Aviatra Accelerators has crowned its inaugural Woman Entrepreneur of the Year – a nod reserved for a longtime local business owner, podcast host and motivational speaker. <\p> The awards program, first announced by the Covington-based startup and entrepreneurship support group in July, also included categories spanning tech, health and more. Aviatra unveiled the winners during its annual Flight Night celebration Sept. 5 at the 20th Century Theater in Oakley. Two of the five honorees are previous Business Courier or Cincy Inno award winners.<\p>

Cincinnati City Council approved a $45 million affordable housing project adjacent to single-family houses in Bond Hill, rejecting homeowners’ objections in favor of building new apartments at a time when the city is short thousands.<\p> Louisville-based LDG Development plans to build Seymour Station – two apartment buildings with 150 units at 1931 E. Seymour Ave. Council approved the needed zoning changes and a final development plan on Sept. 11 with one dissenting vote – Councilman Scotty Johnson. Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney recused herself from the vote. <\p>

Students at Northern Kentucky University are disappointed in the loss of their diversity office on campus.<\p> Diversity, equity and inclusion offices can be found on college campuses across the nation. Less than one month into the 2024-20225 school year at NKU, the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) is no longer, reports Business Courier media partner WKRC-TV Local 12.<\p>

Good morning, Cincinnati! Here are the five most important things you need to know to help start your busy business day:<\p> PLK Communities, NorthPointe Group and the Loring Group, the developers planning a massive, multibuilding project on Hyde Park Square, are considering including a high-end hotel in their plans, but residents who have taken a survey are divided on the question, Chris Wetterich reports. The developers released the initial results of their survey of residents and stakeholders at a Sept. 10 meeting of the Hyde Park neighborhood council. <\p>

A Dayton-area landscaping company founded 40 years ago is expanding its geographic reach with plans to open a new office in a Cincinnati suburb. <\p> Grunder Landscaping Co., a design, build and maintenance landscaping firm based in Miamisburg, will occupy a 10,000-square-foot office at 137 Commerce Drive in Loveland. Renovations are currently underway. <\p>

A building in the Reading Bridal District has undergone a massive transformation.<\p> The 12,000-square-foot, two-story structure, located at 420 W. Benson St., is now home to a new concept called the Chasing Cali Collective.<\p>

Kenton County and the Northern Kentucky Port Authority have selected HDR to serve as the owner’s representative and project manager for a planned $125 million facility where Northern Kentucky University’s Chase College of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine's Northern Kentucky campus will co-locate.<\p> Construction is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to a news release. <\p>

This is the last full week of the crucial federal court hearing regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit seeking to halt Kroger Co.’s planned $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons Cos. Inc., and the case hinges on what’s yet to come, one expert says.<\p> The FTC’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., argues the nation’s largest acquisition ever involving two supermarket operators would violate antitrust law by being anticompetitive, harming customers, workers and suppliers. Executives at downtown Cincinnati-based Kroger (NYSE: KR), the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, and Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, the second-largest traditional supermarket operator, say they need to make the deal to remain competitive against Walmart, Amazon, Costco and others.<\p>

A group of developers planning a massive, multibuilding project on Hyde Park Square is considering including a high-end hotel in their plans, but residents who have taken a survey are divided on the question.<\p> PLK Communities, NorthPointe Group and the Loring Group are planning a reenvisioning of one of Cincinnati’s best-known neighborhood business districts. They have control of most of the property fronting the south side of the square between Edwards Road and Michigan Avenue, plus a roughly 70-space parking lot to the south. In total, the site is more than 2 acres. <\p>

Suburban office submarkets sometimes are perceived as the preferred spot for tenants post-pandemic, largely because of their proximity to existing or potential workers. But a recent analysis by Moody's Analytics Inc. found there's generally more nuance to location decisions than strictly suburban versus urban.<\p> Moody’s looked at 618 U.S. office submarkets and compared central business districts with their respective suburban areas. It found office vacancy remains higher in suburban markets nationally, standing at 21.1% at the end of the second quarter compared to 18.4% in CBDs.<\p>

The owner of Toms shoes and Dollar Shave Club intends to buy Big Lots, which plans to shutter more stores as it undergoes bankruptcy reorganization.<\p> The Columbus, Ohio-based discount home goods retailer announced Sept. 9 it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and that it has an agreement in place to be acquired by an affiliate of Nexus Capital Management LP for $760 million, which consists of $2.5 million in cash plus the payoff of debts and the assumption of liabilities. <\p>

A Covington-based professional services development company has made a new acquisition.<\p> Tier1 Impact, which is the parent company of Tier1 Performance, has acquired Change Guides, a Covington-based management firm. Change Guides has worked with companies of varying sizes since it was founded in 2005, offering change management products and services to help organizations in all industries.<\p>

The LPGA’s Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G has added a host of new sponsors to go with its new venue in the women’s pro golf tournament’s third year.<\p> The event will be played at TPC River’s Bend in Warren County from Sept. 19-22. It’s the first year at that course, which has previously hosted the PGA Tour Champions senior pro tour event from 2002 to 2004. The Queen City Championship was played at Kenwood Country Club in each of its first two years.<\p>

The U.S. Men’s National Team returned to Cincinnati on Tuesday night, with TQL Stadium hosting the soccer team’s friendly match against New Zealand. <\p> The U.S. and New Zealand tied 1-1 in the exhibition match played before a crowd of 15,711. TQL Stadium’s capacity is 25,513. The game was televised nationally on TNT.<\p>

Good morning, Cincinnati. It’s been a beautiful week in the Queen City, and it’s been an even better outlook for business news. Here are the top five stories you need to know to start your busy day: <\p> Construction is underway on a Tesla facility in Columbia Township. The site is a big-box retail center, formerly home to a Burlington department store and a Payless ShoeSource, at 5245 Ridge Ave., just north of the Interstate 71 overpass. Tesla already operates a store in Blue Ash, which it opened in 2015, and a collision center on West Kemper Road in Forest Park.<\p>

Hamilton County will buy Bon Secours Mercy Health's headquarters off of Reading Road in Bond Hill for $65 million after commissioners voted 3-0 Sept. 10 to approve the purchase.<\p> Under the deal, Mercy also will pay out $30 million on its remaining lease to the building’s owner, Rasameel Investment. The county would move 1,429 employees from five departments to the site and sell five buildings it owns in Over-the-Rhine adjacent to downtown, Corryville, East Walnut Hills and Madisonville.<\p>

The federal court hearing in Oregon for Kroger Co.’s planned merger with Albertsons Cos. Inc. is being extended. And additional legal wranglings on the case are planned for the coming weeks, including one that likely will overlap the Oregon trial. <\p> Monday’s court session was cut short at 11 a.m. Pacific time. That move will push the hearing for the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case opposing Cincinnati-based Kroger’s (NYSE: KR) $24.6 billion acquisition of rival Albertsons into next week, with closing arguments now set for Sept. 17. The hearing that began Aug. 26 was originally expected to conclude this Friday, Sept. 13. That continued to be the expectation even as recently as Sept. 9, until the session was shortened.<\p>

A long-awaited rehabilitation of a major downtown Cincinnati building is in line for a new incentive deal, with City Council set to vote on the package this week.<\p> The owner of the Fourth & Walnut Centre, Texas-based NewcrestImage, plans a $174 million, 280-room luxury hotel, as well as a 244-space parking garage and 16 high-end apartments. That’s up from $67 million for the 2018 version of the project, underscoring the impact of inflation and the Covid-19 pandemic on construction financing. The 2018 version included nearly 350 rooms and a parking garage.<\p>

An upstart Northern Kentucky-based venture capital firm has closed an eight-figure fund more than two years in the making that now stands as the region’s largest.<\p> Covington’s eGateway Capital has closed on its $94 million Fund II, which it will use to invest in growth-stage tech companies in the e-commerce and supply chain space. <\p>

A developer with Cincinnati ties is planning a hotel in Walnut Hills near the Cincinnati Innovation District.<\p> The project is a five-story, extended-stay hotel with around 100 rooms and a surface lot with around 100 parking spaces. <\p>