Hosts Tom and Liz discuss a youth soccer club’s plans for a $10 million athletic facility and headquarters, as well as a local firm that takes basketball courts and turns them into memorabilia, one of the region’s largest commercial real estate firms moves its offices into space at the Banks, which public high schools are ranked highest in Greater Cincinnati and the region’s largest brewery will be serving up new dining options, with a side of nostalgia, soon.Interview starts at (19:04). Cincinnati has no shortage of big development projects in the works. And there is demand for more. For Bill Baker, managing partner at downtown-based MSA Design, the way the buildings look and how people interact with them is a critical part of the design process. Baker discusses how the design of the Hyde Park Square redevelopment has evolved, the benefits of bringing more people into the city and the need for humans in the design process.

Hosts Tom and Nikki discuss plans for a $5 billion data center north of Cincinnati, as well as the massive increase in home sales priced at $1 million or more, a former golf course that will become a mix of homes, apartments and retail space, a $100 million hotel, office and restaurant project planned near Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and a new restaurant coming soon to Over-the-Rhine that will serve steak frites exclusively.Interview starts at (17:50). Cincinnati is pretty far away from Hollywood, California. But for years, the Queen City has served as a location for dozens of films and shows. Film Cincinnati President and CEO Kristen Schlotman has been leading the effort to bring Hollywood productions to the region since 2002. With the competition for movies remaining intense, Schlotman discusses the benefits Cincinnati offers, and what those productions bring to the region.

Hosts Andy and Tom talk about a rare Cincinnati unicorn – a startup company worth at least $1B – that abruptly ceased operations. In other news, one of Cincinnati's largest private companies is expanding its downtown headquarters, and bringing back the skywalk; Amazon touts its local impact; P&G is making a $3.8B acquisition; and a James Beard-nominated chef is opening a new restaurant.Interview starts at (23:43) Dave Jenike started at the Cincinnati Zoo as an intern. Now, he's its CEO. He was also part of the duo responsible for its transformation over the last two decades. He views his job as the zoo's chief storyteller, and getting people inspired by nature. He talks about what's new and coming at the Cincinnati Zoo.https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/08/07/80-acres-how-why-closed-henry-gordon-smith-layoffs.htmlhttps://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/08/03/divisions-maintenance-group-jobs-downtown-skywalk.htmlhttps://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/08/04/jimmie-lou-reopen-pendleton-jeff-harris-nolia.html

Nick Lingenfelter is chief development officer of PLK Communities, the developer behind Factory 52 and the upcoming Hyde Park Square redevelopment. He sees the need for more alignment from the region's institutions to promote growth, lest Cincinnati fall behind. He also talks the origins of Factory 52, and the challenges and opportunities of development in Hyde Park.Elsewhere on the podcast, hosts Andy and Tom talk about the death of Cincinnati's nightlife boom, the opening of a new independent hotel downtown, the push from one county commissioner to use stadium funds for other needs and one of the urban core's largest restaurant spaces finding new life.https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/31/bars-restaurants-post-covid-costs-new-open-w…https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/28/fidelity-hotel-gwynne-procter-gamble-new-wat…https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/29/coco-moon-restaurant-brewdog-pendleton-food.…

Hosts Andy and Tom talk about why Cincinnati’s new $540 million convention center headquarters hotel will not be a JW Marriott, as well as the Port’s plans for Camp Washington, a robotic welding company that was launched by Space X alumni, the most significant moment in a local unicorn’s history and how cool it would be to have a car condo.Plus, we sit down with Kona Ice CEO Tony Lamb who shares how he turned a simple shaved ice concept into the largest mobile food vendor in the world, with thousands of Kona Ice and Traveling Tom’s trucks on the road, by leaning into mobile operations, a patented “flavor wave” system that lets customers create their own combinations and proprietary routing and staffing software born during Covid-19.

Hosts Andy and Tom talk about plans for 3CDC to buy the historic St. Francis Seraph church in Over-the-Rhine, as well as the closure of legendary chef Jean-Robert de Cavel's last restaurant, Kroger axing plans to open more Harris Teeter stores and a Krazy new retailer. Interview starts at (18:42). Bourbon is a tricky business. It has to age for several years – New Riff's minimum is four – before it can be bottled and sold, so distilleries have to be very good at forecasting demand well in advance. With so many producers investing billions in ramping up production in recent years, that's led to a glut of product. New Riff CEO Hannah Lowen talks about how her distillery has navigated that, and what's new at the region's largest bourbon producer.

Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the latest on plans to cap Fort Washington Way, including which funds cannot be used to complete the $50 million first phase, as well as a pair of big projects that got state funding, one of the region's largest construction firms going employee-owned and a former P&Ger who bought a gun range.Interview starts at (21:55). Fifty West Brewing CEO Bobby Slattery says people’s views on who drinks THC seltzer is wrong. It's not hippies or stoners drinking his Sunflower brand, but soccer moms. And Ohio's ban on their production is costing his brewery millions, and the state tons of jobs. Bobby is one of the leading voices pushing to overturn Ohio’s ban.https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/09/husted-funding-fort-washington-way-highway-c…https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/01/atrium-1-fourth-walnut-centre-tmud-office-co…https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/07/miller-valentine-construction-employee-owned…

Above the Fold is back! Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Kroger's plan to make a $1.7 billion acquisition of Giant Eagle, losing the main sponsors of Cincinnati's LPGA tournament, and just what is a kolache?Interview starts at (19:28). Steve Leeper has shepherded 3CDC, which is responsible for more than $2 billion in investment into Cincinnati's urban core since, 2006. Fresh off of the $264 million renovation of the First Financial Center, we talk with Steve about connecting the various parts of the urban core, and whether his work will ever truly be done.https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/07/01/kroger-acquiring-supermarket-chain-for-1-7-billion.htmlhttps://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/06/30/lpga-kroger-queen-city-championship-sponsors-drop.htmlhttps://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2026/06/26/shipley-donuts-kolache-pastry-franchise-koetting.html

Hosts Andy and Tom are joined by Business Courier reporters Brian Planalp, Abby Miller and Steve Watkins to dissect some of the biggest local news stories of 2023. Those include a record number of restaurants closing in Cincinnati – more than when Covid-19 broke out in 2020 – as well as an unassuming local millionaire leaving $270 million to local organizations; Cincinnati gaining a new Fortune 500 company; what's going on with downtown real estate as companies figure out what to do about remote and hybrid work and their physical office space; and the Western & Southern Open selecting Cincinnati as its permanent home following a $400 million bid by Charlotte, N.C., to lure the tournament there.Above the Fold will go on hiatus after Dec. 25, 2023.Above the Fold is a podcast by the Cincinnati Business Courier. 

Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Kroger's plans to bring its office workers back in four days a week, a public company re-establishing its headquarters in Cincinnati, Coney Island's sale to a music organization to make was for a $118 million concert venue, a badly needed parking garage at Findlay Market and Taste of Belgium's reboot.Interview starts at (21:20). Graeter's became an ice cream empire and a brand synonymous with Cincinnati by not embracing new technology. At a time when the new continuous process ice cream makers were putting neighborhood parlors out of business by making fast, cheap desserts, Graeter's doubled down on doing things the old fashioned way, and that's what makes it special. But that's not to say the chain isn't innovating. Graeter talks about his company's collaboration with other local brands, and how it comes up with each year's unique bonus flavors.Above the Fold is a podcast by the Cincinnati Business Courier.