$13M Project to Deliver 129 Apartments to Cincinnati’s Northside in 2015

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

A new development will bring 129 apartments and 8,000 square feet of commercial space to Cincinnati’s historic Northside neighborhood in summer 2015. The project was announced a few months ago, and now it finally has a name: the Gantry. According to Milhaus Development’s website, the Gantry is the first new construction project of its magnitude in the diverse Northside community.

Cincinnati City Council members joined the developer, Indianapolis-based Milhaus Development, the Northside Community Council and the Northside Business Association on Oct. 30 in Cincinnati’s Northside to reveal updated plans for the apartment project. The city of Cincinnati announced the name of the project on its Twitter page, live from the event.

Milhaus Development is the owner, developer, construction contractor and property manager. In July, the company announced it will start development on a LEED Silver-certified, mixed-use project located at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Blue Rock Street, on the former Myron G. Johnson & Son Lumber Co. property. At that time, plans called for the construction of only 100 apartments and 8,000 square feet of commercial space.  The Cincinnati City Council approved the project in August.

Milhaus will invest $13 million in the project. Three new buildings will be constructed and will house the 8,000 square feet of retail space and the 129 studio, one- and two-bedroom units. The apartments will feature granite countertops, designer lighting, wood-style flooring and more. Milhaus designed the Gantry in collaboration with Northside residents, so that it respects the neighborhood’s historic guidelines. Construction is expected to start in spring 2014.

The Gantry will revitalize the former lumberyard and railroad depot near Downtown Cincinnati and will also answer the growing need for apartments. Marcus & Millichap reports that apartment operations are tightening across Cincinnati. Demand for apartments is supported by healthy job and income growth, as well as the swelling millennial population. According to Marcus & Millichap’s fourth-quarter 2013 report on the Greater Cincinnati apartment market, vacancy is expected to decline to 4.5 percent this year, the lowest since year-end 2000.

With vacancies dropping, rents are expected to grow. In the third quarter of 2013, effective rents in Central Cincinnati, the most expensive submarket in the metro for rental units, reached $1,250 per month. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, rents at the Gantry will range between $600 and $1,500 per month.