Downtown Cincinnati’s dunnhumby Centre Reaches Key Milestone in Construction

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

On Jan. 31, dunnhumbyUSA and the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) broke ground on the dunnhumby Centre project in downtown Cincinnati. After almost 10 months of work, the project reached an important milestone in its construction, as it received its first concrete pour at street level on Nov. 14. Also, at the start of the month, the Cincinnati Urban Design Review Board approved the design for the new building.

The development is located at the corner of Fifth and Race streets. When finished, in February 2015, the project will deliver 280,000 square feet of office space, 30,000 square feet of street-level retail space and an above- and below-ground parking garage with 1,000 spaces. The garage will open to the public before dunnhumbyUSA moves into the new office.

According to the 3CDC website, the dunnhumby Centre is expected to cost about $129 million. It will be financed with the help of New Market Tax Credits, tax increment financing, 3CDC-managed corporate loan funds, a JobsOhio loan, conventional debt and equity through PNC Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First Financial Bank, the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority and private capital.

In a press release, the 3CDC said that 100,000 cubic yards of dirt have been excavated from the site to prepare for the below-grade parking decks. Concrete work started in June and is now 40 percent complete. From here on, construction will be done from the ground up and will be visible to passersby.

The project will turn a long-vacant lot in the heart of the city’s downtown into dunhumbyUSA’s new headquarters. The company employs 650 people in Cincinnati and plans to grow to 1,100  by 2018. It will own the new building. The 3CDC will operate the parking facility and will own, lease and manage the retail space. The Turner Construction Co. is the project’s construction manager, with Chicago-based Gensler Architects as the project designer.

Not only will the project spur further development and lead to the revitalization of downtown Cincinnati, it will also bring 280,000 square feet of office space to a market where vacancy is dropping. Marcus & Millichap expects office vacancy in the Cincinnati metro area to decline to 18.2 percent by the end of the year. Developers will complete 120,000 square feet of office space during 2013, five times less than in 2012.