By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

AT&T, one of downtown Cincinnati's larger employers, will soon decide whether to stay at its Sixth Street office or move to another downtown tower.

Company officials are willing to say only that a decision is imminent on the future workspace for 400 downtown employees.

The telecommunications giant now leases 220,000 square feet on six floors at the Crowne Plaza building on Sixth Street between Race and Vine streets. The lease expires Oct. 4, and AT&T spokesman Mike Pruyn said the company expects to rent a much smaller space of about 80,000 square feet. A new lease has not been signed.

AT&T once employed more than 2,000 workers in downtown Cincinnati. But corporate cuts, improved efficiencies and moves such as the spin-off of Lucent and AT&T Wireless and the sale of AT&T Broadband have reduced the company's headcount in Cincinnati and elsewhere.

While many downtown real estate brokers believe AT&T will move to the 525 Vine St. office facing Fountain Square, Pruyn said he doesn't know which buildings the company is considering.

"We're definitely looking to stay in downtown Cincinnati," he said.

Anticipating AT&T's possible departure, the owners of the Crowne Plaza office building hired CB Richard Ellis brokers John Eckert and Bill Schneller to fill the building's office space. AT&T is the building's only office tenant; the Crowne Plaza Hotel occupies several floors.

Eckert said the building's ownership group - which includes Marc Blumberg of Atlanta and Manny Organek of Boca Raton, Fla. - would soon unveil a plan to renovate the building.

Crowne Plaza's office space has no windows, and the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.'s retail consultant, Lehr Jackson, has recommended a new building facade as part of a plan to spruce up Fountain Square and surrounding blocks.

"There will be more details in coming weeks," Eckert said.

Joe Judge, a Staubach Co. broker who is coordinating AT&T's office space search, declined comment Tuesday. Duke Realty Corp.'s Jay Morey, who represented owners of the 525 Vine St. building in lease negotiations with AT&T, also has declined to discuss any pending deals.

Pittsburgh-based McKnight Development acquired the 525 Vine St. tower in December and said it planned a $5 million upgrade that will include adding a street-level lobby.

The building is accessible now only by the aboveground skywalk. The development corporation, a private development group known as 3CDC, plans to unveil preliminary design plans this summer for a Fountain Square overhaul. Changes could include eliminating the skywalk link over Vine Street.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com