Development roundup

The Queen City reaches out

The Tri-State area down south is abuilding with mixed use, healthcare and education

Cincinnati’s cityscape continues to reach up for the sky and to the water by constructing new skyscrapers and mixed use developments along the river. For example, The Dawson Company and Carter Real Estate of Atlanta have a vision of apartments, condos, retail and entertainment to redefine 18 acres of the riverfront located along south of Second St. and West of Great American Ball Park. They hired Atlanta based Cooper and Cary Associates to design The Banks to feature 1,800 housing units, 500 hotel rooms, 300,000 sf of ground level retail and one million sf of office space. The first phase is to begin during the first quarter of 2008. Nearby, Sasaki Associates of Boston is designing Riverfront Park for the city to provide pavilions, restrooms, water features, walking and bike trails, greenways, promenades and water edge treatments. with THP Limited Ltd. of Cincinnati designing a public parking garage.
The One River Plaza East Tower on East Pete Rose Way located next to The Banks, at the foot of the Purple People Bridge, is to begin construction during the first quarter of 2008. Developer Miller Valentine Group of Cincinnati and construction manager Bovis Lend Lease of New York plan to construct the $150,000 million, 50,000-75,000 sf project in two phases. Cole + Russell Architects of Cincinnati and RTKL Associates of Chicago designed the first phase to include a 14-story tower with 80 condos and the second to include a 9-10 story tower with 70 condos. Together the towers will make up 146 private luxury residences, with restaurants and retail/commercial spaces on the ground level.
Around the Banks
Just north of The Banks on Fountain Square Plaza, Fifth Third Bancorp finished construction on the $16.5 million façade and banking center relocation at the William S. Rowe Building in 2007. Designed by FRCH Design Worldwide of Cincinnati and managed by Cincinnati firms MBJ Consultants and Messer Construction Co., the four-sided structural glazed curtain wall system displays a 22-sf image of the Tyler Davison Fountain directly above the entrance. The new 3,440-sf banking center was relocated to the first floor. In 2005, a fountain was relocated in the square, which now features two additional fountains with a restaurant pavilion and a renovated parking garage.
The Great American Building at Queen City Square is to be the tallest skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati by 86 feet when it opens in 2011. Demolition of an existing 1,500-space parking garage between Third and Fourth Streets east of Sycamore Street is to take place mid-2008 so construction of the 40-story skyscraper can coincide with the initial phase of The Banks project. Managed by Turner Construction of Cincinnati and proposed by Eagle Realty Group, a subsidiary of Western & Southern Financial Group, the $300 million project consists of 825,000 sf of office space, 25,000 sf of ground level retail and 1,400 sf of parking on nine levels.
HOK of St. Louis is designing the façade to match the same glass, bright metal and light granite of the adjacent 303 Broadway building at Queen City Square. Cincinnati’s American Financial Group, Inc is to occupy 22 floors, which will take up 530,000 sf of the building’s occupancy.
North of downtown on 535 Vine Street, The Cincinnati Convention Center, aka the Duke Energy Center, began construction on a $135 million expansion in spring 2004 and opened in June 2006. Hunt Construction Company of Indianapolis and Cincinnati Architects Collaborative, created by GBBN architects along two other local architectural firms, served as the construction manager, and LMN Architects of Seattle designed 200,000 sf of new exhibit hall space and 100,000 sf of renovated and new meeting room space.
The building also features a glass enclosed lobby offering views of the city skyline and river linked to a 40,000 sf Grand Ballroom to provide multi-purpose assembly space. The building stands out on the skyline along the Interstate, with C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I written in 50-foot-tall letters made of glistening metal on the western façade.
Out a little
Currently under construction in Walnut Hills on Eden Park Drive is the 249,000 sf Baldwin 300 project, which includes apartments, dorms, retail and office space, a $46 million 123-room Marriott Spring Hill Suites hotel and a 1,100-space parking garage. The $86 million project developed by Corporex Development Services of Covington and designed by PDT Architecture of Cincinnati will also be the consolidated corporate headquarters of Humana of Ohio.
In Evanston, Phase I of Keystone Parke at the corner of Dana and Realistic avenues includes construction of a four-story, 69,000-sf office building as the home of the developer Neyer Properties of Cincinnati and two other tenants. The $4.5-$5 million high efficiency and eco-friendly building designed by PDT Architecture and Bayer Becker Civil Engineers of Covington began construction in May 2007 and is scheduled to take a year to construct.
Once complete, the pedestrian friendly campus will have a seven-story, 160,000 sf office building, a 240,000 sf office building of 10 stories and retail/restaurant facilities located on top of a four-story parking structure. The campus could equal to 460,000 sf and will feature a fitness trail, a picnic area, an aquatic facility and baseball and football fields.
North of Cincinnati, Middletown Regional Hospital opened the Atrium Medical Center in December 2007 near interstate 75 and State Route 122. Designed by Earl Swensson Associates of Nashville in February 2005, the 750,000 sf, five-story medical center offers 250 beds and includes many buildings on the 190 acre Premier Health Campus. Construction was managed by joint venture Skanska-Shook Construction which began in June 2005. The two story, 43,000 sf cancer center began construction in September 2006 and finished in July 2007.
Healthcare expanding
Simultaneously, the five-story, 111,000-sf medical office building began construction and finished in November 2007. It was designed to include physician office space and several hospital services, including cardiac rehabilitation, the Wilbur & Mary Jean Cohen Women’s Center and education facilities that correspond with the medical center floors. The first floor also has a retail pharmacy, restaurant and offices for the hospital cashier and financial counseling. The Ann and Arthur W. Bigwell Surgery Center opened a month later on the campus along with a senior housing facility and a campus YMCA.
Located adjacent to the outpatient surgery center, the Dayton Children’s Medical Office building began construction in spring of 2007 and contains offices for many pediatric sub-specialists from Dayton Children’s Hospital. The new Behavioral Health Building began a few months later and offers inpatient and outpatient services.
In 2008, construction of the Greentree Health Science Academy should begin to complete the current building plans of Premier Health Campus. It was designed to expand in the future by adding two additional floors to the main hospital containing up to 200 patient rooms and can expand horizontally in every direction.
More mixed-use
East of Interstate 75 and Ohio 122 in Middletown, Great Midwest Development, LLC is building the Renaissance mixed-use development on 300 acres to include 300 homes, 400 condos and 80 acres of office and commercial buildings. Phase one includes construction of 65, $300,000 single family homes and two office condos to provide 10,000 sf of garage space for the owners.
When complete, the development will offer 27 office condo buildings. Construction of three office condos and a two story, 50,000-sf office building will begin in 2008 to make up the second phase.
Phase II of Kenwood Crossing in Sycamore Twp. on Galbraith Road will be complete by May 2008. Neyer Properties is in the midst of an $18 million project consisting of two- story office condos to make up a three phase plan. Phase I opened in 2005 and includes a 2 story, 46,000 sf medical office building. Phase II has 3,600 sf under contract with a local doctor’s office and two other tenants are being negotiated. A three-story office building a total of 45,000 sf is in the planning process with construction to begin during the fourth quarter of 2008.
All of these developments prove Cincinnati is in high demand for office and retail space for area companies to grow in years to come, as well as healthcare services. bxm

Niki Nohejl Swank is a reporter for the BX with a vast knowledge of Ohio construction activity.