Construction starts on company's $122M Cincy headquarters

CINCINNATI (AP) — Construction began today on a consumer-data company’s new $122 million headquarters in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, a development being touted for deepening the city’s ongoing transformation from a declining Rust Belt dinosaur to a region pulsing with new development and revitalization.

The nine-story office tower will be home to dunhumbyUSA, which analyzes consumer habits for companies like Macy’s, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

The company, a joint venture of Cincinnati-based Kroger and London-based dunhumby, began in Cincinnati with three employees in 2003 and now has more than 650; the company plans to nearly double to a 1,100-person work force by 2018.

Both Cincinnati and state officials fought to keep the fast-growing company in the city, awarding it a combined $25 million in tax credits and incentives.