One night a week, at Fountain Square in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, you can set aside the hustle and bustle of the big city and experience the cool resonance of a piano, the warm plucks of bass, or even the groovy squeals of a trumpet.
This particular night, the horns, keys, bass, and cowbells of the Mike Wade Quintet could be heard, but the Jazz on the Square series features 28 different acts, one every Tuesday night from April to October. This is just one of the many community enriching events and projects which the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) is responsible for. Founded in 2003, 3CDC is a 501(c)(3) private, nonprofit organization. The foundation has been involved in the revitalization of Over-The-Rhine and the Central Business District. The organization outlines four major goals on their website, “Create and manage great civic spaces, create high density/mixed-use development, preserve historic structures and improve streetscapes, create diverse, mixed-income neighborhoods supported by local business.”
In 2023 the city of Cincinnati contributed over $2 million in budgets to 3CDC, according to City of Cincinnati public records. The largest current undertaking of the organization is the overhaul of the Duke Energy Convention Center. An overhaul which will solve a mutiny of problems the multi-use space currently has, according to 3CDC Executive Vice President Adam Gelter.
“We’ve been on a cycle of renovating this convention center every 20 years since 1965. We need to break that cycle and do a modernization of this center that addresses it holistically, so that we’re not just adding a piece here or a piece there but we’re really looking at this space and this district in a way that brings it to where it needs to be for the long term,” Gelter said at Visit Cincy’s 2023 meeting.
The city of Cincinnati is contributing $30 million to 3CDC for the Duke Energy Convention Center renovations, as well as ongoing contributions to cover renovation debts, according to Ben Breuninger, the city’s deputy director of communications. The changes being made are in an effort to curb tourism in Cincinnati, according to 3CDC senior communications manager Aubrea Atkinson.
“The Convention Center is an important piece of downtown development, attracting people to not only attend conventions, but to stay in local hotels and eat at local restaurants during their visit as well,” Atkinson told Spark. “The improvements being made to the convention center will allow the tourism bureau to book larger events that will attract additional visitors to the region, boosting the local economy in turn.”
All of this is part of an initiative to make Cincinnati more competitive in the corporate world, according to Visit Cincy senior communications manager, and West alumn Eileen Osborne.
“[Cincinnati] has been passed over for major events in favor of cities like Louisville, Columbus, and Indianapolis,” Osborne told Spark. “For Cincinnati to become a regionally competitive city for bigger and better conventions, think medical or corporate conventions, upgrading the Duke Energy Convention Center is a must.”
A key aspect of the overhaul is adding a convention headquarters hotel to accommodate increased tourism. “The hotel will be built on a current surface parking lot just south of the convention center,” said Atkinson. “It will include up to 800 rooms, 60,000 to 80,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, 15,000 square feet of retail, a pool, outdoor amenity deck, plus junior and senior ballrooms.”
This is all to help boost the local economy, said Osborne. “The more people that come into the city, the more new money is being brought into our economy,” Osborne said. “The more money being brought into our community, the more restaurants, attractions, and small businesses are being supported.”
The impact of this is already visible as Cincinnati was announced as a finalist to be the new home of the Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the United States.
“Cincinnati’s infrastructure and walkability make it a great candidate for the festival, as well as all of the excitement in the urban core,” said Atkinson. “Additionally, [Cincinnati] is a strong arts, culture, and aesthetically-minded city.” Despite this being the biggest project 3CDC has worked on, they are confident that given their experience they will be able to complete it, Atkinson said.
“The Convention Center renovation is larger and more complicated than most other projects 3CDC has completed in the past, [but] the project is similar to many of the other large-
scale development projects 3CDC has undertaken,” Atkinson told Spark.
Construction on Duke Energy Convention Center began on July 16 and is set to be completed by the end of 2025. But on a smaller scale 3CDC is also working to make prime storefront locations more available for entrepreneurs with its Main Street Pop-Up Program. The program provides short term leases and financial incentives for businesses looking to move in.
Selfie Cincy, a business which provides a collection of creative sets that can be rented out for photoshoots, is a part of the program. Located at 1316 Main St., the business has seen a great level of success in just a year’s time due to the program, according to CEO Amari Samya.
“It’s been a learning experience as a new business owner, and as a pop-up tenant, I can say there has been an amount of patience that I couldn’t say I would have received anywhere else,” Samya told Spark. “We are appreciative of the support of 3CDC and look forward to how they will continue to generate programs that support small minority-owned businesses like Selfie Cincy.”
The program has even allowed Selfie Cincy to give back to further give back to the community themselves. Partnering with local non-profits, Make a Kid Merry and From the Sidewalk, they hosted a food drive to provide for inner-city youth. These opportunities created by 3CDC have given Samya motivation going forward.
“We are looking to expand our location within the next 6 months as well as secure more brand partnerships with Cincinnati based businesses for our forthcoming selfie installations,” said Samya.
