| Take Your Chevy to the Levee, Celebrate with a Port |
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Take Your Chevy to the Levee, Celebrate with a Port As restaurants and shops come and go, these Cincinnati staples are here to stay, and they've only been around for nine years. Find out how these entities have turned eyesores into social-life candy.  You eat, you shop, you drink, you laugh, and Newport on the Levee lets you do it all in one place. Now one of the largest entertainment hubs in the area, Newport on the Levee didn't even exist last century.
After the opening of the Newport Aquarium in 1999, the Levee officially opened in 2001 to make real the vision of "what 'could be' on the then barren riverfront location housed with vacant warehouses," says Ellen Prows, general manager of the Levee. Now, the Levee brings nearly four million visitors to Newport and has created more than 1,500 jobs, Prows says.
And the people aren't coming for nothing. The Levee boasts a safe, family-friendly environment with places to appeal to every member of the family. Whether the teenager wants to watch a movie with her friends, the mom wants to crack up with her gals at the Funny Bone, or the grandma wants to grab a book and a bite to eat, the Levee offers multi-generational enjoyment.
As for the next decade, the Levee seeks to add unique-to-the-market concepts that uphold the one-stop setting the Levee currently boasts. "We want to keep our guests' experiences fresh and ever-changing by creating new activities, such as this year's 'Light Up the Levee' holiday lighting show," Prows says.
In a much more backstage role than the Levee, the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority also has helped Greater Cincinnati make great strides in the social realm, and just like the Levee, the Port Authority didn't even exist before the 2000s. Formed in December 2000, the Port Authority has used the last nine years to facilitate economic development, particularly through brownfield redevelopment and bond financing.
The Port Authority's efforts for brownfield redevelopment — which entails "redeveloping abandoned, idled or underutilized industrial and commercial sites," according to the Port Authority Web site — have touched nine areas, including the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens. If you've been to the zoo recently, you might have noticed the new parking lot and pedestrian bridge from the parking lot to the zoo's new entrance. These additions came directly from the Port Authority's brownfield redevelopment and bond financing.
Beyond the zoo, the Port Authority has aided in the development of Red Bank Village, Cincinnati Mills, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which all also came about in the last decade. And these projects have proven to be beneficial on more than just the social side of the city.
"On the brownfield side, the projects that we've worked on have resulted in $1.35 billion in annual economic impact and more than 13,000 jobs," Port Authority President Kim Satzger says, and in those projects the Port Authority has removed more than 80,000 tons of contaminated soil, recycled 1.7 million tons of metal, and recycled 164,000 tons of concrete.
Moving forward, the Port Authority will continue to provide Cincinnati with more jobs and more money in the next decade as it continues in current developments and takes on new ventures, but look for it to stand out in the crowd with the soon-to-be tallest skyscraper in the city, The Great American Tower at Queen City Square.
Top and second photos coutesy of Newport on the Levee Location: Newport on the Levee
Bottom photo coutesy of the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority
Location: Great American Tower at Queen City Square | ||||||||||||||||||
View all articles by this author Last update: 21-12-2009 03:45
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