Two long-standing Greater Cincinnati foundations have pledged separate six-figure gifts to fund a new project that will revitalize a now-vacant storefront in downtown Covington.
SparkHaus, an entrepreneurship hub slated to take over the former Sims Furniture building at 727 Madison Ave., received a $500,000 pledge from the Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile Jr. Foundation. The Drees Homes Foundation also contributed $250,000.
The donations come months after the commonwealth of Kentucky allotted $6 million for SparkHaus and help fill a tightening funding gap.
Blue North, a Northern Kentucky-focused entrepreneurship support group, and Kenton County are partnering to convert the property, which, before Sims, housed a Montgomery Ward department store. The goal is to open SparkHaus in summer 2025.
“SparkHaus fills a gap in our game plan to diversify our economy with new, innovative businesses,” Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said in a news release.
SparkHaus, first announced in January, will bring together entrepreneurs, founders, investors and support organizations under one roof, creating a community-centric space – much like Over-the-Rhine’s Union Hall and the 1819 Innovation Hub Uptown.
The project will include flexible office spaces, shared meeting rooms and more across three floors, as well as a ground-level cafe accessible to members of the public.
Egateway Capital, a Covington-based growth capital venture firm and advisory, will be among the first tenants at SparkHaus. Builder Backed, a newly launched tech startup that connects homebuilders, service providers and homeowners, also plans to locate in the space. Builder Backed raised a nearly $2 million seed round in May.
“Our mission is to eliminate the barriers entrepreneurs face daily to growing their businesses,” Dave Knox, executive director of Blue North, said in the release. “A startup does not need 10,000 square feet of office space and a 10-year lease. They need the ability to scale, with lease terms that grow with them and access to the venture capitalists and support organizations who can give them the tools they need to succeed. With SparkHaus, we’re able to provide our entrepreneurs that flexibility.”
The exact funding gap for SparkHaus is a moving target; the project’s partners continue to seek financial support. In total, the project is anticipated to cost $16.4 million.
To date, the General Assembly committed $6 million to the project in its most recent budget, and the Northern Kentucky Port Authority deployed $3 million from Kenton County’s state-backed site development fund in 2023.
In late June, the Kentucky Heritage Council, the commonwealth’s state historic preservation office, approved up to $2.04 million in Kentucky Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits.
Separately, Northern Kentucky’s Catalytic Fund will finance an additional $2.5 million for the project’s construction.
“The Catalytic Fund is making a major investment in SparkHaus because this project exactly meets all our funding objectives: creating jobs, restoring vacant properties to productive uses, preserving historic structures and supporting the local businesses surrounding the property,” Catalytic Fund President and CEO Jeanne Schroer said in the release.
Other donors to the project include Erlanger-based homebuilder Fischer Homes and John Cain, the second-generation owner of Florence-based Wiseway Supply, a distributor of electrical, plumbing and lighting products.
The design and construction for the project is being spearheaded by Over-the-Rhine's Urban Sites.
