By Ken Alltucker
Enquirer staff writer

Western & Southern Financial Group is seeking a buyer for the building housing a Walgreens store and 30 apartments at the northwest corner of Sixth and Race streets in downtown Cincinnati.

Eagle Realty Group, the development arm of Western & Southern, is seeking $9 million for the newly opened drug store and apartment complex. Eagle also will consider selling the drug store and apartment complex to separate buyers.

The public-private development project is up for sale because it's much smaller than a typical asset Eagle would keep and manage, said Tom Stapleton, Eagle's vice president of development.

"It's tough for a large company to manage such a small project," Stapleton said.

Eagle is technically selling its "leasehold" interest in the project. The city owns the land and invested more than $5 million in the project. The city will retain ownership of the project after 30 years.

The new store was built because the city forced Walgreens from a former store just one block away when the 14-story Fifth and Race office tower was demolished in 1999.

The city paid $5 million to clear the office tower and a parking garage and relocate 15 businesses, including $3.7 million to move Walgreens to its current site.

Original plans called for building a Maison Blanche department store at Fifth and Race, but that plan collapsed.

The city later cobbled together nearly $50 million in incentives to build a Nordstrom store at the site, but the tony department store backed out of the deal in late 2000.

The city paved over the Fifth and Race site and has used it as a parking lot over the past four years. Eagle retains development rights and has proposed building shop space and a parking garage topped by either a high-rise hotel or residential tower. Eagle has agreed to hold off on any new project to ensure it complements a planned makeover of Fountain Square.

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E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com