FORT THOMAS — Developers say they plan to turn an abandoned strip mall into the largest office complex anyone has built in Campbell County in the last decade.

A 60,000-square-foot office complex will replace an empty strip mall on U.S. Route 27 in Fort Thomas. (Architect's rendering) | ZOOM |

        When the Fort Thomas Executive Center is completed, the former IGA and Hader Hardware stores will be transformed into a more than 60,000-square-foot office complex on U.S. Route 27 near Highland Heights. The development could ultimately bring 200 new employees to the county's payroll tax, developers said.

        “We are absolutely thrilled they are going in,” Fort Thomas Council Member Karen B. Lied said Saturday. “We would hate to see that area vacant. The city is always trying to help businesses develop property.”

        Fort Thomas, a city of 16,500 residents, is mostly a residential community.

        The first tenant — and anchor — of the office complex will by KLH Engineering, later this year, possibly in October. The company plans to move 38 employees from its crowded headquarters on West Fifth Street in Covington to Fort Thomas. Bob Heil, a principal of KLH Engineering, is a partner in the development.

        The office complex's central location could draw additional tenants from downtown Cincinnati buildings, said Wayne Steffen, partner in the development and owner of C&N Construction. Realtors say businesses located in the eastern suburbs of Anderson Township and in Clermont County could also be attracted to the office complex.

        The complex is five minutes from downtown Cincinnati and a little more than one mile from interstates 471 and 275. The three-acre property is on a bus route, near the main fiber-optic line that that runs through Campbell County, and will include 158 parking spaces.

        “This is a huge upgrade of what is there now,” said Mr. Steffen. “We are taking what really is an eyesore and turning it into something useful. A lot of people can't wait to see the finished product. It will have a glass front with a two- or three-story addition.”

        Mr. Steffen and Mr. Heil live in Fort Thomas and shopped at the former IGA.

        When the longtime grocery store closed last September, some Fort Thomas residents mourned the loss of their local grocer. The owner said bigger chains, such as Kroger and Meijer, and distribution problems forced him out. It was the last IGA store in Northern Kentucky, a region that once had 17 IGAs.

        A 60,000-square-foot office complex will replace an empty strip mall on U.S. Route 27 in Fort Thomas.

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