Early on Saturday morning, Xavier Square announced itself to the world.
Several loud explosions brought down the former Zumbiel Packaging plant on Cleneay Avenue and marked the symbolic beginning of a mixed-use development by Xavier University and the Corporex Companies.
The 20-acre Xavier Square will include:
- 120,000 square feet of office space
- 100,000 square feet of retail space
- A 90-100 room boutique hotel
- 550-600 student apartments
- 120 market-rate housing units
- A university recreation center, bookstore and health center
The development will stretch from the Cintas Center to Montgomery Road, linking the campus to the City of Norwood and helping to attract new students, homeowners and business owners to the area.
Funding for the project comes from private dollars.
Xavier Square is scheduled for completion in 2010.
Besides Zumbiel Packaging, which moved to Hebron in 2004, the development site also contains seven acres of vacant land once occupied by BASF, whose plant was destroyed in an explosion and fire in 1990.
Demolition has already started on several smaller buildings on the site and is expected to take 2-3 months.
The university says that it plans to recycle 90 percent of the demolition debris.
Writer: Kevin LeMaster
Sources: Media release; Building Cincinnati
Photography by Kevin LeMaster
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