Covington’s Pike Street is transforming. While a new art wall, woodworking studios, coffee shop, apartments and more have popped up on the far west end of Pike, new life is being breathed into the buildings at one of the most prominent intersections in the city at Pike and Madison on the opposite end of the street.
Earlier this month, the first residents in the Mutual Building moved in and new small businesses have opened their doors in storefronts that had been vacant for months or even years alongside longtime Covington anchors, including Motch Jewelers and Klingenberg Hardware. Additionally, as momentum in the urban core has started to swing, a handful of young developers have begun purchasing properties on Pike Street and are rehabbing them on their own.
David Vissman, a Senior Operations Manager at 3CDC, and his two brothers are among those young developers looking to help revitalize the city’s urban core. In May, the Vissmans closed on the building at 12 West Pike Street and are taking on the rehab together.
“This project is a combined effort,” said David Vissman. “We all have our own set of skills that we bring to this project, which are project management, real estate development, and construction. This is the first historical building that we have purchased and plan to renovate as a group.”
Vissman said there were many attractive qualities about the building including its location, its physical characteristics, and its neighbors.
“Its proximity to MainStrasse Village, Roebling Point, and Downtown Cincinnati brought it to our attention,” Vissman said. “Walking through, the 8,000 square feet of walnut floors, huge windows, and high ceilings made the building a really exciting project to get involved with. It’s probably a little bigger than we had hoped for our first project, but the area was too attractive to pass up. Also, the considerable recent investments made in the area and great neighbors sold us on the building.”
Over the past several weeks, the brothers and natives of Covington have been hard at work demoing the space and planning renovations for the first and second floor, which will house a mix of commercial and residential tenants. The third and fourth floors, Vissman said, will likely be converted to two traditional live/work lofts during a second renovation phase.
“We have approximately 2,000 square feet to work with on each of the four floors, as well as a basement. The first floor is being renovated to accommodate a retail tenant, but we are also willing to accommodate a variety of uses. The second floor will have a studio apartment and over 1,000 square feet of space for commercial use such as a yoga or art studio.”
Vissman said the first phase of renovation is scheduled to last six months and that he and his brothers are hoping to attract tenants that can drive foot traffic to the area. The second phase will be completed by fall 2016.
Vissman said he is encouraged by all of the recent growth in downtown Covington and sees a lot of potential for the area around Pike Street.
“We see an underutilized area that is gaining momentum. Covington is a dense, walkable community with beautiful architecture and a great creative community. Over the last several years you saw momentum building in Covington and fade away, but with bigger projects such as Hotel Covington, Braxton Brewey, and the Mutual Building combined with individual projects like ours, and a slew of hardworking neighbors, we will hopefully see a great mixed-use area.
“People ask about what the identity is in this area – wedding district, arts district, et cetera – but we see it developing into a great mixed-use district that can have all of those industries flourish.”
Story and photos by Jerod Theobald, managing editor
