University of Cincinnati STEM Academic Facility — Crosley Tower Replacement

The University of Cincinnati is knocking down one of the most argued-about buildings in Ohio and putting a $304 million science building in its place. Crosley Tower, the 17-story Brutalist slab poured in a single continuous operation over 18 days, is more than half demolished. When it’s gone, UC gets something it has never had: a front door on Martin Luther King Drive.

Project Scope

The STEM Academic Facility covers about 200,000 square feet of classrooms and laboratories serving the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the College of Arts and Sciences, UC’s largest college by enrollment. The $304 million figure includes Crosley’s demolition and the site preparation that follows it. HDR is the design architect. Skanska and O’Rourke Wrecking Co. are taking Crosley down in pieces, hoisting slabs to the ground by crane rather than dropping the structure — a slower method, but the only realistic one on an occupied urban campus.

Demolition wraps by February 2027. Site work starts after that, groundbreaking is expected in 2027, and construction concludes in 2029. The program includes capstone design studios where engineering teams build and test working prototypes, plus study space, research labs and co-op preparation areas.

Why It Matters

UC pioneered cooperative education a century ago and still runs one of the country’s best-known co-op programs. The new building is aimed squarely at that pipeline. Enrollment has climbed past 50,000, and the science and engineering colleges have been absorbing much of that growth in facilities built for a smaller school.

“UC’s continued growth reflects the confidence students, families and employers have in the value of a UC education,” President Neville Pinto said. “And the new STEM Academic Facility is a direct response to our growth.”

Pinto framed the spend in workforce terms: “This is a major investment in Ohio’s workforce: in the engineers, scientists, researchers and manufacturers who will help power our state’s economy for decades to come.”

There’s an urban design argument too. Crosley turned its back on MLK Drive. The replacement faces it, opposite Burnet Woods, which gives the north edge of Uptown campus an entrance instead of a concrete wall.

Project Team & Details