Hamilton’s Fifth Third building has sold to developer

CORE Fund on May 13 sold its first commercial building at 254 High St., which houses Sara's House Home Decor and Gifts. CORE Fund also is working to restore properties along Main Street near the Great Miami River.

Terms of the agreement between the nonprofit redevelopment organization CORE Fund and the purchaser were not available.

Coon’s companies “are operating on their fourth project,” CORE Director Mike Dingeldein said.

Coon did not return calls seeking comment about purchase of the nearly 44,000-square-foot Fifth Third building, where the bank closed a branch there in 2011. The property’s value has slid significantly over the past two decades:

“We had a development agreement RFP (request for proposals) go out early in 2015, and ultimately it was awarded to Historic Developers (another company operated by Coon),” Dingeldein said. “So they’ve applied for tax credits on that project, and they’re working on redevelopment plans and new tenants for the Fifth Third building.”

This media outlet last year reported in September, 2015, that Coon was hoping to put in a high-end restaurant and other uses.

The parties signed a sale agreement in June, but the transaction didn’t close until September, Dingeldein said.

Hamilton’s downtown is starting to see “good traction,” Dingeldein said. “We’re trying to make it happen.”

The effort to upgrade and fill more downtown buildings will be aided by the recent inclusion of an 18-acre area of Hamilton's downtown on the National Register of Historic Places.

That inclusion “allows, automatically, for you to apply for federal tax credits, and then it allows you to apply for competitive state tax credits,” Dingeldein said. “You have to be in a historic-designated site before you can do that.”

“Now that we have the designation over the downtown, we can take any of the buildings in that designated area and apply for credits,” he said.