The other planned projects include the $900 million, mixed-use Ovation being built by Corporex Cos. at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Newport, which will feature 1.1 million sf of office (including a 25-story tower), 1,000 homes, 300,000 sf of retail, two hotels and new civic spaces. Capital Investment Group is developing the $165 million SouthShore condominium project, also in Newport on the Ohio, a site that will include 200 condos and 135,000 sf of office.

Bill Scheyer, president of the regional economic development group Southbank Partners, said the area, just northeast of Cincinnati, hopes to ride out the economic stress and be poised to hit the ground running in the coming rebound. He's organized a Development Day event, to bring in commercial property developers and other officials, for June 6 in nearby Covington to try to help arrange partnerships to keep the projects rolling. "We've really built a team of the cities along the river, including Covington, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow and Fort Thomas, and we want to bring people here to see the projects first hand."

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

Dayton city administrator Dennis Redmond tells GlobeSt.com that Imboden's company DCI has spent about $26 million in the acquisition of property for the Manhattan Harbor project. "Last year, the floodplain map of the area was changed to allow fill on the north side of the existing levy to an additional 18 feet, taking the project out of the 100-year floodplain. This fall, you're going to see 100 trucks a day going through the community, bringing in fill from 100 acres east of the municipal limits, to build up the site." A DCI spokesman did not return calls for comment.