Directly across the river from Cincinnati’s Central Business District, the city of Newport is in the middle of a massive construction project. In the next couple of years, the Northern Kentucky city will have new office buildings, hotels, retail, restaurants and million-dollar condos.
Corporex is the master developer for Ovation, a 25-acre project, which includes the already open PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation.
It’s been more than four years since Corporex planned and built a garage that PromoWest now sits on. Also on top is a new office building to open in early 2023, which has announced its first tenant, MegaCorp Logistics.
Also under construction is a new hotel, Homewood Suites. Across the street and connected by a pedestrian bridge is a mixed-use project consisting of condos costing $1 million each, plus apartments, restaurants, retail, more office space and another hotel.
Corporex Vice President of Construction Alan Bogart took WVXU on a tour.
“I think a lot of people have a hard time understanding the scale of the project until you get out here and truly see it,” he says.
Bogart had to be forward-thinking to deal with supply chain issues and acquired land a few blocks away (behind the big liquor sign) to keep some framing.
“We had to make provisions to find storage space around our site," Bogart says. "It’s an urban area that’s pretty dense. It’s hard to find space to store materials. We did find a lot and were able to store our framing materials for the hotel.”
Bogart’s team also pre-ordered elevators and appliances.
Building close to the river had some challenges, too.
“All of every column that you’ll see out here is sitting on drilled piers that go all the way down into bedrock which is approximately 60 to 80 feet below ground level," he says.