Northern Kentucky

CONSTRUCTION
Billions in projects underway
Northern Kentucky continues ambitious investment in smart construction
BY ROBBIE CLARK
NEWPORT-based EGC Construction
knows how to handle major
construction projects, as the familyowned
company bills $40 to 50 million
annually in construction-related services.
Ranging in clients from Mercedez-Benz to
pharmaceutical production facilities, EGC
is locally minded and focused on making
Northern Kentucky a thriving place to be.
EGC employs more than 175 people,
including those in architectural design,
structural engineering and other skilled
trades. The company offers a wide-range
of niche construction services, including
equipment installation and rigging, and
environmental and energy planning.
No matter the variety or firm handling
the project, construction in Northern
Kentucky is booming.
One of the most ambitious development
projects on the books in Northern Kentucky
has to be the transformative Ovation
riverfront complex.
The planned $1 billion mixed-use
project by Covington-based developer
Corporex was first announced in 2007,
but the Great Recession that struck in 2008
put an indefinite timeline on the start of
construction, let alone completion.
Above: The $80 million Aqua on the Levee is
a mixed-use development in Newport that is
nearing completion. The complex will include 239
luxury apartments facing the Ohio River, as well as
street-level retail space and a hotel.
Right: Koch Development plans to install a $10
million, 235-foot-tall ferris wheel on the banks of
the Ohio River that will provide 360-degree views
of the region. The attraction will be housed at the
popular Newport on the Levee.
The Ovation project, when finished,
will be a massive complex on Newport’s
riverfront just west of Newport on Levee
on the Ohio River and Licking River:
consisting of 1,000 new residential units,
shops, restaurants, entertainment venues,
a full-service hotel and 200,000 s.f. of
office and retail space.
Newport on the Levee, a riverfront
arts and entertainment district anchored
by the popular Newport Aquarium, has a
new attraction development planned for
2017, one that will be the first for Northern
Kentucky and certainly change the skyline.
Koch Development plans to install a $10
million, 235-foot-tall ferris wheel on the
banks of the Ohio River, which will provide
360 degree views of the Cincinnati skyline
and the Northern Kentucky riverfront.
SkyWheel will feature 30 gondolas,
including one VIP vessel; rides of three to
four rotations are expected to last 10 to 12
minutes.
Adjacent to Newport on the Levee, the
$80 million Aqua on the Levee mixed-use
development is nearing completion. This
complex will include 239 luxury apartments
facing the Ohio River and 8,000 s.f. of
street-level retail, as well as a 144-room
Starwood Aloft Hotel – the brand’s first
for the Greater Cincinnati Area – and a
850-space parking garage.
East of Newport, early stage work
continues in Dayton on the large-scale
Manhattan Harbor upmarket residential
development along the bend in the Ohio
River. The first phase of the evolving project
being built by Walker Homes includes 27
single-family riverfront homes, starting
at $1 million. Plans for the $470 million
Wayfair Inc., plans to open a 900,000-s.f. facility
adjacent to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
International Airport.
38 The Lane Report’s Northern Kentucky Market Review 2017 lanereport.com