Cincinnati Ohio Economic Development

Maisonette subsidy initially approved

Cincinnati.Com • Laura Baverman
City Council’s finance committee approved two ordinances this afternoon (May 16, 2011) that would subsidize the $15 million redevelopment of the East Sixth Street buildings that once held the Maisonette, La Normandie, Barleycorn’s and an Indian restaurant.

Chef David Falk, the owner of Boca and nada restaurants, has named the Maisonette building as one of four sites in which he could open his third restaurant.

Four Entertainment Group plans to open a nightclub and bar in 16,000 square feet of the Barleycorn’s building. I wrote about that deal in March: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/developingnow/2011/03/25/new-nightclub-coming-downtown/

The buildings’ owner, Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation, hasn’t yet revealed tenants for each building. Those announcements will be timed with the start of construction late in June, said Chad Munitz, 3CDC’s executive vice president of development and operations.

“It’ll be names and concepts that everybody will be excited about,” he said. “Family dining options and the classic high-end dining that people remember fondly from that site.”

Plans for the buildings that housed the Maisonette and the Indian restaurant call for a 13,000-square-foot restaurant, 3,000 square feet of offices and 10,800 square feet of storage space.

If approved by the full City Council, the ordinances would let the city enter into a community reinvestment area tax exemption agreement, which gives 3CDC a 12-year property tax exemption on the improvements made to the buildings. That would save about $180,000 a year, Munitz said.

The project will be financed with funds from the Cincinnati Equity Fund, federal new market tax credits and equity from the tenants, Munitz said.

Read the Cincinnati.com article here.