Update: Cincinnati officials react:
Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld tweeted "Yes, it would have been nice to keep @Saks in the City, but I remain very bullish about Downtown. Our momentum will continue to snowball"
DCI President David Ginsberg says, while sad to lose Saks to Kenwood, the Race Street Corridor is undergoing a lot of change and he sees more development coming downtown.
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Saks Fifth Avenue has signed a letter of intent to move from downtown Cincinnati to Kenwood. Developer of The Kenwood Collection, Phillips Edison, says Saks will lease 80-thousand square feet on two levels of the I-71 development. The Kenwood Collection, formerly Kenwood Towne Place, has sat largely vacant since 2008. The project fell into bankruptcy after former developer Bear Creek Capital was unable to pay contractors.
A release says Saks to lease approximately 80,000 square feet of retail space over two levels of the building that fronts Interstate I-71. The store is scheduled to open in the spring of 2016.
The reinvention of The Kenwood Collection continues," said David Birdsall, president of Phillips Edison & Company’s Strategic Investment Funds (SIF). "Securing a commitment from Saks Fifth Avenue is a major step in realizing our vision of creating a premiere shopping experience at The Kenwood Collection. Saks will be an anchor that allows us to attract new-to-market retailers and drive new customers to our region from the entire Midwest area."
Current retail tenants include Crate & Barrel, The Container Store and Mitchell’s Salon & Day Spa.
Neace Lukens, one of the region’s largest insurance companies, has agreed to lease one of the seven floors in the planned office tower.
