FC Cincinnati names partner for planned West End hotel near TQL Stadium. The aim: 'Redefining hotel culture.'

Sydney Franklin, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
FC Cincinnati is adding a new building to its West End soccer complex. Today it announced its partnership with Josh Heuser of Compendium, LLC, a company that will help bring a "contemporary, design-forward hotel concept" north of TQL Stadium.
FC Cincinnati is adding a new building to its West End soccer complex. Today it announced its partnership with Josh Heuser of Compendium, LLC, a company that will help bring a "contemporary, design-forward hotel concept" north of TQL Stadium.

A new hotel is coming to Cincinnati's West End near TQL Stadium

FC Cincinnati announced today that it’s partnering with Josh Heuser, founder of the Over-the-Rhine bar Ghost Baby, to bring a new hotel north of TQL Stadium. Heuser’s company The Compendium, LLC is behind the hotel project. It will be his first. It's scheduled to open in late 2024.

“Heuser, together with FC Cincinnati, are pleased to introduce a contemporary, design-forward hotel concept focused on spaces and services systematically curated to place guests in the center of their own story by creating an unparalleled services and experiences, redefining hotel culture, and perfecting the balance of out-of-town traveler and local-about-towners," said FC Cincinnati in a statement.

The hotel is slated for a parcel of land along Central Parkway just north of TQL Stadium.

Hotel for soccer fans: What's been revealed so far

Heuser is the owner of marketing firm AGAR and he already has a track record for creating spaces that evoke strong emotions. In 2020, he opened Ghost Baby, an underground bar that Esquire named one of the best bars in the country last month. The Compendium, he said, will also embody "a strong sense of feeling when you walk into it," he said.

Exactly what that feeling will be has yet to be revealed. Heuser told The Enquirer the hotel will include a rooftop bar, lobby, co-working lounge, restaurant and around 150 guest rooms.

A view of FC Cincinnati's TQL Stadium from the third floor of the Tri-State Wholesale building on Monday, May 10, 2021, in the West End. FC Cincinnati owns land north of the stadium up to Liberty Street and envisions creating a small, new area between the West End and Over-the-Rhine where people work, live and play.
A view of FC Cincinnati's TQL Stadium from the third floor of the Tri-State Wholesale building on Monday, May 10, 2021, in the West End. FC Cincinnati owns land north of the stadium up to Liberty Street and envisions creating a small, new area between the West End and Over-the-Rhine where people work, live and play.

The decision to partner with Heuser marks the first step for FC Cincinnati in its quest to build a live-work-play destination around TQL Stadium.

The Enquirer reported last year that FC Cincinnati co-CEO Jeff Berding and club majority owner Carl Lindner III envision the area as a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with restaurant and retail options–a place for people to come on games and non-game days alike. More mixed-use projects surrounding the stadium are expected to come online in the near future.

Sydney Franklin reports on the business of real estate in Cincinnati. Follow her on Twitter @sydreyfrank_ and send story tips to sfranklin@enquirer.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati to partner with Josh Heuser of Ghost Baby on new hotel