The state recently approved $2 million for "capital systems improvements." Most of the improvements will be out of sight of patrons. But carpeting and seating will both see "refurbishment," says Loftin.

More resident companies? Possibly? Expanded educational programming? Probably.

"We are an arts center of and for this community," says Loftin. "We believe in building relationships. That means relationships with other arts organizations, both local and beyond. That means relationships with the unions who are represented here. That means relationships with students and educational institutions. Most of all, it means the relationship we have with this entire community.

"It's too early to tell you all the things we'll be doing to celebrate next year. All I can tell you for sure is that we will continue to contribute in any way we can to the arts scene and in helping to make Cincinnati a wonderful city."