NEWPORT — The most ambitious riverfront development ever undertaken in this Campbell County city is on schedule to open in October.

        It just may not look that way right now.

        Rising just off the banks of the Ohio River, the $210 million Newport on the Levee project will ultimately feature eateries, stores, entertainment venues, an office building, a hotel, a 20-screen movie theater and an IMAX theater.

Theaters and restaurants will be in this building, part of Newport on the Levee. The complex opens in fall. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        The site along Newport's Third Street is a jumble of construction crews, scaffolding, unfinished buildings and what looks to the untrained eye like utter chaos.

        But according to developer Steiner & Associates of Columbus, the project “is on schedule and on budget.”

        Newport City Manager Phil Ciafardini said Newport on the Levee has the right mix of offerings to be successful even in a slowing economy.

        “We are social creatures,” Mr. Ciafardini said Thursday. “We like to get out of our houses and socialize, pamper ourselves and be with other people while we're being entertained.

        “This project really has something for everybody, from shopping to entertainment to eating in a restaurant,” he said.

        The first phase to open this fall will feature a half-million square feet of restaurants, shops and entertainment sites as well as a parking garage for 2,000 cars.

        Also included in the initial phase is the $40 million Newport Aquarium, which opened in 1999, and the Firstar IMAX theater and the 4,400-seat AMC Theater now under construction.

        Steiner has not released a list of other tenants slated to open in the project.

        In February, a report by Cincinnati based-NAI Eagle real estate indicated that a slew of tenants have committed to the project: Barnes & Noble, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Eddie Bauer, The Gap, Dick's Last Resort, Cheesecake Factory, Johnny Rockets, Bahama Breeze, Austin Grill, Dewey's Pizza and Claddagh Irish Pub.

        Steiner has not confirmed those tenants.

        Phase two will have a 197-room hotel; a 200,000-square-foot office building; and an 850-space parking garage.

        The garage is to open in late 2002 with the hotel and office building to be finished in 2003. No other information on the second phase has been released.

        Steiner promises the Levee will emerge as Greater Cincinnati's “new leisure time center where residents and visitors can spend time together” and find “inviting” architecture, “enticing” restaurants, “engaging” clubs and activities that will include street performers, gymnastics exhibitions, farmers markets and more.

        Despite those glowing predictions, riverfront projects have had mixed success on the Ohio River.

        Several restaurants and entertainment sites have moved or closed after finding it difficult to attract visitors year-round to the river's banks.

        In January, two of Newport's floating riverfront restaurants, Barleycorns and Sloppy Joe's, closed. And since opening in the late 1980s, the popularity of Covington Landing, a mix of restaurants and nightclubs on the river in Kenton County, has risen and fallen like the Ohio during spring rains.

        Several establishments in the Landing closed after being unable to sustain a vibrant business during the winter months, when people don't flock to the river as they do in the spring and summer.

        But Alan Bernstein of the BB Riverboats Ohio River excursion cruise line believes Newport on the Levee has what it takes to be a success.

        His family operates one of the original floating restaurants, Mike Fink's in Covington, one of the more popular spots on the river. But the Bernsteins have also had to close restaurants they owned on the river, including Sloppy Joe's.

        “I still don't know what is exactly going to be the entire mix on the Levee project,” Mr. Bernstein said. “But from what I've heard and read, I don't think there is any doubt they had a good formula to attract people all year round.

        “And that's going to be an asset to anybody who is on the river, as well as a big boost to Newport and the entire community at large,” he said.

        Mr. Ciafardini said the city is counting on the Levee project to bring more people to other parts of Newport.

        “What this will mean to the city is new visitors coming in, which will greatly enhance our ability to finally revitalize Monmouth Street and our central business core,” he said.
       

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