Cincinnati riverfront work picks up

CINCINNATI (AP) — The year 2010 is expected to be pivotal in an ambitious effort to revitalize downtown Cincinnati’s riverfront.

After a decade of delay, construction on The Banks riverfront project begins in January. Crews will start on 300 apartments and 70,000 square feet of retail space in the effort to create a focal point for living, shopping, working and playing.

The initial construction will be work estimated at more than $70 million in a mainly privately funded effort expected to eventually total hundreds of millions more.

Local leaders have long considered a vibrant riverfront a key to boosting the city’s economy and drawing, and keeping, more downtown residents. But years of planning and development negotiations that fell apart clouded their dream.

Now, besides the storefronts and residential space, construction plans in the coming year call for a 45-acre public park and a second underground parking garage near Paul Brown Stadium.

Eventually, developers hope to have hotel rooms, office space and a total 1,800 residential units as downtown Cincinnati expands south to the Ohio River on land adjacent to the football stadium, baseball’s Great American Ball Park and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center attraction.

“It’s the kind of activity that people have really been thinking about at The Banks for more than 10 years,” said Trent Germano of Atlanta-based Carter Real Estate, teaming on the project with another Atlanta firm, the Dawson Co.

The companies are behind the apartments and retail space going up in 2010. The goal is a grand opening in early 2011, but the recession remains an issue. So far, no tenants are signed up.

“There are challenges in the retail market today that haven’t existed in 15 or 20 years, and we’re working as hard as we can to overcome those issues,” Germano said. “But we’re not going to do something just to do it. We’re going to do it when it makes sense because we want to get the right match.”

The first phase of The Banks should have at least three to four restaurants in spring 2011, developers say.

“The project is going to be a lot easier to sell when people see the buildings going up and see just how well it’s going to fit in,” Germano said.

Other riverfront projects expected to begin construction in the coming months are work on a grand fountain and staircase, along with a visitor center, bike center, and a “lager house” with an outdoor beer garden.