Construction on SparkHaus, Northern Kentucky’s future entrepreneurial hub, is well underway.
Located inside the historic Simms Furniture building at 727 Madison Ave. in Covington’s central business district, SparkHaus aims to be a space where NKY-based founders, investors and support organizations can collaborate in one central office hub.
Upon completion, SparkHaus will house many of the region’s preeminent venture capital firms, entrepreneurial development organizations and startups. So far, SparkHaus has received commitments from Covington-based venture capital firm eGateway Capital and Blue North, the region’s primary entrepreneurial resource and advocacy organization.
On March 13, the Covington Business Council hosted a hard hat tour where participants were given an up-close look at the project’s progress. Dave Knox, executive director of Blue North, led a tour group on an excursion through the active construction zone.
“It’s the first entrepreneurial hub, really, in Northern Kentucky as a whole,” Knox said. “It’s gonna be the largest of this sort in both greater Cincinnati but also the entire state of Kentucky. It’s really powerful, and it really shows the kind of the momentum we have going on when it comes to entrepreneurship across the community.”
Due to the building’s age, Cincinnati-based developer Urban Sites, the project’s general contractor, is working to delicately maintain its historical character while also retrofitting it for modern use. The building was constructed in 1929 and originally housed a Montgomery Ward department store.
According to Knox, SparkHaus is set to open on Aug. 1.
The main stairwell that leads to the ‘Lower Level.’ Photo by Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky 
Dave Knox showing what will be known as the ‘Covington Industrial Club.’ Photo by Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky 
A sneak peek at a private office space. Photo by Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky 
Construction is well underway at SparkHaus. Photo by Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky 
A portion of the ‘Lower Level’ that’s under construction. Photo by Kenton Hornbeck | LINK nky
First Floor and Mezzanine
Knox described SparkHaus’ first floor as the gateway to the Northern Kentucky entrepreneurial community.
Some of the most prominent features on the first floor include a Better Blend Cafe, a large event space, an indoor and outdoor lounge area, and the new offices of eGateway Capital. Blue North’s headquarters will be located in the mezzanine area.
Most prominently, the first floor boasts the ‘Haile Living Room,’ where entrepreneurs can interact with one another. The room features casual seating, phone booths and other amenities for co-working.
“This is gonna be where you have the co working a bunch of casual seating couches, chairs, private phone booths – all the stuff that you need for really having that space to work and knock out what you have, do more private meetings – things of that nature,” Knox said.
Knox said he wanted the event space to supplement existing spaces located throughout NKY and Cincinnati. However, SparkHaus’ first-floor event space will primarily focus on entrepreneurial training events. The space will be able to hold 70 to 80 people seated and approximately 100 for happy hour events.
“If you look at the entrepreneurial community, we have an amazing big space with the Beer Hall over in Over-The-Rhine that’s going to hold a lot of those large entrepreneurial events,” Knox said. “We have our partners at The Madison and Hotel Covington – go down the list of all the great event venues in town. This isn’t to compete against them. This is meant to be that really great entrepreneurial training type of events to hold here.”
Lower Level
Called the ‘Lower Level’ due to the low height of its ceilings, this floor will feature multiple classrooms, conference rooms, storage units and a fitness center.
Several of the conference rooms will be outfitted with large conference tables, while others will feature casual seating areas.
Knox said the storage spaces will cost $50 a month to lease. Storage units are used to house a startup’s merchandise and equipment that can be stored on-site.
“All the choices we made are inspired by ‘what the needs of the entrepreneurs and how do we solve those across the board,’” Knox said.
Second Floor
SparkHaus’ second floor will primarily consist of private offices and dedicated desks, which are available for rent. Most of the private offices are geared toward high-growth entrepreneurs, startups, capital providers, and entrepreneurial support organizations. Knox said the offices have the potential to be a growth generator for the city of Covington.
“This is probably the space you’re going to see the most turnover,” Knox said. “This is going to be the most people that are different, people at those desks all the time, because it’s meant to be flexible.”
One of the second floor’s most notable features is what Knox calls the ‘Covington Industrial Club’ – an executive board room outfitted with multiple large televisions, a conference table, and a lounge area.
“We want this to be the marquee place for board meetings – board meetings for startups, board meetings for nonprofits, anybody that wants to use that space in that regard,” he said.
The name ‘Covington Industrial Club’ hearkens back to an organization of the same name that existed in the early 1900s. It featured 100 of Covington’s most important business leaders, many of whom left a lasting impact on the city.
