Uptown is at the center of a new development that focuses on innovation, research and education

Over-the-Rhine and Covington are abuzz over startup innovation, as incubators and accelerators like Aviatra Accelerators, The Brandery, CincyTech and UpTech work to grow Greater Cincinnati's core. That innovative focus is now shifting Uptown, as Uptown Consortium partners with some of the city's largest institutions to create the Uptown Innovation Corridor.

Fifty-one thousand residents, including students, are at the core of this new economic development.

Three projects are already in the works: the Uptown Gateway, the 1819 Innovation & Research Accelerator for the University of Cincinnati and the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute.

With the new interchange at I-71 and Martin Luther King Drive expected to open this summer, Beth Robinson, president and CEO of Uptown Consortium, expects the area surrounding it to become “a gravitational force for accelerated industries that radically improve quality of life.”

Uptown Gateway — the project’s “flagship development” — will be a mixed-use office, retail, residential and parking development at the southeast corner of Reading Road and MLK Drive. Construction is slated to being later this year.

Plans for improved pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, in addition to shuttles, will increase residents’ ease of Uptown access, and as the project develops, residents will receive job training so they can immerse themselves more fully into the community while learning skills and generating income.

“Job training that’s informed by the Corridor will evolve as our past and current career-focused initiatives have — through partnerships,” Robinson says. “We want to make sure job growth is inclusive and diverse from the beginning of our projects. We hope to leverage our partnerships with UC, MORTAR and others to secure more job training programs in the area.”

The 1819 Innovation & Research Accelerator, slated to open next fall, will serve as a hub for both private and public collaborations. It will also provide space for startups launched from UC developed technologies, while the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute will open in 2019. Construction began on the Institute earlier this month.

“The Innovation Corridor is surrounded by our region’s research powerhouses,” Robinson says. “The Uptown Innovation Corridor tenants will learn from, inspire and most likely integrate with the institutions of Uptown and the region’s future-facing businesses. It will continue to unfold as a center for research, collaboration and entrepreneurship.”