Story by Tom Demeropolis, Senior Staff Reporter at Cincinnati Business Courier, first seen on Bizjournals.com

A new hotel and retail center are coming to Monroe.

Construction has started on an 11,000-square-foot retail strip center at the corner of Senate Drive and State Route 63.  A new limited-service or extended-stay hotel is expected to break ground nearby in early 2019.  The projects are part of a 17-acre development from Cincinnati Commercial Contracting LLC.

CCC has been working to develop the property along Interstate 75 since 2015.  John Westheimer, president of CCC, said there has been significant interest in the project recently.

“Monroe is really starting to see some growth,” Westheimer told me.

A portion of the retail strip center has already been leased.  Penn Station and Monroe Nails have each leased space.  A few other retailers have submitted letters of intent for the remaining space.

Josh Rothstein with OnSite Retail Group is listing the retail space for CCC.

As for the hotel, CCC is partnering again with Crestpoint Cos.  The two companies worked together to develop and build a Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Madisonville.

Kal Patel, CEO of Mason-based Crestpoint, said when Westheimer approached him about the Monroe location he was immediately interested in it.  With the nearby Cincinnati Premium Outlets, Miami Valley Gaming & Racing racino, and new distribution centers, he sees the area growing to be similar to West Chester or Mason.

“It’s an area I believe is developing rapidly,” Patel said.

Patel is still finalizing the hotel flag but said it will most likely be an extended-stay or limited-service hotel from Hilton or Marriott. Crestpoint will be the developer, owner and operator of the hotel. CCC will serve as general contractor on the project with Columbus-based Glavan Group serving as the architect.

The hotel will have about 100 rooms, a business center, fitness area, meeting room and hot breakfast.  The rooms will have the latest amenities, Patel said, including flat screen TVs, WiFi and LED lighting. The hotel is expected to be an investment of $10 million to $12 million.

Two public streets are being built for the development – West and Heimer drives.

In addition to hotel and retail center projects, CCC has four outlots that are available. The outlots range in size from 0.8 acres to more than 7.3 acres. Westheimer said the largest outlot could be split.

“Monroe is really growing up,” Westheimer said. “The sales are there to support growth.”

For information on leasing, please contact Josh Rothstein at (513) 268-4453.