Officials with the Joint Banks Steering Committee have pledged that a long-hoped-for music venue at The Banks is on schedule, unveiling some new renderings showing the $24 million indoor/outdoor attraction.
At a steering committee meeting July 30, developers also presented a $90 million, 15-story Class A office development at The Banks set to break ground next year.
Both projects are huge and could pump new life into the massive riverfront development effort. But both also come with some complications.
City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County leaders want the music venue, developed by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s concert promotion arm Music and Events Management, Inc., done in time to compete with a similarly sized riverfront music venue currently under construction across the river in Newport. MEMI says it can have the project — 4,000 seats indoors and another 8,000 outdoors — done as soon as October next year.
The snag is a complicated land swap necessary to start construction. MEMI’s proposed venue will sit on a parking lot currently used by Cincinnati Bengals fans coming to Paul Brown Stadium. The only way the Bengals will agree to ease restrictions on the height of neighboring developments — part of their contract with the county — is if that parking lot is replaced nearby. That takes us to Hilltop Basic Resources, a concrete company located along the river just west of Paul Brown.
Hilltop’s current site would be the place for a replacement surface lot for the Bengals. But Hilltop’s preferred site, a couple miles west in Lower Price Hill and Queensgate, has been eyed by locals there for a riverfront park. The city and county are working to get land owned by the city and leased by another company, Cincinnati Bulk Terminals, for Hilltop’s relocation. But that deal isn’t complete yet either, representatives for the city said.
Some work has begun on the development in the meantime, with the Bengals agreeing last month to allow the start of construction of the parking garage that will sit under MEMI’s development.
The massive office tower planned for a vacant plot north of the coming music venue also has a few question marks attached.
It’s far enough away from the stadium that it won’t be subject to approval by the Bengals, but who will finance and lease space in the 235-foot-tall building by Dallas’ Lincoln Property Co. hasn’t been nailed down just yet, developers say.
The project, called 180 Walnut, will be higher than the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and GE’s office space nearby. It will have 370,000 square feet and 90 parking spaces in a garage under the building as well as ground-level retail. By the time it is done in 2021, it will be downtown’s first Class A office space in five years — following GE’s offices at The Banks finished in 2016 and Great American Tower in 2011.
This article appears in Jul 31 – Aug 7, 2019.
