First Financial Center — Cincinnati Convention Center Renovation and Expansion

Eighteen months is a fast schedule for a $264 million gut renovation of a two-block, 750,000-square-foot building. Cincinnati got one anyway.

3CDC, the city’s nonprofit development corporation, led the job at the request of the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Moody Nolan was architect of record, TVS handled interior design, and Messer Construction ran construction management in partnership with Triversity Construction and Jostin Construction. Ground broke July 1, 2024; construction finished in December 2025; the building reopened January 7, 2026 and took the First Financial Center name in February under a 15-year naming rights deal.

Project Scope

The work wrapped the 1967 building in an elongated glass facade, added 12,000 square feet of extended exhibit hall, rebuilt meeting rooms and ballrooms, and replaced building systems for energy performance. A companion two-acre park, Elm Street Plaza, went up across Elm Street on the former Millennium Hotel site and opened November 21, 2025.

Funding came from three public sources: $30 million from the City of Cincinnati, $15 million plus a hotel tax increase from Hamilton County, and $46 million from the Ohio Department of Development. The city bought out Duke Energy’s remaining six naming years for $1.6 million to clear the way for the new deal.

Why It Matters

Convention centers are among the hardest buildings to renovate on a schedule, because the revenue model depends on booking events 18 to 36 months out. Cincinnati chose a full closure and a compressed 18-month build rather than a phased occupied renovation, which is the more expensive-looking option that usually turns out cheaper. Phased convention work drags for four years and loses bookings the whole time.

The Elm Street Plaza piece is worth noting separately. Replacing a demolished hotel with a park rather than another building is an unusual call downtown, and it reflects a bet that the convention business now competes on public realm as much as on exhibit square footage. Whether that pencils will be visible in Cincinnati’s booking calendar by 2028.

Project Team & Details