By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NORWOOD - Lincoln Financial Advisors reached a deal to take the top floor of the Cornerstone office building now under construction here.

The financial planner signed a seven-year lease for 25,000 square feet at the $47 million Cornerstone complex at the Smith Road/Edwards Road exit off Interstate 71. Lincoln will relocate 119 financial planners and support employees from smaller offices in Kenwood and Covington.

Ackermann Group's Cornerstone has started to fill quickly since construction started last October. With a tenant roster that includes Lincoln, Gold's Gym, Ackermann and a doctor's group, the 140,000-square-foot building's occupancy rate is 60 percent. Ackermann partner John Wendt expects the building will be fully leased by its Nov. 1 opening.

A CB Richard Ellis report shows Greater Cincinnati's suburban market has an average Class A office vacancy rate of nearly 20 percent, but the Norwood-Oakley-Hyde Park area's 1 million square feet of Class A space is completely full.

"The I-71 corridor between Hyde Park and Kenwood is the growth market," said Bill Schneller, a broker with CB Richard Ellis.

Robert V. Molenda, managing director of Lincoln's Southern Ohio regional office, sought an office with high visibility and central location for employees and clients. Joe Judge and Jerry Momper of Staubach negotiated terms on behalf of Lincoln Financial; Bob Ryan and Mike Hartmann of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker represented the landlord.

Ackermann launched the Cornerstone project in 2001 when it acquired and demolished 17 homes and four apartment buildings at a five-acre parcel bounded by Smith and Williams roads and I-71.

The firm bought the homes without resorting to the same type of eminent domain battle that Norwood and neighboring developer Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate have waged to acquire holdout properties for the $125 million Rookwood Exchange project of shops, office and homes.

The Rookwood project this week received a boost when a Hamilton County judge ruled that the city could seize five holdout property owners through eminent domain. Wendt said his firm would closely monitor the Rookwood development, which is located across I-71 from Cornerstone.

"Long term, we want the Rookwood project to happen," Wendt said. "It will be a tremendous benefit to everybody in the area. As long as the economy is going well, there will be a lot of tenants to fill the space."

Ackermann Group is still debating whether to start its second office building -- 115,000-square-feet of office space -- immediately after the first building opens. Ackermann would likely need commitments from businesses to fill 20 percent of the second building before breaking ground, Wendt said.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com