3CDC Completes Lease Up of $74 Million Foundry Development

Tenant Signs Lease for Final Available Commercial Space

CINCINNATI (February 19, 2025) – The final available commercial space at Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC)’s $74 million Foundry development has been spoken for. The nonprofit developer recently signed a lease with a new tenant to fill the balance of available space in the project, located in the heart of the Fountain District. While there are no details to share about the new tenant at this time, it will take over a 4,000-square-foot space and join a mix of restaurants and retailers spread across 35,000 total square feet of street-level commercial space, including Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, Five Iron Golf, Vintage on Race, The Davidson and a new restaurant concept, Marigold, slated to open later this month. The building also houses 150,000 square feet of Class A office space occupied by Divisions Maintenance Group (DMG), Deloitte, and Turner Construction, as well as a 164-space garage.

Formerly the Macy’s-anchored Fountain Place, the building sat nearly vacant for almost a year following the Macy’s department store closure in March 2018. 3CDC bought the building from Cincinnati Development Group in January 2019 for $7.5 million, in hopes of reactivating the space and bringing energy to the area surrounding Fountain Square. Recognizing what a critical asset the property was for Cincinnati’s urban core, given its location in the center of downtown, 3CDC immediately set out to reimagine the space as a mixed-use development featuring a combination of Class A office space and street-level commercial space. The organization spent 2019 developing plans for the building’s renovation, and was ready to start construction in early 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Despite having no tenants signed to leases, 3CDC started core and shell work on the building in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, with strong support from the City of Cincinnati. Although construction on the building was being completed on spec, both 3CDC and the City felt confident in the long-term prospects of the urban core and the likelihood that there would ultimately be significant interest in the renovated space. In mid-2021, Greater Cincinnati’s largest accounting firm, Deloitte LLP, signed a long-term lease for 30,000 square feet of space in the Foundry, becoming its first official office tenant. Turner Construction, one of the largest general contractors in Greater Cincinnati, announced shortly after that it would move its local offices to a 27,000-square-foot space on the building’s second floor. By late 2021, 3CDC had identified and signed the Foundry’s anchor tenant – DMG, one of the region’s largest and fastest-growing companies. DMG agreed to relocate its headquarters to the Foundry, taking over the building’s third and fourth floors – a total of 83,000 square feet – and becoming the project’s third and final office tenant.

The leases for the office spaces were followed by five restaurant and entertainment concepts that have taken up residence at the Foundry, adding to the vibrancy of the Fountain District:

• Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, 505 Vine Street – Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse celebrated the grand opening of its new, larger flagship location at the Foundry in October 2022.
• Five Iron Golf, 80 W 5^th Street – An indoor golf simulator experience, Five Iron Golf opened its first Ohio location in the Foundry in May 2023.
• The Davidson, 511 Vine Street – An American-style brasserie owned by Thunderdome Restaurant Group, The Davidson opened in February 2024.
• Vintage on Race, 500 Vine Street – An elevated sports bar, cocktail lounge, restaurant and entertainment venue, Vintage opened in August 2024
• Marigold, 60 W 5^th Street – Crown Restaurant Group will open Marigold, an English-style public house partnering with Cincinnati Distilling to produce a bespoke gin, at the Foundry sometime later this month.

“We had full confidence when we started the Foundry redevelopment that it had the potential to become a cornerstone of downtown Cincinnati’s ongoing revitalization, and we’re grateful to our partners at the City of Cincinnati for sharing that vision,” Joe Rudemiller, Vice President of Marketing & Communications for 3CDC, said. “As we sign the final lease for the building, it has already become a hub of activity in the heart of the Fountain District, filled with hundreds of employees and home to some of downtown’s most sought-after restaurant and entertainment concepts, all adding to the vitality generated in and around Fountain Square.”

# # #