By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Corporex is hosting an event on May 9 that will celebrate the transformation of a part of the riverfront by presenting a two-foot by two-foot time capsule that will be filled and buried in a foundation under the new pedestrian bridge over Third Street in Newport.
Ovation rendering — boardwalk and skyline view
“The goal of the time capsule is to bring together the community,” said Suzanne Deatherage, Vice President of Marketing at the Corporex Companies, LLC. “We want to bring together the construction people, the businesses, representatives from the city of Newport, and potential customers for the new housing project called Ovation so they can celebrate with us as milestones are reached during the project.”
The event starts at 2 p.m.
In addition to introducing the time capsule, there will be a ribbon-cutting at 2 to 2:30 p.m. and the public will be afforded a one-time opportunity to cross the pedestrian bridge, an opportunity which won’t come again until 2024. From 2:30 to 5 p.m. the Ovation Experience Center will be open.
The idea of a time capsule arose from discussions within the team at Corporex, to mark a monumental milestone, a bridging intended not only to connect people across the river, but that will show connectivity of communities, and reinforce the processes of the project, according to Deatherage.
The Ovation project encompasses 5 city blocks, or 25 acres, and will be comprised of a mixed-use development, with a music venue, business offices, restaurants and entertainment, luxury residential condos, apartments, and a hotel.
“The music venue, at Columbia and Fourth, is already in place and is scheduled to hold 100 concerts a year,” said Deatherage. “The Homewood Suites should be ready by the end of the year, and the office space sometime this year. The Boardwalk Residences will be ready sometime next year.”
The team picked a 25-year extent for the time capsule instead of fifty years or ten years, because they could envision a future that contains a bustling urban resort; an urban nucleus on the river.
Deatherage said Corporex had built flush against the levy wall in their design that allows residents and visitors to have spectacular views of the Ohio and Licking Rivers.
Corporex is the master developer of Ovation, and is a national, privately held investment and development firm based in Covington. Corporex has almost 60 years of developing world class hotels, and mixed-use developments in over 22 states. The company remains one of the leading, privately held owner/operators of commercial real estate in the country.
The Ovation Site Plan
