The other planned projects include the $900 million, mixed-useOvation being built by Corporex Cos. at the confluence of the Ohioand Licking rivers in Newport, which will feature 1.1 million sf ofoffice (including a 25-story tower), 1,000 homes, 300,000 sf ofretail, two hotels and new civic spaces. Capital Investment Groupis developing the $165 million SouthShore condominium project, alsoin Newport on the Ohio, a site that will include 200 condos and135,000 sf of office.

Bill Scheyer, president of the regional economic developmentgroup Southbank Partners, said the area, just northeast ofCincinnati, hopes to ride out the economic stress and be poised tohit the ground running in the coming rebound. He's organized aDevelopment Day event, to bring in commercial property developersand other officials, for June 6 in nearby Covington to try to helparrange partnerships to keep the projects rolling. "We've reallybuilt a team of the cities along the river, including Covington,Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow and Fort Thomas, and we want tobring people here to see the projects first hand."

His organization also hopes to show off the 3,000 acres ofdevelopable land and the more than 60 commercial properties thatare available for sale in the region. "We're poised to bring in anew era of development along the river," Schever says.