( Middletown, OH ) - Middletown City Manager Jim Palenick calls it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. City Council will vote later this month to approve a proposed $1.3 billion "super development" that will transform downtown Middletown along the banks of the Great Miami River.
Hollywoodland will span more than 50 acres and include a movie studio, indoor concert venue, theme park, hotels and more. The mixed-use development would be the first of its kind in the entire country.
City leaders are partnering with investment group Main Street Community Capital LLC. on the project that will bring thousands of new jobs and millions of annual visitors to Middletown.
“This will be a transformational redevelopment opportunity for Middletown,'' Palenick said. "It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take full advantage of a myriad of local, city, state and federal incentives we have found a way to access, and in turn, and change the future of our city.''
If approved by council, the city would use $7.5 million in federal pandemic relief funding to get the project started. Over $1 billion in private investment is covering a majority of the project's price tag.
Hollywoodland is expected to include:
- A first-class destination hotel and attached, publicly-owned convention center with rooftop bar, themed restaurant(s) and assorted amenities.
- A second family-oriented hotel and water park.
- A third boutique hotel located within the adaptively redeveloped First National Bank building.
- A major indoor entertainment and concert venue for large, nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and touring Broadway productions.
- An indoor amusement park containing multiple themed entertainment-based rides, virtual reality experiences, immersive entertainment opportunities and integrated retail, food and beverage.
- Structured and integrated underground deck-based parking (publicly-owned) of no fewer than 3,000 spaces.
- On-site mid-rise luxury apartment units and/or condominiums.
- A permanent pre-and post-production motion picture studio sound stages and support offices and infrastructure.
- Multiple restaurants, bars, brew-pubs and cafes, and a likely comedy club.
- Integrated fashion, electronic, lifestyle, convenience and recreational retail.
City Council is slated to vote on Oct. 21st.