Vernon Manor to House Children's Hospital; 600 New Jobs for Cincinnati
It takes nine partnering organizations, $37 million and a lot of cooperation and perseverance to adapt an iconic 1920s hotel into office space for a major Cincinnati institution.
The new Vernon Manor offices will accommodate more than 600 employees from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, creating new capacity for the medical center to add 600 clinical and research positions at its other locations, including its main campus. “This project is a key economic development project that will both be an anchor in the Avondale community and expand the capabilities of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, which means more jobs,” Mayor Mark Mallory. “It also fits into our GO Cincinnati economic development strategy as an employment sector that will be growing over the next several years.”
Al. Neyer will start renovation work on the 171,000 square-foot, seven-story building this month. Work on a 440-car parking garage begins July 2010. City Manager Milton Dohoney, Jr., said the retained jobs from Cincinnati Children’s contribute $600,000 in annual earnings tax revenue, while the new jobs created from this expansion are likely to contribute over $800,000.
The City of Cincinnati and State of Ohio partnered on a financial assistance package, worth $7.1 million, to partially finance a public parking garage adjacent to the Vernon Manor. Developer Al. Neyer said it will finalize its closings on project financing on April 15, including bank financing, new markets tax credits and federal historic tax credits. Critical support for the financing structure came from the community councils in both Avondale and Corryville.
Although Al. Neyer is renovating the Vernon Manor, it is not the majority owner in the project. The majority owner is a group of African-American investors. Ed Rigaud, who is one of the investors in the group, said that the “investment group is fully committed to this project and to the success of Avondale,” and called the partnership an “important step to achieving economic freedom for all of our citizens.”
