New Hamilton apartments Rossville Flats are nearly move-in ready

CMC property manager Pete Montgomery said the 76 market-rate apartments, which include three two-bedroom units, complement the growing area west of the Great Miami River surrounding the four-story mixed-use development.

Rossville Flats is an $11 million investment for CMC Properties, which invested $15 million into the Marcum Apartments, a mixed-use development that features 100 apartments in downtown Hamilton.

City Manager Joshua Smith said it’s critical to have urban living options for the segment of the workforce that is seeing work-from-home and hybrid work schedules become more normalized.

“The demand for walkable amenities, such as restaurants, bars, coffee shops, live music, unique hospitality, and parks, continues to rise,” he said. “We must look at regeneration of existing buildings and new construction to provide residential opportunities ranging from affordable to market rate, while continuing to improve our amenity mix.”

Though the Rossville Flats building is new, Montgomery said it feels like it’s been in the city for 100 years, with the red brick façade that’s similar to many older buildings around the city. The Rossville Flats back-light marquee building sign will be installed this week, and Montgomery said they’re receiving designs from two local and one national designer on the interior lobby of the building.

“It’s going to feel like you’re living in Manhattan,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery said they expect to get the certificate of occupancy for the 74,600-plus-square-foot building in the next two weeks, but one delay will be the two first-floor tenants. He said they’re still talking with prospective businesses looking to locate in Hamilton.

The two 1,650-square-foot retail spaces leading out to a 600-square-foot patio via garage doors are still not under contract.

The third and fourth floors are “pretty much done,” Montgomery said, and the second and first floors are expected to be completed in a week or two.

They are looking to have people move into their apartments ― and right now, 10 have signed leases ― between Oct. 20 and Nov. 20.

“Once we have our C of O, the place is open,” said Jim Cohen, president of CMC Properties. “Obviously, we have some fingernail polish to finish up, but we’re close.”

After the success of the Marcum and all the explosive growth of the industry in Hamilton, I think it’s so necessary. What I’ve heard from all of the business community is that they need housing for their employees. There’s a lot of creative workforce in Hamilton now that are looking for first-class creative housing. I think this really fills the void.”

CMC Properties are pushing the Hamilton Community Foundation’s Talent Attraction Program Scholarship, a program in designed to attract young, newly graduated professionals to the city.

Cohen said that TAP Scholarship shows that “Hamilton is committed to bringing a creative class to town.” According to the Community Foundation, the TAP Scholarship is for anyone looking to move into the city’s urban core and work within Butler County. There’s a monthly $400 stipend that selected applicants can receive. It’s based on student loans, but it’s capped at $15,000.