- The three-building, 88-unit Boardwalk Residences are complete after nearly four years of construction, with the luxury condominium community now about 80% sold.
- Resident Jeff Nelson says moving from Union’s Triple Crown to Ovation eliminated his commute, strengthened his sense of community and gave him walkable access to Newport and downtown Cincinnati.
- Corporex says the next phase of the $1 billion Ovation development will focus on mixed-use residential towers with condominiums and apartments, though no construction timeline has been announced.
Ovation’s Boardwalk Residences condominiums in Newport are complete after nearly four years of construction.
Current resident Jeff Nelson was among the first people to commit to purchasing a condo at the Boardwalk Residences in May 2022. Nelson previously lived in Union’s Triple Crown neighborhood. Upon retiring, he and his wife grew increasingly frustrated with commuter traffic.
After selling their home, they moved into the Boardwalk Residences in the spring of 2025.
Nelson told LINK nky that the location has provided him and his wife with greater access to the urban fabric of Cincinnati and the river cities of Northern Kentucky, something he felt was increasingly out of reach while living in the suburbs.
Suzanne Deatherage, vice president of marketing at Corporex, the firm behind Ovation, said eliminating the commute was a key factor in many owners at Boardwalk Residences from Greater Cincinnati deciding to live in the development.
“The commute is huge, and we’ve actually had people talking to us more about that with the whole Brent Spence construction,” she said.
Nelson said he’s developed a tight-knit community at the Boardwalk Residences, making friends with many of the residents. No longer obligated to do yard work or endure long commutes, Nelson said the move has simplified his daily life, allowing him to spend more time in the neighborhood.
“We have accessibility; we have an easy walk,” he said. “A lot of times in the evening we walk down to the Chart House for happy hour and dinner.”
Another deciding factor for the Nelsons was the riverfront views offered by the Boardwalk Residences, which allow them to watch Friday night fireworks at Great American Ballpark from their condo during the summers.
Currently, Ovation’s Boardwalk Residences is 80% sold, according to Corporex representatives.
In totality, Ovation is a 25-acre, over $1 billion mixed-use development nestled at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers. Developed by Covington-based Corporex, the condominiums’ construction began in 2022, with Fort Mitchell’s Paul Hemmer Construction handling the building process. The three-building, 88-unit luxury condo complex welcomed its first residents in spring 2025.
The first operational area of Ovation was the PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation — now called the MegaCorp Pavilion — along with the accompanying 550-space parking garage. Completed in 2020, the venue has already hosted notable performers such as Pete Davidson, The Killers, Zach Bryan, The Smashing Pumpkins and Jelly Roll, among others.
Phase II of Ovation brought major vertical development to the site with the completion of a five-story, 100,000-square-foot Class A office building in October 2022, followed by a 132-room Homewood Suites by Hilton and a pedestrian bridge dedicated in May 2023 that connected the original campus to the future riverfront district.
Following the completion of the Boardwalk Residences this year, the next focus for project leaders is expected to be mixed-use residential towers combining for-sale condominiums and rental apartments. Planning documents indicate that the towers are expected to be built behind the Boardwalk Residences.
As of now, there is no official timeline, with Deatherage saying planners are still “mathing out” some of the details.
“Those are coming, but we don’t know when,” she said.
