What Makes Riverfront Developments Work?

Spanning 18 acres along the riverfront, The Banks, a mixed-used development downtown, is a significant booster shot for the City of Cincinnati's economic growth. The master development team has locked in restaurant plans and fancy apartments and is planning hotel and office spaces. It's also collaborating with Cincinnati Parks on the adjacent Riverfront Park, a 45-acre development independent of the Banks.

Hamilton County and Cincinnati officials crafted the Cincinnati Central Riverfront Master Plan, a catalyst for what became riverfront developments such as Paul Brown Stadium and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The same county-city team hired Carter and Dawson companies to envision the Banks Project, east of the football stadium and center and a pitch west of Great American Ball Park.

Fast forward to March 2011. The Holy Grail Tavern and Grill opened in a corner space directly across from Great American, starting the buzz of the Banks development; the Moerlein Lager House is seeing vertical development, new residents are moving in to apartments and in the coming months, businesses such as Le Crepe Nanou and Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill will follow suit.

"Right now (the team is) getting the right mix of restaurant, bars and entertainment venues and not really saturating any one particular sector of retail," says Laura Griffin of Carter. "That takes a lot of thought and research into these tenants than one might typically think."

And the Banks is following success models that aren't too far away - Newport on the Levee and Louisville's Waterfront Park, which also hug the Ohio River, as well as Pittsburgh, home to riverfront stadiums Heinz Field and PNC Park and the 11-acre North Shore Riverfront Park, both along the north banks of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.

So what makes riverfront developments work?  Like the Banks, the aforementioned projects were backed by city and county officials but ultimately spearheaded by separate entities - whether private or bankrolled with public dollars. Steve Leeper, president and CEO of Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), is a former director of the Pittsburgh Sports & Exhibition Authority (SEA), incorporated by the city and Allegheny County. During his time in Pittsburgh, Leeper oversaw SEA-owned projects such as the stadiums and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.  He says the collaboration was an enabler when it came to development.

"It took away from a lot of the challenges you could have with multiple jurisdictions trying to run a project. With the authority, all the money flowed to it, and it issued its own debt. It became a real asset."  Leeper says that such a collaboration allows older cities to re-examine their previous relationship with their riverfront.

"Cities like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh for many years were cut off from their waterfronts. They were used primarily for industrial uses and commerce … but we've seen a big change over the last 15-20 years. Cities have realized that, in fact, these riverfronts are a public amenity, capitalizing on the opportunity to have commercial development combined with civic space."

Ditto Louisville, another champion of riverfront recreation. It is the home of the 85-acre Louisville Waterfront Park, complete with walking paths, overlooks and greenspace large enough for summer concerts and festivals such as Thunder Over Louisville and Forecastle, a long weekend of national music and arts.

Helming the park is the non-profit Waterfront Development Corporation (WDC), funded by the Commonwealth, City and Jefferson County. David Karem has been director since 1987. He says the WDC hasn't pursued adding private developments to the park, though it does have a Tumbleweed Southwest Grill; the Park's neighbors already include numerous restaurants, hotels and more in downtown Louisville.

"A lot of communities were looking at these idea of putting festival marketplaces down by the riverfronts," he says, citing Tampa, Toledo and Minneapolis -  "all of which were unsuccessful and are now gone. We weren't going to get into that. If somebody puts a restaurant in and it doesn't work, the governmental group is not at risk for that."

The WDC's most anticipated piece of the Waterfront Master Plan, according to Karem, is the Big 4 Pedestrian Bridge, which will span the Ohio and connect the park with Jeffersonville, Indiana.

"Jeffersonville is a really neat community with a lot of historical areas. It could really develop into a restaurant-arts-entertainment venue also."

Back to Cincinnati, the Purple People Bridge currently connects the Banks with Newport on the Levee, a four-level complex that includes office space, restaurants, bars, AMC Theatres and the Newport Aquarium in Northern Kentucky. Every summer, thousands descend upon the festival grounds just north of it for events such as Italianfest and the Great Inland Seafood Festival. What's more, the Levee is flanked by the entertainment stretches of Covington and Bellevue's riverfronts, less than two miles west and east respectively.  It adds up to acres and acres of economic development and opportunity as well as enhancing the quality of life.

"There are a number of ways riverfront developments have benefited the city," says Newport's business development officer Ryan Wyrick. "When the Levee was developed, I think it put a new face on the city, and it brought a lot of people from the region back to Newport to experience some of the good things that were happening -  that maybe they were reluctant to do prior." He says the city helped the Levee's developers overcome some of the challenges associated with riverfront projects. "Number one, a lot of times property acquisition is very expensive, and number two, providing the parking and infrastructure to get people there is also challenging."

Wyrick says it's exciting to see the region's growing interest in riverfront development, especially as urban living interests grow.

"The community wants to see it happen, and it's important for us to continue with it. Having a dynamic urban core is vital to any region."

Photography by Scott Beseler

The Banks, 161 Joe Nuxhall Way
Holy Grail at the Banks
Pittburgh's riverfront, by Brian Cohen of popcitymedia.com
Purple People Bridge at Newport at the Levee
Louisville's Waterfront park
Serpentine Wall
The Reef at Manhattan Harbor, Dayton, KY