Federal New Market Tax Credits (NMTCs) keep Uptown’s projects rising. The financing tool incentivizes investment and growth in low-income communities by attracting private investors to support new projects. NMTCs have proven invaluable to Uptown Consortium, Inc. (UCI), supporting over 18 projects and counting.
To celebrate 20 years in operation, UCI is profiling NMTC projects each month to highlight how projects have brought jobs, housing, retail services and innovation to the five Uptown neighborhoods. For July, UCI is spotlighting the University of Cincinnati’s Digital Futures building.
Digital Futures: $17.9 million in NMTCs
Digital Futures is a 189,336-square-foot office building, with a 1,300-space public parking garage, at the Martin Luther King Drive and I-71 interchange in Avondale. It opened in September of 2022. Of the project's original $48 million cost, $17.9 million came from NMTCs secured by UCI (with new additions, the project is now over $100 million). The project was developed by Terrex Development & Messer Construction.
Digital Futures is UC’s headquarters for impactful, interdisciplinary and applied computational research. The building, led by the UC Office of Research, houses the Office of Research staff and more than twenty multi-disciplinary research labs. More than 350 UC faculty, staff and students have affiliate status and card swipe access to the building. The facility is the first of its kind in the university’s 200-year history, with shared facilities such as a two-story high Bay which is ideal for research in the areas of robotics, drones, autonomous and electric vehicles and beyond. UC’s Digital Futures also features a professional-grade augmented and virtual reality lab and service center, creative media suites and high-performance computing.
In 2023, researchers, students and staff employed by UC and working at UC’s Digital Futures building generated nearly $9 million in research grants to fund groundbreaking research in future mobility and smart infrastructure, AI, geospatial epidemiology, virtual and augmented reality, human performance & neuromechanics, electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL), unmanned air systems (UAS), connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), modeling & simulation, propulsion & hypersonics, robotics, medical diagnostics, cyber-security, semi-conductors smart manufacturing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and last but not least, cryptoeconomics, blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The facility's ground floor is open to the community for meetings. In 2023 alone, UC’s Digital Futures hosted over 600 events and an estimated 19,000 guests. Organizations such as UMADAOP and AI for Humans have partnered with the UC Office of Research to bring positive change to Avondale and the Uptown neighborhoods. UMADAOP offers behavioral health services, while AI for Humans is the largest free monthly gathering of AI experts, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in the region.
Digital Futures houses several nonprofits and community partners, including The Leadership Council, Green Umbrella, Tri-State Trails, Elementz, The Gaskins Foundation, VIA (formerly the Mayerson Academy) and Adopt A Class.
Coming Soon
While UC’s Digital Futures just opened to the public in September 2022, Phase 2 construction is underway. The second and third floors will be finished and allow for more impactful research collaborations to form and make an impact. Additionally, the entire fourth and fifth floors will be completed. The fourth floor will be dedicated to restricted access research and UC’s growing cybersecurity research program, and the fifth floor will house UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science Computer Science Department.
Digital Futures has become a point of pride for the University of Cincinnati, where students and the community can learn, innovate and change the world. UCI is proud to have helped bring the project to life through NMTCs.
UCI has continued its NMTC investments with two recent projects: the Blood Cancer Healing Center and the YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter. For updates on UCI’s future NMTC projects, visit the NMTC page on UCI’s website and follow Uptown Consortium on LinkedIn and Facebook.