- SparkHaus marked its first anniversary on Sept. 22, one year after opening in downtown Covington.
- The entrepreneurial hub is fully occupied, with more than 470 members across 35 private offices and coworking spaces.
- The roughly $16 million redevelopment transformed the former Simms Furniture building into a home for startups, investors and entrepreneurial support organizations.
SparkHaus originally opened with a promise: to give Northern Kentucky entrepreneurs a dedicated space to pursue their ideas to the fullest.
The curated environment would be tailored to entrepreneurs, with meeting spaces, private offices, collaborative co-working spaces and access to many of the region’s leading founders. SparkHaus was envisioned to be the region’s hub for entrepreneurs, bringing Northern Kentucky-based startups, investment firms and entrepreneurial support organizations together under one roof.
One year after SparkHaus opened its doors, Blue North Executive Director Dave Knox believes the entrepreneurial hub is delivering on its original promise.
“What is SparkHaus going to be? It’s a community gathering of our future business leaders, the leaders that are creating what this space is going to be in 10 years, 20 years, in 30 years. It’s the entrepreneurs that believe in the potential for this,” Knox said at SparkHaus’ one-year anniversary celebration.
Covington Mayor Ron Washington, who spoke at SparkHaus’ opening ceremony on Sept. 22, 2025, returned a year later to issue a proclamation acknowledging the hub’s impact on Covington and, more broadly, Northern Kentucky.
“This building’s come a long way,” he said. “I remember when it was Sims Furniture, and walking around here now, it makes Covington proud. I’m glad all the partners that have brought this beautiful structure to what it looks like now, and all the activity in this building. This is a win-win for Covington, Kenton County and Northern Kentucky.”
Today, SparkHaus is fully occupied, with more than 470 members across its 35 private offices and coworking spaces. Its membership includes freelancers, startup founders, remote workers and small-business teams.
Some notable organizations based at SparkHaus include Blue North, the region’s primary entrepreneurial support organization, as well as venture capital and investment groups eGateway Capital, Keyhorse Capital, Commonwealth Seed Capital, Fireroad Ventures and the Kentucky Angel Collective.
On the startup side, SparkHaus is home to a range of growing companies working in fields from artificial intelligence to golf simulators, including Flamel.ai, SYRV.AI, Cortechs.ai, Inflow, Proximity Parking, Definity, Another Nine, Reset Marketing Group and Reset Business Consulting, among others.
SparkHaus’ success was built on years of planning, collaboration and construction that preceded its opening.
SparkHaus is located at 727 Madison Ave. in the heart of Covington’s Central Business District. The building was previously home to Simms Furniture, which operated there for decades before closing in 2023. Before Simms moved into the property in the 1970s, the building housed a Montgomery Ward department store, which closed in the 1960s.
Given the building’s prominent location, Northern Kentucky leaders began exploring ways to repurpose the vacant space as a community asset.
The SparkHaus project drew roughly $16 million in public and private investment. Cincinnati-based Urban Sites led the building’s redevelopment, while CityStudios Architecture designed the space.
After nearly a year of construction, SparkHaus opened in 2025 to much fanfare, capping off a three-year odyssey to transform the vacant building into Northern Kentucky’s entrepreneurial hub.
Looking ahead, Knox said he wanted to ensure the hub remains a home for Northern Kentucky entrepreneurs for decades to come.
