Bowdeya Tweh

btweh@enquirer.com

Winter weather may bring activity slowdown.

Restaurants have to plan for survival.

Development worth hundreds of millions still to come.

Game days and big events are boom times for drink sales and activity at The Banks' bars and restaurants.

The Cincinnati Reds played their final game of the season Sunday at Great American Ball Park, though. Six home games remain on the Cincinnati Bengals' schedule, unless the team makes the playoffs. Concert season also is slowing down, despite scheduled performances by Pearl Jam, Bastille and Cher next month at U.S. Bank Arena.

The owner of Mahogany's blamed the recent high-profile shutdown of her soul food restaurant partly on the lack of a crowd outside of game days and planned events. But that's not curbing the optimism that Jefferson Social manager and partner Kris Keefe has in doing business at The Banks.

With General Electric Co.'s new global operations center coming in, a new apartment building under construction and a hotel potentially on the way, Keefe, a manager and a partner at the bar and restaurant, says he's confident about the future and the opportunity it could provide.

BIG CATCH: Leaders celebrate GE coming to The Banks

"We are young, and that development just takes time," Keefe said. "If you drive down here now, there's cranes all over the place. Things are going up. There's a lot of money that goes into the development, and it doesn't come online at the same time."

Changing seasons may lessen the outdoor foot traffic at The Banks, but some restaurant and bar operators say the businesses that can survive will be rewarded.

The Banks' grand plan: 'Something for everybody'

The relatively young mixed-use development along Cincinnati's riverfront between Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ball Park was launched in 2007. The Banks now has 300 apartments and more than 90,000 square feet of retail space. Nearly 300 more apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail space are under construction on the same development "pad" as GE's office building for 2,000 workers.

Additional development is being welcomed by officials from the city of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Banks developers Carter and the Dawson Co., and the Nicol Investment Co. affiliate that owns the property that's part of the project's first phase.

IN-DEPTH: Where's the rest of The Banks?

"The Banks has been and continues to be a great place in which to live, work and play," said Libby Korosec, spokeswoman for The Banks development team. "Our strategy has been to bring a mix of retail that offers something for everyone, and that continues to be our strategy for the foreseeable future."

Analyst: 'It takes time to change perceptions'

It hasn't been smooth sailing in supporting that "right" mix of operators at The Banks. The first bar and restaurant tenant at The Banks was Holy Grail, which opened in early 2011. Today, there are 11 bars and restaurants. Under construction nearby is Smale Riverfront Park.

Two spaces for commercial tenants are open at The Banks since Mahogany's closed this summer. Rent for retail space at the development is among the most expensive in the region, and multiple operators have struggled with rent payments.

A lawsuit was settled earlier this year between developer Carter and Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill after the country music venue fell behind on rent. It accused Carter of allowing a similarly themed venue – Tin Roof – to open at The Banks.

Despite those challenges, Jim Moehring, co-owner of the Holy Grail sports bar, says business continues to improve each year. Moehring said The Banks is in its infancy and has room to grow. Efforts to promote the development as a mixed-use Downtown destination and attract good operators are paramount to the project's success.

Just before the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 21, Freedom Way was shut down and hundreds of fans from both teams filled bars and restaurants and watched a band performing live on a stage. Matt Chapman of Montgomery said the mini-street festival at The Banks as part of a game "is critical to the survival" of the development.

Tourism and hospitality expert Sotiris Hji-Avgoustis said the evolution of The Banks is not unlike many entertainment districts in other U.S. cities. Such districts often struggle to maintain a steady flow of visitors outside of planned events. The Banks, though, benefits from launching with the goal of being a "24/7 type of community," said Hji-Avgoustis, chairman of Ball State University's Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

"It will take time because the residents have to start moving there, and it takes time to change perceptions and realize downtown living is a good alternative," he said.

Lessons from Mahogany's: Planning for the lean years

In its current state, The Banks doesn't have steady foot traffic for lunch and dinner customers, said Robert Croskery, attorney for Mahogany's owner Liz Rogers. He said The Banks is great for sports bars, and Yard House and Moerlein Lager House appear to do reasonably well. He hopes conditions continue to improve to support places like the one his client operated.

The soul food restaurant, which also acted as a lounge on weekends, may have survived if it received private investment earlier to upgrade the venue and retool the menu, Croskery said. But he said the city needs to be wary of its reputation after how it handled issues with Rogers.

Meetings between Rogers and the city and him could happen as early as this week.The parties have to resolve the status of Rogers' delinquency on a $300,000 loan she received from the city in 2012 to move to The Banks.

TENANT CHANGE: The Banks to Mahogany's: Get out

"The way they've treated Liz won't make that very easy for them," Croskery said.

Typically, restaurants don't shut down because of poor demand, Hji-Avgoustis said. The Ball State professor said it's often a combination of poor management or misidentifying the target market. Struggling venues at entertainment districts often have inconsistent service, but that often is the result of difficulties in attracting qualified employees.

Independent business owners also often lack the financial resources to get themselves through the lean years until they become more established and build a steady customer base, Hji-Avgoustis said. "It doesn't become a destination restaurant unless customers perceive it that way," he said. "It's not a destination because owners try to do that; it's because of the experience customers are getting."

NEW DEVELOPMENT: Hotel at The Banks might get tax dollars

GE center, more apartments fuel confidence in future

Jefferson Social, the neighborhood bar and restaurant that specializes in making Mexican street food, opened in June 2013 at The Banks after seven years at Newport on the Levee. Before that, Jefferson Hall spent more than a decade in Over-the-Rhine.

Understanding customer patterns for events, especially Reds games, proved to be a challenge early on, but Keefe said managers have learned how to manage staffing levels better. Managing a restaurant at The Banks requires paying attention to the weather and understanding what big events are happening in the area.

"You have to be up on all the events," he said. "You have to follow U.S. Bank's (Arena) website, and we have a meeting down here every month with the police about all the events, and they fill us in on what to expect. They'll have a rough idea of what the attendance is going to be."

Keefe said getting GE to sign on the dotted line will be a "tipping point" for The Banks. Leasing agents made strong pitches about the site's potential, but it became apparent early on that city officials were going to ensure the riverfront development would be successful. ■