General Electric Co. is launching what will be the biggest move in The Banks’ history.
In the next few weeks, GE workers will begin filling a new Downtown Cincinnati office space serving as the home of the company’s U.S. Global Operations Center.
For more than two years, GE has been adding to its staff and the amount of space it occupies in Downtown’s Atrium Two building while its 338,000-square-foot building at The Banks was built. The company employs about 900 people now.
Once all its employees have completed the move, company officials expect to host a series of events in October to mark the company’s major presence in Cincinnati. The company estimates it could eventually employ more than 2,000 people in the 12-story office building at the corner of Second and Rosa Parks streets.
“The GE Global Operations Center is an incredible milestone for The Banks and for Cincinnati,” said Dan McCarthy, project executive for Carter, the company serving as master developer of The Banks. “We’ve always envisioned The Banks with a vibrant mix of retail, restaurants, residential, hotel and office. Bringing GE to the riverfront makes that vision a reality and helps extend Cincinnati’s downtown business district directly to our greatest physical asset, the Ohio River. Add GE’s workforce to the thriving residential communities of Radius and Current, and The Banks becomes a true live-work-play destination.”
In April 2014, GE announced it would consolidate several of the company’s administrative offices into one location in Southwest Ohio. The top three contenders to land the center were The Banks and sites in Oakley and Mason.
General Electric brings The Banks its first office tenant and also deepens the relationship between Greater Cincinnati and the now Boston-based multinational company.
Ohio is already one of GE’s biggest job hubs, employing thousands of workers around the state. At the operations center, workers are charged with finding ways to streamline operations within GE’s business units, from aviation to healthcare and lighting to appliances. That means workers in functions such as accounting, finance, communications, customs, human resources, information technology legal, logistics, supply chain and enterprise data management will support operations responsible for generating $50 billion of revenue for GE each year. Jobs at the operations center are expected to pay an average annual salary of $79,000.
GE has signed a 15-year lease with building owners Carter and Nicol Investment Co. PNC Financial Services led the construction financing for the project, and Brasfield & Gorrie provided construction oversight with Cincinnati-based Jostin Construction. RJTR served as the building’s architect and CBRE will manage the property.
GE’s space is located in Phase II of The Banks and includes 19,000 square feet of street-level retail space. Taste of Belgium and Pies & Pints are under construction and will open later this year. Adjacent GE’s new building is the Radius at The Banks luxury apartment community.
The transformation of the first phase of retail and restaurant space at The Banks is continuing as well. Howl at the Moon/Splitsville Luxury Lanes and Tervis have already opened this year while The Stretch from 4EG, Tiger Dumpling, and BurgerFi are under construction. The 171-room AC Hotel Cincinnati is under construction at The Banks as well and is expected to open next year.