Developers planning $35M apartment project at former Kings Island Resort

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Courtesy PDT Architects

Local developers are planning to transform the site of the former Kings Island Resort and Conference Center into a luxury apartment development with about 300 units.

Tom Demeropolis

Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier

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Local developers are planning to transform the site of the former Kings Island Resort and Conference Center into a luxury apartment development with about 300 units.

Arn Bortz, principal with developer Towne Properties, said his company and Oxford-based Hotel Development Services LLC are working together on the plan to redevelop the 21-acre site just north of Kings Island. They are working with PDT Architects as the architect for the project.

Towne Properties has developed and owned other apartment projects nearby, including Bishops Gate at Somerset and Four Bridges. Bortz said while the site was ideal for a conference center and hotel in the 1970s, the region has changed around it.

"The growth path is right along I-71," Bortz said. "It will be a very nice complement to what's there."

The project, called the Towne at Deerfield, is planned to have about 300 high-end, market-rate apartment units with a mix of one- and two-bedroom units as well as some three-bedroom apartments.

Towne Properties submitted its proposal for the property off Kings Island Drive to the Warren County Regional Planning Commission. The planning commission will consider a recommendation for a zoning change to allow multifamily development. That meeting is scheduled for Dec. 18.

Once the project clears the county review, the proposal will go to the Deerfield Township Zoning Commission, and then township trustees would make the final decision. Bortz said Deerfield Township and Warren County have been very supportive of the proposed project.

The property is owned by Hotel Development Services, the same development company that is building the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott at U Square @ the Loop, a project co-developed by Towne Properties and Al Neyer. With increased competition for business travelers to the south, HDS said in a news release it believes the highest and best use for the property is multifamily development. Officials with HDS did not immediately return calls for comment.

Demeropolis covers commercial real estate and development.