A new builder is taking over Station Court in Cincinnati’s College Hill neighborhood, where 29 of the planned 31 single-family homes remain to be built more than three years after the project broke ground. Thomas J. Ackermann Company has been named the new builder for the residential development, according to a community announcement reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer on Thursday, November 5, and the change is intended to restart work that has faced delays since 2023.
Only two homes have been completed at Station Court so far, the Enquirer reported. The announcement cited higher construction costs, challenging economic conditions and broader housing market pressures as the factors that slowed the development.
"College Hill cannot afford to stand still, and neither can our development pipeline," Emmanuel Karikari, chief executive officer of the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, known as CHCURC, said in the announcement reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Station Court is an important residential investment, and bringing in a builder with T.J. Ackermann’s experience and familiarity with our neighborhood is a meaningful step forward."
Karikari also framed the change as a test of delivery, not just planning. "Development is not measured by the projects we announce, but rather by the projects we deliver," he said in the announcement reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. For residents who have watched the site sit largely unfinished since its 2023 groundbreaking, that distinction is the heart of this week’s news: the question is no longer whether Station Court will be announced, but whether its remaining 29 homes will actually be built.
Station Court was launched with considerable momentum. Traditions Building Group broke ground on the community on August 16, 2023, at the corner of Hamilton Avenue and North Bend Road, in a ceremony attended by Traditions, City of Cincinnati leaders and College Hill community leaders and residents, according to Traditions Building Group. The company described Station Court as 31 detached residences in its City Series of communities in historic, walkable urban neighborhoods throughout Cincinnati, and as its seventh City Series community.
As originally marketed by Traditions Building Group, the homes were to feature modern, distinctive architecture, customizable interiors, private decks and two-car attached garages, with a 15-year LEED Silver tax abatement from the city. Prices were to start in the upper $500,000s, with homes ranging from two to three bedrooms and two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half bathrooms, and starting at about 2,000 square feet, according to Traditions Building Group. The announcement of a new builder this week did not say whether those prices, floor plans or features will change under Ackermann.
The incoming builder is not a stranger to the neighborhood. Thomas J. Ackermann Company has worked on other College Hill residential projects, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, serving as land developer for the Witherby Meadows subdivision, part of the 2014 College Hill Citi-Rama home show, and for Gershom Grove for the 2016 event. That history was a central part of the case made for the change this week.
"We are proud to expand upon our high-quality, historical ties with College Hill and the local market. This is home to us. And Station Court is our company’s homecoming this year," T.J. Ackermann said in the announcement reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. That local recognition may matter for a project that depends on buyer confidence in a single neighborhood, and on restarting sales conversations after a long pause.
Station Court also sits inside a much longer College Hill story. CHCURC, established in 1975, says in its College Hill Station III materials that it has created or preserved 306 housing units and that College Hill is a community of 16,039 residents, the fourth-largest neighborhood in Cincinnati. At the same Hamilton Avenue and North Bend Road intersection, the earlier College Hill Station phases, now known as HaNoBe at Linden Square, delivered 171 new housing units and five commercial spaces, according to CHCURC, on a site the city had spent years assembling.
That context explains why a 31-home project carries weight beyond its size. Station Court is part of College Hill’s broader effort to expand housing and homeownership opportunities, according to the announcement reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Apartments such as HaNoBe added renters and storefront activity at the northern end of the Hamilton Avenue business district; for-sale houses such as Station Court are meant to add homeowners with a long-term stake in the blocks around that district. One without the other leaves the neighborhood’s housing ladder incomplete.
What is not yet known is the schedule. A construction timeline has not yet been announced, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, and details about planned community engagement sessions and the timeline are expected in the coming weeks. The announcement also did not name a date for work to resume on site, identify which of the remaining lots will be built first, or say whether buyers who had previously expressed interest in Station Court homes will be contacted under the new builder.
What happens next, then, is a short and concrete checklist. In the coming weeks, residents should get the community engagement sessions and the construction timeline the announcement promised, and College Hill will learn whether Ackermann keeps the original Station Court designs and pricing or resets them for today’s market. Until those details land, this week’s change is a restart, not a finish — a stalled 29-home gap in one of Cincinnati’s largest neighborhoods now has a new builder responsible for closing it.