Select Strategies Acquires Historic Downtown Building
Select Strategies Realty, a commercial real estate company that manages and leases retail assets in 10 states as well as office and multifamily assets in Ohio and Kentucky, has made its first acquisition of a downtown Cincinnati property.
Select Strategies Realty purchased the building at 21 W. Court St. and plans to renovate the building into first-floor retail space topped by three floors of creative office space. Brian Neltner, CEO of Select Strategies Realty, said the firm was attracted the property because of the 1010 On the Rhine developmentthat includes downtown’s first Kroger store in 50 years, and Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.’s $9 million Court Street condos project.
“There’s a lot of excitement on Court Street right now,” Neltner told me.
Select Strategies Realty purchased the building from Towne Properties on June 24 for $500,000, according to property records. Towne Properties had purchased the building from Chinedum Ndukwe’s Kingsley Property Development in 2015 for $400,000. Towne Properties had been looking at converting the building into large residential condominiums.
The four-story building has wide open 6,000-square-foot floorplates, plus about 6,000 square feet of usable space in the basement. With those larger floors, Neltner said it will give a retail or restaurant user the ability to do something larger than what is typically found in Over-the-Rhine.
Having owned the building for about a week, Select Strategies Realty has already received a lot of interest in the first floor retail space. A number of bars and restaurants, including Queen City Exchange, Fiery Hen and Court Street Lobster Bar, are nearby.
As for the office space, Nelter said they will take advantage of the open spaces and high ceilings, with big front windows that look out onto Court Street.
“It will have a cool, urban feel to it,” Neltner said.
The building is well-located for office users, Neltner said, especially for firms that want to be close to Kroger, the court house or Hamilton County’s Administration Building.
Select Strategies Realty, founded in 2005, specializes in the development, acquisition, management and leasing of retail and mixed-use real estate in the Midwest and Southeast. Select has sponsored retail investments totaling more than $175 million and provides management and leasing services for more than 5.6 million square feet of retail space.
If the Court Street building is successful, Neltner said the company would “absolutely” look at other downtown opportunities.
