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City finalizes property sale to CDC for new NIOSH facility in Avondale

Rendering of the planned NIOSH facility in Avondale.
City of Cincinnati
Rendering of the planned NIOSH facility in Avondale.

Cincinnati Council this week finalized the sale of some property uptown for the construction of a new CDC facility. It’s one of the final steps in a project dating back 15 years.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has two facilities in the city that will be consolidated into one.

“We proposed that this would be the best place for a consolidation project, really to retain all of the jobs associated with CDC and NIOSH,” said Morgan Sutter, city grant administrator. “This is a really critical employer in our region. We enjoy having these positions in the city and really wanted to fight to keep them here.”

The site is just off Martin Luther King Drive at Reading Road and Ridgeway. The CDC will pay about $3 million for the city-owned property, which includes the cost of installing a new water main along Reading Road.

“You've got stormwater infrastructure, we have bicycle and multimodal facilities here, a new SORTA bus stop, we've got expanded sidewalk access,” Sutter said. “So this is really bringing a lot of great features to bear in the development.”

The project will include several other lots in the area owned by the University of Cincinnati, mostly made up of surface parking lots.

The city-owned property includes the Cincinnati Parks Operations Center, which houses about 20 full-time employees and some parks vehicles and equipment. Officials say plans are in place to move those to another existing facility.

When NIOSH announced the final site selection in 2017, the facility was estimated to be open by early 2021.

Construction is now estimated to begin in late 2023.

A map of the lots the City of Cincinnati is selling to the CDC
City of Cincinnati
The new NIOSH facility will take up the entire area in yellow; lots outlined in red are the city-owned properties sold to the CDC this week.

Local Government Reporter with a particular focus on Cincinnati; experienced journalist in public radio and television throughout the Midwest. Enthusiastic about: civic engagement, public libraries, and urban planning.