It’s been about six months since General Electric announced it would build a global operations center at the Banks in downtown Cincinnati. It was the biggest story we covered here at the Courier in 2014.
Now, a building that will house about 1,800 employees is slowly rising from the site just west of the Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Construction crews are about 15 percent finished with the structure, which caused a lot of debate among the city’s Urban Design Review Board. We wanted to check in on the progress at the $90 million, 340,000-square-foot office building. To see how it looks now, click on the image at right.
When it’s complete in summer 2016, the 10-story tower will be LEED certified. GE signed a 15-year lease with options to extend up to another 25 years for the building. The company will be required to maintain operations at the Banks for 18 years. Some of the GE employees who will work in the new building are already downtown. They’re currently in an office in Atrium Two. Once the construction is finished, they will join hundreds of new employees at the Banks.
Just next door, master developers Carter and the Dawson Co. are at work on another structure that will include 291 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail. The nine-story apartment tower will have one- or two-bedroom units and should be open in time for Opening Day 2016.