NewcrestImage has purchased Fourth & Walnut Centre, a three-building commercial office complex located in the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio’s resurgent central downtown business district.
The three buildings include a 19-floor tower built in 1903; a 4-floor office building built in 1937; and a 6-floor office building built in 1961. The complex features two restaurants; a business center; a parking garage; and 375,000 sq. ft. of rentable space, with occupancy currently at 56%.
The 1.06 acre site is within a few blocks of many business and leisure destinations, including two major sports attractions — the Great American Ball Park, home of baseball’s Cincinnati Reds, and Paul Brown Stadium, home of football’s Cincinnati Bengals. Corporate headquarters of nine Fortune 500 companies are nearby, notably Procter & Gamble, Fifth Third Bank, The Kroger Company, and Macy’s, Inc.
“This acquisition offers an exceptional opportunity for our company to become an active part of the city’s dynamic urban redevelopment,” said Mehul Patel, Chairman and CEO of NewcrestImage. “Specifically, we intend to convert a portion of the property to become a hip, contemporary, and upscale lifestyle hotel while respecting the location’s unique history, heritage and character.”
Added Patel, “Our plans also include enhancing and re-configuring the office space so it appeals to today’s millennial mindset. The result will be a technology-rich environment featuring work areas with the visual interest and flexible layouts that can significantly increase employee comfort, productivity, and loyalty.”
Dallas-based NewcrestImage has a proven record of developing hotels that both stand out and blend into their communities. For example, the company opened the country’s first AC Hotel by Marriott in December of 2014 after a $10 million renovation of the historic New Orleans Cotton Exchange in that city’s world-famous French Quarter.
Another example is the 107-room Courtyard by Marriott in Amarillo’s historic Fisk Building, which NewcrestImage has operated since 2011 and won an award from the Texas Downtown Association for “Best Adaptive Reuse” project.
Recently, the company’s Holiday Inn Express in the historic Bricktown warehouse district of Oklahoma City was spotlighted by the state’s Urban Land Institute for its unique exterior that blends the distinguished look of brick with dramatically colorful neon lighting used as artwork.
Currently, NewcrestImage owns and operates 20 properties, with an additional nine properties under construction or in development.
