By Ken Alltucker
Enquirer staff writer

A rendering of the proposed Next Hotel and Residences, a $30 million remodeling of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The new hotel will include condos, penthouses and offices. Provided

Owners of the Crowne Plaza Hotel today will unveil a $30 million plan to rebuild the Sixth Street property as a mixed-use boutique hotel, condominium and office property.

The plan calls for adding 76 condos, townhouses and penthouses to the 19-floor downtown Cincinnati hotel while reducing the number of hotel rooms from 321 to 135. The property also will get a new name, Next Hotel and Residences, along with a dramatic new look with a glass exterior covering much of the building.

"The easiest way to explain this is it is a much more of a hip, cool, trendy-type concept," said Greg Kaylor, general manager of the Crowne Plaza.

The move is prompted in part by AT&T's decision this year to relocate from Crowne Plaza's 225,000 square feet of office space to the abutting 525 Vine St. building, which also is being renovated. Terrace Properties LLC, which has owned Crowne Plaza for a decade, also wanted to capitalize on the push to build downtown condos.

"There's been about $1.5 billion in investment in a small area around the property," said Marc Blumberg, a Terrace Properties partner based in Atlanta. "We're trying to leverage off of that as well as the residential boom that has taken place."

Blumberg's group has formed a related entity, Next Development LLC, that will oversee the hotel's redevelopment. The group has kicked in some initial money to plan the project, and it's pursuing a construction loan, he said. Major construction is expected to start later this year.

In addition to the new look and some new underground parking, the biggest change planned by Terrace Properties is the addition of condos and townhouses.

Loft-style condos, townhouses and other units are planned for floors 6, 7, 9, 10 and 15 through 19.

Luxury penthouses will occupy the top of the building. The penthouses will be priced as high as $2.5 million, according to Huff Realty's Christine Schoonover, who has been hired to sell the residential units.

Shops will be built on the first two floors, and topped by three floors of renovated office space. The building's existing office space has no windows, so Blumberg believes the glass exterior and renovation will provide a more competitive office product.

The other major component is converting the existing hotel concept to a boutique hotel. Such hotels feature pricier rooms and better services and are commonly found in cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco, Kaylor said.

"It's a hot concept. I think Cincinnati is ready for it," Kaylor said.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com