The developer behind a mini golf course at The Banks aims to have it open by November. The Cincinnati Park Board gave its approval Wednesday.
Parks Director Jason Barron says the three-year lease allows Jeffery R. Anderson Real Estate to spend $1 million to build a 19-hole course on Lot 18, between The Filson and Yard House restaurants on Freedom Way.
Each of the hole at the Cincinnati Legends Putt House at Freedom Park will have a plaque honoring a notable local person. The developer says those plaques can be rotated in and out.
Barron says the park board will have a lot of say in the course, including approval over the final design.
“They’re required to keep the facility in a good, safe, orderly, sanitary and clean condition, and also not to have any nuisances,” Barron says. “Not that we think this would happen, but if for whatever reason they were to operate the mini golf course in such a way that it would be a problem for other neighbors or for the general conduct of The Banks, we have the ability to make them reach that standard.”
The course will be fenced, with one entry point. Developer Jeffrey R. Anderson says there will be security cameras.
“We already have outdoor space at The Filson, so we have a camera system. Obviously if someone scales the wall at 2 a.m., the cameras will go off, we’ll get alerts, and what we try to do is alert the police, who’s hopefully already down there.”
There is a Cincinnati Police substation less than a block away.
Anderson owns The Filson, which will have the concessions for the course. The company will be able to apply to extend its liquor license to cover the course, or apply for a separate license.
The Filson is the most recent addition to The Banks. It opened in 2022, one year after the Brady Music Center.
The course is across the street from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. There were plans to install a permanent 200-foot-tall Ferris wheel on Lot 18. Those plans fell through after complaints the wheel did not mesh with the Freedom Center's mission.
“This [lease] requires Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate to have a donation agreement with the Freedom Center,” Barron says. “That donation agreement has been entered into and executed."
The developer will give the Freedom Center $100,000 per year during the lease.
Right now, the course will be open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. It would not be required to be open on holidays or during bad weather. Barron says those hours could change with park board approval.
The property would have to be restored to its current condition at the end of the lease.
The developer must still get building permits from the city. Anderson says they plan to apply for those next week.
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