The 18-story Radisson Hotel Cincinnati Riverfront in Covington, known for its cylindrical tower and slowly spinning rooftop restaurant, is under contract to become a Reverb by Hard Rock Hotel. Miami-based investment firm GenX Capital Partners is leading the buyer group behind the deal, which will eventually shutter the existing hotel operation and reopen the 220-room property under the Hard Rock flag.
A Landmark Riverfront Tower Changes Hands
The Radisson sits just south of the Brent Spence Bridge, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. GenX Capital Partners put the property under contract in September. As part of the deal, the incoming buyer group plans a complete renovation and redesign of the hotel's 18th-floor revolving rooftop restaurant, aiming to pair updated dining with its 360-degree views of Cincinnati and the Ohio River, per the same report. That rooftop currently operates as Eighteen at the Radisson steakhouse, according to VisitCincy.
The tower's roots go back more than five decades. It originally opened in November 1972 as the Quality Inn Riverview, built for approximately $3 million by Frisch's Restaurants Inc. and designed by Austin-based Lundgren & Maurer Architects, per the NKY Tribune. The rooftop restaurant itself was inspired by Seattle's Space Needle restaurant following the 1962 World's Fair, and it completes a full rotation every 65 minutes, according to Cincinnati Magazine. The spinning floor has survived previous rebrandings under Clarion and Quality Inn flags before the property became a Radisson, the magazine notes.
A Rare Brand Bet for Northern Kentucky
Hard Rock International launched its music-focused Reverb brand in December 2020 in downtown Atlanta, and the brand has open hotels in Atlanta and Hamburg, Germany, according to Hotel Dive. That makes Covington's conversion one of only a handful of Reverb properties globally, joining an active development pipeline that includes projects planned for Scottsdale, Arizona; Pensacola and Tampa, Florida; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Florence, Alabama, per Hospitality Net's coverage of the brand's expansion.
Reverb properties lean heavily into a music-and-lifestyle concept that differs sharply from a traditional Radisson stay. The brand's hotels feature voice-assisted smart room technology, podcast recording studios, sound booths, co-working spaces, Constant Grind lobby cafes, and RT60 rooftop bars, according to a Hotel Business report on the brand's amenities. Whether all of those features land inside the Covington tower remains to be seen once renovation plans firm up.
A New Riverfront Hotel Plan
The Radisson deal adds a hotel project to Covington's riverfront.
The Hotel's Planned Conversion
The Radisson has a Fifth Street address, south of the Brent Spence Bridge. The 220-room hotel is planned to close under its current operation and reopen as a Reverb by Hard Rock.
