May 27, 20223 yr 17 hours ago, Rabbit Hash said: Agree. Hopeful that it will turn out better than those images. With the massing being the single biggest issue, I'm not sure that's possible.
June 4, 20223 yr Remember, Corporex built Ascent. Doesn’t work well in Covington or the skyline, but at least it was creative. So far, Ovation looks outdated before it’s even built and far from creative. IMHO
June 5, 20223 yr On 6/4/2022 at 5:20 PM, thesenator said: Remember, Corporex built Ascent. Doesn’t work well in Covington or the skyline, but at least it was creative. So far, Ovation looks outdated before it’s even built and far from creative. IMHO The Ascent is the exception to the Corporex rule. Everything else looks exactly like Corporex sounds.
June 6, 20223 yr Grabbed some progress shots, elevator towers wrapped up on building one, last photo you can see the Homewood Suites by Hilton finally rising from the parking garage podium.
June 21, 20222 yr https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2022-06-21/ovation-newport-development-music-retail-condos?fbclid=IwAR3rrbRFDKRBsWSDUyq6chpCwEbNZNbkx54Qs0he0yMi_Vr5u75vVQYCtuc This article has a construction progress video as well as an updated site plan.
June 22, 20222 yr I'm just going to say it.....not a fan. Maybe Corporex knows what they're doing more so than just an average urban enthusiast.
June 22, 20222 yr I don't think that's the case, considering what Corporex has done with programing the Rivercenter I'm not super optimistic. The Boardwalk/Retail has the potential to be very nice just due to it's location and unique vista. It will have great views of Historic Covington, the mouth of the Licking River and Downtown Cincy. If there is enough open seating and trees and shade it could be a really nice area, especially with it facing due West so you could watch the sunset over the river and Roebling bridge while you dine which is really unique to the region where sunset views are only really a feature on Mount Adams and maybe a couple other places. That being said the rest of the development I'm afraid will feel very lifeless especially with the decision to raise the entire pedestrian level up above 3rd street and focusing on condos which anecdotally seem vacant more often than apartments.
June 23, 20222 yr 11 hours ago, ucgrady said: unique vista. Historic Covington, the mouth of the Licking River and Downtown Cincy. the sunset over the river and Roebling bridge. The site's only selling point continues to be looking away from it.
August 12, 20222 yr The giant auto ramp facing the traffic circle is going to be terrible looking. I get that driving straight into the garage under NotL isn’t ideal either but this development is extra hostile towards the street level and pedestrians in general
August 12, 20222 yr This development really is compromised in almost every way... Like an Urban development designed by people who've never left the suburbs.
August 12, 20222 yr I feel like Newport has made poor decisions about redevelopment in general. The Levy was a poor design and never filled to its potential because of it. The theater and now this monstrosity are just so poorly and confusingly deigned, I get anxious when anyone asks me to meet them in the area. I avoid it at all costs. It's a shame, because the rest of old Newport is fantastic mix of housing and commercial that belies its relatively small population.
August 12, 20222 yr 1 hour ago, TheCOV said: I feel like Newport has made poor decisions about redevelopment in general. The Levy was a poor design and never filled to its potential because of it. The theater and now this monstrosity are just so poorly and confusingly deigned, I get anxious when anyone asks me to meet them in the area. I avoid it at all costs. It's a shame, because the rest of old Newport is fantastic mix of housing and commercial that belies its relatively small population. Yea the difference in the redevelopment of Covington and Newport over the last two decades is striking. Feels like Newport is always trying to swing for the fences with these huge lifestyle center developments while completely ignoring their historic business districts. Converting Monmouth to two-way and adding bumpouts and better sidewalk decor would unlock so much value. I supposed with it being a state route that makes it difficult, but the same could be said of York, Washington, and the east/west streets which are local streets. At the very least the city needs to incentivize development at the 3rd and Monmouth intersection and next to the Bell, so that people at NOTL might stop and think "Hey, maybe I should go see what's up this street". While ugly, Covington did benefit from the RiverCenter development with all it's increased tax revenue, which perhaps has allowed them to focus on reinvigorating their business districts. For the sake of fairness Ovation has basically been in the works since NOTL was first built so maybe the city of Newport would've pushed for a different sort of development today; but it doesn't seem like it considering what they are trying to get built on the old mill site. It's a shame because with the organic redevelopment that has taken place in Mansion Hill there are a lot of high income households in this area now that could support a revitalized main street.
August 12, 20222 yr On 6/5/2022 at 7:40 PM, zsnyder said: Everything else looks exactly like Corporex sounds. This is hilarious. Sadly so true.
August 12, 20222 yr NOTL doesn't take good advantage of it's views but it's not confusing at all to get around. There's one road that runs in front of it and a parking garage underneath that can be accessed from either side. I don't think Ovation is anything special but I swear some of you live to complain about every single new build.
August 12, 20222 yr 2 hours ago, Cincy513 said: I don't think Ovation is anything special You've just justified why I'll continue to give flak to the centerpiece of a city that sits on an amazing piece of real estate.
August 22, 20222 yr Promowest Pavilion at Ovation was just renamed MegaCorp Pavilion, with naming rights going to the anchor tenant of the office building currently under construction. https://promowestlive.com/our-venues/megacorp-pavilion Corporex, MegaCorp - it's like no one told these guys their names sounds like the bad company in every children's movie
August 22, 20222 yr 55 minutes ago, surpriseitsminh said: Promowest Pavilion at Ovation was just renamed MegaCorp Pavilion, with naming rights going to the anchor tenant of the office building currently under construction. https://promowestlive.com/our-venues/megacorp-pavilion Corporex, MegaCorp - it's like no one told these guys their names sounds like the bad company in every children's movie “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
August 22, 20222 yr MegaCorp Logistics acquires naming rights to former PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation in Newport A Northern Kentucky company has purchased the naming rights for the riverfront music venue formerly known as PromoWest Pavilion. MegaCorp Logistics announced Monday it had acquired the naming rights to the music venue at the Ovation, which will now be known as MegaCorp Pavilion. "The MegaCorp Pavilion naming commitment is an awesome way to reinvest in the community, while also using its visibility to help fuel MegaCorp’s growth," MegaCorp CEO Ryan Legg said in a news release. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/08/22/megacorp-logistics-pavilion-naming.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 10, 20222 yr Ovation update, hotel has one more floor to frame. The elevator shafts are almost complete for the first set of low rise condo buildings. It looks like they have stalled out on the project and my assumption is delay on steel delivery.
October 25, 20222 yr Corporex continues work on Newport's Ovation development: PHOTOS By Abby Miller – Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier Oct 25, 2022 Newport’s $1 billion mixed-use development project, Ovation, is seeing some of its phased construction enter the home stretch as progress continues to be made across the 25-acre site. Ovation, under the direction of master developer Corporex, is being completed in three phases. The first phase of construction began in fall 2019 with a 550-car parking garage and concert venue, both of which are finished. The parking garage is now home to Corporex’s “experience center,” which serves as a hub to give potential residents and tenants a better look at the riverfront project. It also is home to a design center where future residents can pick finishes for their units. The last key parts of Phase II are being finished, Corporex Chief Real Estate Officer Tom Banta told the Courier. The 100,000-square-foot office building, anchored by tenant MegaCorp Logistics, will be completed in the first quarter of 2023. The adjacent 132-room hotel, a Homewood Suites, will be ready next summer. MORE
October 25, 20222 yr 1 hour ago, The_Cincinnati_Kid said: Corporex continues work on Newport's Ovation development: PHOTOS By Abby Miller – Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier Oct 25, 2022 Newport’s $1 billion mixed-use development project, Ovation, is seeing some of its phased construction enter the home stretch as progress continues to be made across the 25-acre site. Ovation, under the direction of master developer Corporex, is being completed in three phases. The first phase of construction began in fall 2019 with a 550-car parking garage and concert venue, both of which are finished. The parking garage is now home to Corporex’s “experience center,” which serves as a hub to give potential residents and tenants a better look at the riverfront project. It also is home to a design center where future residents can pick finishes for their units. The last key parts of Phase II are being finished, Corporex Chief Real Estate Officer Tom Banta told the Courier. The 100,000-square-foot office building, anchored by tenant MegaCorp Logistics, will be completed in the first quarter of 2023. The adjacent 132-room hotel, a Homewood Suites, will be ready next summer. MORE Are the high rise apartments behind these part of the third phase?
October 25, 20222 yr 2 minutes ago, Ucgrad2015 said: Are the high rise apartments behind these part of the third phase? The high rise buildings, built behind the shorter condo towers are in a later phase that has an undetermined timeline. Corporex is playing the long game at the moment. Getting the hotel and office building completed, and will do the condo buildings since they are selling. If the economy dips or collapses they can wait and hope construction cost go down where its feasible to start building the taller rental apartment buildings. They have done this before in Covington and Denver, wait til the economy is rough, construction materials and labor are way down in price and then strike.
February 10, 20232 yr Newport's Ovation sees movement on hotel construction, condo sales: PHOTOS By Abby Miller – Reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier Feb 10, 2023 The hotel at Ovation, a massive $1 billion, 25-acre development in Newport, is taking shape. Corporex, the master developer behind Ovation, is constructing a Homewood Suites by Hilton next to Ovation’s first office building. Once complete, the five-story hotel will be packed with 133 guest rooms and two bars – one on the rooftop, and another on the plaza level. The construction of the Homewood Suites is part of Ovation’s second phase of development, which also includes the office building. Corporex announced in May 2022 the office building would be anchored by MegaCorp. Interior work at the offices is underway, and Corporex Marketing Director Suzanne Deatherage said there have not been any tenant announcements since MegaCorp. Occupancy remains at 40%. MORE
March 6, 20232 yr Pictures from onsite the other week. Work on the first two condo buildings is moving forward, expectation is that they will top out by early June. The third building is on pause until more units are pre-sold, Corporex is self-financing this portion of the project which is why there has been a hold up since the cores were originally built. The concrete parking podium is nearing completion, and work on the hotel continues.
March 6, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, dnymck said: Pictures from onsite the other week. Work on the first two condo buildings is moving forward, expectation is that they will top out by early June. The third building is on pause until more units are pre-sold, Corporex is self-financing this portion of the project which is why there has been a hold up since the cores were originally built. The concrete parking podium is nearing completion, and work on the hotel continues. Are the apartments still included in the current phase of construction?
March 6, 20232 yr 5 minutes ago, westcoast323 said: Are the apartments still included in the current phase of construction? They're supposed to be, but no work is being done on them yet.
March 24, 20232 yr https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/03/24/corporex-fornite-ovation.html The first photo of the development in the article looks completely different than the second photo. So which Ovation are we actually getting?
March 27, 20232 yr On 3/24/2023 at 7:02 PM, Ucgrad2015 said: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/03/24/corporex-fornite-ovation.html The first photo of the development in the article looks completely different than the second photo. So which Ovation are we actually getting? Lol right. The additional cost of those sloped roofs seems so unnecessary, hopefully they've been VE'd.
March 27, 20232 yr 8 minutes ago, dnymck said: The additional cost That's only the secondary reason why they should be removed. That being said, this seems much less vertical. If so, shame.
March 28, 20232 yr On 3/27/2023 at 9:35 AM, dnymck said: Lol right. The additional cost of those sloped roofs seems so unnecessary, hopefully they've been VE'd. For all the money being spent on this, and that's what it's going to end up as?
March 29, 20232 yr My guess is that condo sales haven't been as swift as they had hoped, they aren't even building the entire 'front row' of buildings like initially stated due to demand. With that in mind, downsizing the back row buildings makes sense and isn't really surprising. I don't miss the slanted roofs, but I agree the lack of height is disappointing. I think the whole area with the pool and big building near the traffic circle is filler at this stage and they are clearly working from the levee wall back so things are still subject to change.
March 29, 20232 yr 22 hours ago, Rabbit Hash said: For all the money being spent on this, and that's what it's going to end up as? A sitting rather than standing ovation.
March 29, 20232 yr Can't think of another development that had so much hype behind it end up as such a turd. Even the renderings have been VE'd to hell, I'm terrified of what the final product will be. From the architecture, to the layout, to the lack of walkability and broad swaths of blank wall at street level, this is a huge missed opportunity.
March 29, 20232 yr 28 minutes ago, küshner said: Can't think of another development that had so much hype behind it end up as such a turd. Even the renderings have been VE'd to hell, I'm terrified of what the final product will be. From the architecture, to the layout, to the lack of walkability and broad swaths of blank wall at street level, this is a huge missed opportunity. The Corporex special.
March 29, 20232 yr 1 hour ago, küshner said: the lack of walkability Biking around the traffic circle (as well as the one at the foot of the Taylor-Southgate Bridge) is not fun. This is so typical of the sort of waterfront development that turns its back on the traditional walkable part of its locale. Somebody's going to get run over walking back from Big Daddy's at 3am. There will be calls to build a pedestrian bridge over that busy street. Oh wait --
March 30, 20232 yr On 3/29/2023 at 10:52 AM, Lazarus said: A sitting rather than standing ovation. More like the sound of one hand clapping. Wasn't this like an $800MM project? That looks like $100MM at most.
March 30, 20232 yr On 3/29/2023 at 11:21 AM, küshner said: Can't think of another development that had so much hype behind it end up as such a turd. Even the renderings have been VE'd to hell, I'm terrified of what the final product will be. From the architecture, to the layout, to the lack of walkability and broad swaths of blank wall at street level, this is a huge missed opportunity. Its Corporex....we knew it would be terrible from day one. I think all of the Corporex and other development in Covington Newport since the early 1990's has been pretty lackluster. The Levee in particular is atrocious. I hold great hope for the redevelopment of the IRS site in Covington!
March 30, 20232 yr 10 minutes ago, TheCOV said: Its Corporex....we knew it would be terrible from day one. I think all of the Corporex and other development in Covington Newport since the early 1990's has been pretty lackluster. The Levee in particular is atrocious. I hold great hope for the redevelopment of the IRS site in Covington! Well I got news for you! They are planning on pitched roofs…as far as the eye can see….one story building? Pitched roof! Five story building? Pitched roof!!
March 30, 20232 yr 3 hours ago, TheCOV said: Covington Newport since the early 1990's has been pretty lackluster The Ascent is above average and seemed to signal that Corporex knew they had to get their heads out of their own design-asses for their own good... apparently not. It was a blip.
March 30, 20232 yr I think the biggest thing that everyone has to take into consideration is that Bill Butler has pissed everyone off in this town and cant find one person to help finance the Ovation. Corporex is self funding the development. I expect even more value engineering and project diminishing as the years come. After the bs with the Ascent project he was basically run out of town. Went out to Denver set up shop, and screwed everyone out there building another mixed use development. Realized he couldnt get very far there anymore he came back to town to develop the piece of property he has owned for awhile in Newport.
March 31, 20232 yr I do think it's pertinent to remember that development costs are much higher than they were when those original renderings came out. I can't think of a single market I work in that isn't seeing big downgrades in scale, concept, etc. For reference, I work with developers in London, Dublin, Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, NYC, Philly, Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, DC, LA, SF, Seattle, and probably some other places I'm forgetting off the top of my head. Point is, for projects that haven't been straight up killed by the last few years, every single one has seen one of a few scenarios. 1) Finishes moved up market to attract top of market rents to cover larger increases in the cost of things like building infrastructure (only works if the upper end of the market is quite a bit higher than originally projected rents/sales prices. IE: Not Covington). 2) Finishes, amenities, and unique architectural features value engineered out to reduce costs to allow for the pro forma to still work at previously anticipated rents 3) Utilization of city, state, and federal incentives to offset costs, even if this means shoehorning new requirements into the project. Unfortunately this isn't going to change anytime soon. Expect most projects you've seen proposed over the last few years to end up being a little less exciting once finished.
March 31, 20232 yr 14 hours ago, savadams13 said: After the bs with the Ascent project They got that thing finished at the exact right moment to avoid total catastrophe. People started moving in in 2008 just as the economy was in epic free-fall (caused in large part by speculative condominium construction like The Ascent), but many units, including all of the larger units toward the top floors, remained unsold until the mid-2010s. At least they got the thing topped out and a few people in there - if they had broken ground 4-5 months later it could have been standing there with a crane sticking out of the roof through Obama's second term.
March 31, 20232 yr 14 hours ago, savadams13 said: I think the biggest thing that everyone has to take into consideration is that Bill Butler has pissed everyone off in this town and cant find one person to help finance the Ovation. Corporex is self funding the development. I expect even more value engineering and project diminishing as the years come. After the bs with the Ascent project he was basically run out of town. Went out to Denver set up shop, and screwed everyone out there building another mixed use development. Realized he couldnt get very far there anymore he came back to town to develop the piece of property he has owned for awhile in Newport. I think he's also pissed of every design firm so as far as I know they are also designing these buildings in-house, then handing them off to smaller AOR/EORs.
April 1, 20232 yr when i saw the "a" frames atop the tallest buildings at ovation, I couldn't figure out what and who had the use of these 2 or 3 story gymnasism size glass enclosed structures. They could be indoor pickle ball courts. At first I thought, no way is this gonna happen. Public images kept showing these structures included in the plan. Now what is happening is function over form. Remove all imagination, stack cubicles atop cubicles. These apartments could be built anywhere, and are. What a waste of the premier location in all of NKY to make a statement. "If you lived here, not only would you be home now, you have arrived". Now when you move to the top floors at ovation, your view includes airconditioning units and stack pipes. Government houses were replaced by bank houses.
April 3, 20232 yr Corporex took a risk on the Ascent and the complex construction of it ended up costing them. https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/02/11/daily15.html Deep down, we all knew Ovation would never resemble anything close to the renderings. They have barely sold half of the first two condo buildings, so the third building will most likely never happen, or it will just be apartments like the two boring buildings behind it.
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