Progress Update for MLK & Reading Road Redevelopment

Wordsworth Communications

Recently, we shared an update on how 2022 was a year of working together to create a 21st-century urban district. Uptown Consortium, Inc. (UCI) is pleased to share the latest update on how our efforts at the MLK & Reading Road Redevelopment Area in the Cincinnati Innovation District (CID) continue to be the driving force behind the revitalization of the area.

Uptown is the region’s research and innovation center and the city’s second-largest employment center. The MLK and Reading Road Redevelopment Area is a 65-acre mixed-use district designed to stimulate private investment, increase housing choices and attract new jobs and business opportunities. UCI advocated for and led the conversation for investment before construction began on the I-71 MLK Interchange. The goal is to create a gateway to innovation and technology.

The interchange brought with it strategic growth opportunities—and UCI has been front and center in pushing for investments and initiatives that create jobs, attract talent and build a livable community to accelerate economic growth for Uptown and the greater Cincinnati region. That includes forming partnerships to bring capital and investment to implement the community’s vision for the area. When the MLK and Reading Road Redevelopment Area is fully built out, it is projected that over $2.4 billion in investment, more than 2.5 million sq. ft. of mixed-use development, and 7,800 jobs will be retained/created with $635 million in total earnings.

Here’s an update on the progress in the MLK and Reading Road Redevelopment Area.

To date, more than 1.1 million sq. ft. of new space totaling more than $1 billion of investment is complete or underway, including the following projects:

• UC Digital Futures, a 180,000 sq. ft. office and research building
• Digital Futures II, a 180,000 sq. ft. Class A office building
• NIOSH, a $110M state-of-the-art federal research facility
• The Node, a $350M multi-phase mixed-use development (office, residential, hospitality and commercial uses)
• Southwest Quad, a mixed-use development led by Cincinnati’s first minority-owned development team, Queen City Hills
• Innovation Greenway, a 5-acre publicly accessible green space

UCI continues to engage with stakeholders to advance three priorities: investment in place (public realm improvements), people (programs to develop and grow talent) and projects (infrastructure and site improvements). According to Beth Robinson, UCI’s President and CEO, investment in these three priorities will improve economic development potential, aesthetics, safety and overall livability for residents, employees and visitors to Uptown.

“The growth and success of Uptown will continue to be our mission. The transformation of an area suffering from disinvestment into a world-class hub supporting innovation and job creation, underpinned by community engagement and inclusion, is our priority,” says Robinson.