Parker Flats: Downtown Cincinnati

Big announcementsthe past couple months have only intensified the luxury-condo frenzy enveloping the riverfront and surrounding downtown areas in Greater Cincinnati.

Dozens of projects in various stages are bringing hundreds of units onto the market, most selling for hundreds of thousands to a million or more dollars. The projects run the gamut from ground-up developments like the Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, a 72-unit glass tower in Covington designed by world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind, to smaller apartment-to-condo conversions like the just-finished rehab of the Fort Washington Hotel in downtown Cincinnati.

The influx of high-income residents has the potential to transform the surrounding areas, bringing vitality with support businesses, expanded entertainment options and sheer volume of foot traffic. Officials are banking on the fact that these new residents want places to get a bagel and coffee in the morning, to drop off laundry or pick up groceries and to eat dinner and get a drink. They support arts and cultural venues, bookstores and specialty shops and want places to meet friends from out of town. It's hard to imagine, for example, that the teeny-bopper appeal of many Newport on the Levee shops won't change after the condos go up next door.

The trend can also bring improved quality of life with the greater demands for services. The soaring demand for downtown condos in Cincinnati, for example, was partly credited for the results of a survey by Downtown Cincinnati Inc. this spring that showed perceptions of downtown had improved in 18 of 20 categories, including cleanliness, selection of stores, safety and hours of stores and restaurants.