Monday, February 28, 2000
Newport rebirth spreading to south
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Newport today...
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... and Newport after potential development.
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NEWPORT — It's not your father's Newport.
The landscape of this historic river city has changed dramatically in just a few years, especially along its riverfront.
While the 10-month-old Oceanic Adventures Newport Aquarium and the under-construction Newport on the Levee entertainment complex are known entities, the future for the blocks southward into Newport's downtown is beginning to take shape.
The latest developments:
• A 200-room hotel has signed on as part of the Newport on the Levee project neighboring the aquarium.
• A decision on whether to build the mammoth Millennium Tower may come soon with the results of a study.
• Another restaurant/entertainment facility is planned for nearby.
• At least one other major restaurant business is scoping the area for a new location.
There is no doubt that development of the Newport riverfront properties will boost the region's economy as well as the
value of Newport's nearby commercial properties, said Shenan Murphy, chief operating officer for West Shell Commercial Oncore International, a major commercial real estate broker in Greater Cincinnati.
“This is a very positive development for Newport and Greater Cincinnati,” Mr. Murphy said. “Over the next 12 to 36 months ... this will be a strategic attraction for tourism, conventions and entertainment.”
Already, if you take a stroll down memory lane in Newport's prime redevelopment area, it doesn't do much for memories. Instead, the area — bordered by Third Street, Columbia Street, Sixth Street and Washington Street — is more like a snapshot of where and how the city will be changing in the next two years and who will be changing it.
• Starting at the Taylor-Southgate Bridge, the aquarium commands a view that was once occupied by liquor stores, old apartments and the last of reputed gangster Frank “Screw” Andrew's nightclubs, the Sportsman's Club.
• Next to the aquarium, a huge hole in the ground is rapidly being filled by a multistory underground parking garage expected to handle 2,000 cars when it opens in the fall.
• That construction will be followed by the completion of Newport on the Levee, which will house restaurants, shops, a 3-D IMAX theater and a 21-screen multiplex theater for first-run movies.
People who come to Newport via the bridge or other roads will easily travel from one venue to the next, said Barry Rosenberg, one of the partners who built the aquarium and vice president of Steiner & Associ ates, the Columbus company developing Newport on the Levee.
“Our vision for the entire area is that Newport on the Levee is an anchor for Newport,” said Mr. Rosenberg.
“We think it's important that the connection be made. That's what we like about the project. Instead of being an island of itself, it is integrated into the fabric of the entire area.”
The latest addition to the Newport on the Levee footprint is a 200-room hotel, slated to rise a block east of the L&N railroad bridge. Mr. Rosenberg declined to identify the company building the hotel.
This development, to occur within two years or so, will spark an influx of new business and entertainment options to this part of Northern Kentucky.
A study by the University of Cincinnati projects the economic impact of the aquarium alone at $80 million to $100 million a year, based on attendance and employment. Much of that is direct financial impact on Newport restaurants, hotels and tax coffers. Last week, the aquarium hosted its 1 millionth visitor ahead of schedule.
The city of Newport and Steiner control the land from the Taylor Southgate Bridge to Saratoga Street on the north side of Third Street. The historic Southgate House is the only exception. Built in 1814 by a Revolutionary War general of the same name and later the birthplace of the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, the Southgate House still perches on the rise across Third Street from the aquarium.
It is an entertainment venue booking mostly regional acts and is owned by Armina Lee and her family. Ms. Lee also controls properties farther south on Monmouth Street, including a couple of strip clubs.
But the Southgate House, protected by its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, is surrounded by pieces of property in flux. That land is controlled by a variety of companies and individuals, including two other area power brokers — businessman Wayne Carlisle and the Newport Investment Co., a partnership of Nick Ellison and Eric Haas.
Walking south of the river, a visitor can still see some of the old homes in the 300 block of Monmouth and York streets, many built in the late 1800s, as well as the ornate Campbell County Courthouse. The renovated old Taylor bank building at Fourth and Monmouth now houses attorneys' offices.
The library building on the southeast corner, a stately gray structure built in 1902 with money from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. is up for sale. Mr. Carlisle has said he wants to buy it.
Most of this area may look different in a year or two, if Mr. Carlisle and TANK (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky) succeed.
Mr. Carlisle, who owns the entire block bordered by Fourth, Fifth, Monmouth and York streets has already hung the 33-ton World Peace Bell and wants to develop some of the rest into a Peace Park.
He also is dreaming of building a 900-foot Millennium Monument tower next to the bell. Joe Bride, a spokesman for the Peace Bell project, said the results of a feasibility study of the tower are expected this week.
In the meantime, TANK has been planning a Southbank Shuttle bus station and garage in that block. Though its application for federal aid failed, officials are seeking other funding sources.
Just down the street, the parking lot on the southeast corner of Third and Monmouth is owned by John Philip Sousa III, a direct descendant of the famous march king. Buildings from the late 1800s were leveled for the lot, which serves aquarium-goers.
For those who remember Newport in a long-gone era, or even just as little as 10 years ago, the building along the south side of Fifth Street opposite the World Peace Bell property also represents a big change. It had been a gang ster's nightclub and gambling casino that in the 1960s became bowling lanes. Now it is a luminescent restaurant and night club complex called The Syndicate, owned by Mr. Carlisle.
In the next block, bounded by Saratoga, Washington, Third and Fourth streets, the older housing is gone and the brown brick structure that once housed the Dennart Distributing Co. awaits either renovation or destruction.
Newport Investment Co., a joint effort of Fort Thomas residents Nick Ellison and Eric Haas, owns virtually the entire block. They originally planned to open a Woodstock Cafe, a concept restaurant and pub. They scuttled that plan and are seeking a different investor and business to develop the property, which would include parking.
Mr. Ellison, a world traveler and yachtsman, said recently that he and Mr. Haas were attempting to complete a deal with another restaurant company.
“I think everyone will be surprised and impressed with what we finally present,” he said.
“One of the important things that the company was waiting on was assurance that Newport on the Levee would have the (AMC-owned) 21-screen cinema. That's very important for an eat and entertainment business, because the theater generates restaurant business. Having a new hotel just a block away will be an other big plus.”
One structure in that block will remain untouched, however, the old Southgate School building along Southgate Alley. It was a school for African-American children when Northern Kentucky schools separated the races. Southgate School is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Businesses not in Newport are looking to get in near its waterfront.
Mr. Murphy, of West Shell, said his office has been contacted by a major international restaurateur locating in the Cincinnati area, probably on or near the river.
“They are now waiting, perhaps 24 months, to see how the development works around the Cincinnati stadiums and how the Southbank area develops before they make a decision on a location,” he said.
“Until we fully understand what is going to happen on both sides of the river, they don't want to commit a lot of capital.”
Not like Wayne Carlisle, Nick Ellison, Eric Haas and Barry Rosenberg, who have been working together to steer the course of Newport's new riverfront.
“A lot of people have a lot invested in the area,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “There is a real comraderie there.... I see us as one part of the resurgence of Newport.”
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