Duke Energy Convention Center

Crews began work on the roughly $209 million effort to expand and update the convention center — part of a larger push to establish a convention district Downtown.

The closure makes room for renovation work on the Duke Energy Convention Center. The street and neighboring vacant land will eventually become a public park and plaza.

A planned $200 million renovation of the Duke Energy Convention Center needs one more vote to reach full funding.

The architectural drawings show sunnier interiors and lots of windows.

The new tax will be added to the county's existing 6.5% hotel tax and be used to help support the renovation of the Duke Energy Convention Center and surrounding convention center district.

The Duke Energy Convention Center will undergo a $200 million renovation and expansion starting next year. But producers of some of the center's popular consumer shows are raising questions about the project.

A planned $470 million convention hotel has a financing gap of about $178 million that the developer wants Hamilton County and the city of Cincinnati to help fill. But officials say that doesn't mean cutting a check from the county or city general fund.

Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials are kicking in annual funds to help 3CDC purchase the parking garage.

Local officials are closer to building a new convention hotel in Cincinnati, but funding for the project is still a bit uncertain.

Cincinnati will spend $3 million to purchase the now-empty location of the former Saks Fifth Avenue Downtown. The department store permanently closed at the end of last year.