Kimpton Hotel Downtown Cincinnati (Traction Building)

Downtown Cincinnati's first Kimpton hotel, a 152-room conversion of the 1903 Daniel Burnham-designed Traction Building at Fifth and Walnut, has restarted construction after nearly a decade of stalled financing. A 2025 restructuring by the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority — a structured lease-back plus tax credits — appears to have unstuck the roughly $93 million project, though reported opening dates still range from 2026 to late 2027.

The place

432 Walnut Street at Fifth and Walnut, in downtown Cincinnati near Fountain Square.

The concept

The Traction Building, designed by Daniel Burnham and completed in 1903, is a historic office tower that has never previously operated as a hotel. Parkes Development Group bought it in 2018 for $3.3 million and announced a Kimpton conversion the following year, but the roughly $93 million project — 'struggling to get off the ground for nearly a decade,' in the words of one 2025 trade report — sat largely dormant for years. The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority stepped in with a structured lease-back arrangement, letting Parkes buy construction materials tax-free and secure a construction loan and historic tax credits; that restructuring, finalized around early 2025, is what appears to have restarted work on site.

Dining & wellness

Three planned food-and-beverage venues, including a rooftop bar, plus a grand ballroom and meeting rooms — none of which has opened as of this writing.