Vacant downtown office building to be converted into hotel
UC Real Estate Center director tells WCPO the project will add jobs in the city
A vacant office building in downtown Cincinnati will be converted into a 280-room hotel, creating hundreds of construction jobs and permanent jobs, WCPO reported.
Carl Goertemoeller, UC Real Estate Center executive director
The redevelopment of the former Fourth & Walnut Centre will be a $174 million project. It’s expected to create 381 new permanent jobs and 498 construction jobs.
“At the end of the day, it really boils down to job creation, not only the construction jobs used to redevelop the building, but permanent jobs,” said Carl Goertemoeller, executive director for the University of Cincinnati Real Estate Center, at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business. “These projects are extraordinarily capital intensive and on virtually all of them, you need some type of tax abated assistance just to make the numbers work.”
The City of Cincinnati approved a 15-year tax abatement for the project, which will help fill the need for more hotel rooms in the city.
"My sense is that to fully utilize the soon to be redeveloped convention center, those hotel rooms are going to be necessary," Goertemoeller said.
Featured image at top: Downtown Cincinnati. Photo/Jay Yocis/UC Marketing + Brand
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Ohio nurses weigh in on proposed federal loan rule
December 12, 2025
Spectrum News journalist Javari Burnett spoke with UC Dean Alicia Ribar and UC nursing students Megan Romero and Nevaeh Haskins about proposed new federal student loan rules. Romero and Haskins, both seniors, were filmed in the College of Nursing’s Simulation Lab.
Bearcat Mascot, Cheer Team and scholarships help celebrate Decision Day
December 12, 2025
Cincinnati media organization provided news coverage of Decision Day activities at the University of Cincinnati on Dec. 10, 2025. Surprise announcements of the 2026 Marian Spencer Scholarship recipient occurred during the day.
UC awarded nearly $1 million to help fight infant obesity spike
December 12, 2025
University of Cincinnati researcher Cathy Stough spoke with Spectrum News1 about a nearly $1 million National Institutes of Health grant awarded to UC to help prevent infant obesity through early nutrition support and family-based interventions.