Among the many mixed-use projects planned for the city’s riverfront area are River District, River House and River Park. Developers have been trying for nearly eight years to get these separate but similarly named projects off the ground. But so far, “none has even broken ground, much less become a reality,” notes Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel in her latest column.
“That may soon change,” Riegel writes. “The developer for the smallest and, arguably, most feasible of the three—the River House—has finally secured financing and applied for permits.”
Marc Blumberg, who began working on the project in 2008, says construction could actually begin this month on the 224-unit multifamily complex, which will be located on Nicholson Drive at Oklahoma Street—the site of the old Prince Murat hotel. Some 15,000 square feet of retail space and a 34,000-square-foot office building, it is hoped, will eventually follow.
“We’ve always wanted to be the first mover in that area, and we are still going to be the first mover in that area,” he says. “It’s going to feel great.”
“It’s also going to feel lonely, for at least a while,” writes Riegel. “Everyone believes redevelopment will eventually come to the area, but the renaissance along the three-mile Nicholson Drive corridor is still in its infancy.”
Blumberg is a pioneer, says Riegel.
“Here’s hoping others will follow soon,” she writes. “Here’s betting they won’t be rushing to do so.”
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