Hosts Andy and Tom are joined by Business Courier reporters Brian Planalp, Abby Miller and Steve Watkins to dissect some of the biggest local news stories of 2023. Those include a record number of restaurants closing in Cincinnati – more than when Covid-19 broke out in 2020 – as well as an unassuming local millionaire leaving $270 million to local organizations; Cincinnati gaining a new Fortune 500 company; what's going on with downtown real estate as companies figure out what to do about remote...
Dec 25, 2023•43 min
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Kroger's plans to bring its office workers back in four days a week, a public company re-establishing its headquarters in Cincinnati, Coney Island's sale to a music organization to make was for a $118 million concert venue, a badly needed parking garage at Findlay Market and Taste of Belgium's reboot. Interview starts at (21:20). Graeter's became an ice cream empire and a brand synonymous with Cincinnati by not embracing new technology. At a time when the new contin...
Dec 18, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Hosts Andy and Tom have a look at the uncertain future of the office market downtown, starting with a story on the potential foreclosure of an office tower, followed by GE pulling all of its employees out of its onetime Global Operations Center at the Banks, and then a potential new buyer for an iconic Camp Washington building and new rules banning surface parking lots downtown. We finish, as all good things do, with a burger. Interview starts at (22:02). When you think of the yellow school bus,...
Dec 11, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the sale of Eastgate Mall to a new owner, a Cincinnati marketing exec who was slated to live on a cruise for three years, a local restaurant being named one of the best new eateries in America, the uncertain future of Reds games broadcasts locally and the Queen City's newest B Corporation. Interview starts at (21:49). Rachel DesRochers started out with $1,000 and a vegan graham cracker recipe. Today, she runs a successful baking company, a restaurant incubator that ...
Dec 04, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about three new retailers with cult followings opening in the Cincinnati region, a fumble in the $1.6B sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, NKU adding six new varsity sports while facing a multi-million dollar deficit, the closing of one of OTR's oldest breweries and the shuttering of a historic downtown eatery. Interview starts at (23:28). Chad Munitz wasn’t a big soccer fan before joining FC Cincinnati, but he did geek out about real estate. His career spans stints ...
Nov 20, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the results of the Nov. 7 election and the surprise passage of the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway to Norfolk Southern, objections to new apartment projects near popular neighborhood business districts, FC Cincinnati's Cinderella season, the closing of a sports betting site inside of Taft's Ale House and Kings Island's big merger. Interview starts at (23:15). Rhinegeist is not only the largest brewery in Cincinnati, but the 23rd-largest in the nation. It's d...
Nov 13, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Host Andy Brownfield and special guest host Chris Wetterich talk about the campaign to convince voters to allow the city to sell the Cincinnati Southern Railway, and its chances of passing; a planned overhaul of Central Parkway into a Champs Elysee-style boulevard; the purchase of a historic downtown building to partially demolish for the new Brent Spence Bridge companion; a new food hall at Newport on the Levee; and resort-style apartments coming to the East Side. Interview starts at (24:35). M...
Nov 06, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about how Cincinnati's downtown hasn't returned to normal since the Covid-19 pandemic, and is faring worse than most other cities; as well as how FC Cincinnati's payroll stacks up against the MLS; a lawsuit against the city's largest single-family landlord; the staggering number of $1 million home listings across the city; and how two of Time Magazine's top inventions of 2023 came from the Queen City. Interview starts at (23:55). Elizabeth Pierce leads the Cincinnati Muse...
Oct 30, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about a new minor league soccer team coming to the region, Rhinegeist's new CEO, an update on Xavier University's plans to bring football back, the more than 200 letters written about P.G. Sittenfeld ahead of his sentencing on corruption charges and a wave of philanthropy benefitting local museums. Interview starts at (20:43). John Faherty was a journalist for 25 years – he spearheaded the Storytellers series for the Enquirer most recently – but now as the executive direc...
Oct 23, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Host Andy Brownfield and special guest host Chris Wetterich talk about the decision to keep the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, P.G. Sittenfeld's sentence for his two corruption convictions, a new hotel tax bringing Hamilton County among the most expensive in the nation, the more than 30 restaurants that have closed this year and a BBQ place beloved by President Biden that's expanding. Interview starts at (25:07). Regina Russo is no stranger to having all eyes on her. She began her ca...
Oct 16, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the more than 50 new restaurants that have opened so far this year in Cincinnati, a class action lawsuit accusing TQL of underpaying employees, protestors striking out against P&G's forestry practices, Amazon getting even bigger at CVG and the Foo Fighters coming to Great American Ball Park. Interview starts at (25:17). Nancy Aichholz has always had a thing for baking. She started Nan Cakes after her carrot cake recipe caught fire with her friends. Her newest co...
Oct 09, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the potential sentence former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld faces when he is sentenced on Oct. 10, as well as Grippo's buying another chip company, the Margaritaville Hotel moving forward, the Bengals' valuation going way up and an opera written by Sir Paul McCartney making its world premier in Cincinnati. Interview starts at (23:53). Sean Parker is an entrepreneur at heart – he started his first business at age 13 – but he also has experience at some o...
Oct 02, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 46
We're back after a brief hiatus! Hosts Andy and Tom talk about a new on-demand taxi service coming to CVG, an iconic Cincinnati ice cream brand gets a revamp, two downtown skyscrapers take moves toward residential conversions and P&G faces a lawsuit over a cold medicine. Interview starts at (20:34). Lisa Knutson is the person you want in charge if you're making big changes. Prior to her joining the E.W. Scripps Co., one of Cincinnati's largest public companies, she oversaw a large-scale tran...
Sep 25, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about legal troubles facing a Cincinnati university, a successful office development in a highly uncertain era for offices, an early legal victory notched by a local developer suing Huntington National Bank, a supersonic jet being developed with the help of GE Aerospace and a bad summer for Queen City restaurants, many of which have permanently closed in recent weeks. Interview starts at (20:58). Tom Fernandez, CEO of architecture firm Elevar Design, had a full-time emplo...
Sep 04, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about big plans for Cincinnati's six largest shopping centers, a $100 million project coming to the University of Cincinnati, an overhaul to a busy business corridor in Madisonville, Cincinnati Public Radio's new headquarters and a brick-and-mortar bookstore that closed up shop only to relocate across the Ohio River. Interview starts at (22:25). Neal Mayerson can make a claim not many Cincinnatians can: His family owns a piece of the Queen City's skyline – the Scripps Cen...
Aug 28, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Cincinnati's odds at keeping the Western & Southern Open in the region, Ohio's first Buc-ee's, a startup that promises a personal flying vehicle and what's new at Kings Island for the 2024 season. Interview starts at (20:09). Justin Wyborn got his start in the hospitality industry, on the opening team of the famed Nobu restaurant as it expanded for the first time outside of New York City. He was even asked twice to appear as a judge on Chef Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’...
Aug 21, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about a $23 million plan to redevelop downtown's deserted Saks Fifth Avenue shop, the death of a $100 million joint venture with Cincinnati Children's Hospital, a group that wants to become the national standard for DEI and social impact, the relocation of an iconic downtown retailer and why the Bengals provide the NFL's best value. Interview starts at (22:20). Josh Wamsley could have become a traveling journalist, documenting the stories of people from South Korea to Sau...
Aug 14, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Host Andy Brownfield is joined by special guest host Meg Erpenbeck to talk about a new music venue planned for the West End, the shuttering of a Northern Kentucky institution, a grocery store coming to a neighborhood food desert, a new "city within a city" in downtown Cincinnati and an M. Night Shyamalan movie filming in the Queen City. Interview starts at (24:20). During the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, the workplace saw many upheavals, from quiet quitting to the great resignation to the ad...
Aug 07, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about $20 million in upgrades at Paycor Stadium, why more companies are moving their headquarters to the Findlay Market area, an 18-month closure coming to the Duke Energy Convention Center, a food hall coming to suburban Cincinnati and how the Foundry transformed a corner of downtown. Interview starts at (23:00). Raj Kanuparthi was at the peak of his career. He was a senior technology leader at Worldpay, managing a large portfolio of business and loving it. But he had th...
Jul 31, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about a new arena football team planned for Cincinnati, a bill targeting institutional investors who snap up single-family homes, plans to convert Central Parkway into a European-style boulevard, Cincinnati Children's big expansion on the East Side and a new Catholic grade school backed by some of the biggest named in business. Interview starts at (20:28). During the Covid-19 pandemic, Catherine Baxter's in-laws moved all of the furniture in their living room, took the ar...
Jul 24, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about what an application for historic tax credits reveal about plans to redevelop Carew Tower, a new boutique hotel opening in a historic OTR building, the breakdown of a $1 billion deal to take a Cincinnati company public, P.G. Sittenfeld's sentencing date and a new food hall coming to Newport on the Levee. Interview starts at (19:37). Tianay Amat has addressed Cincinnati's workforce problem from both sides. She was an educator for two decades, serving most recently as ...
Jul 17, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Cincinnati Children's earning the top spot on a prestigious national list, a new restaurant coming to a storied space at the Banks downtown, Medpace getting a $33 million tax credit for a massive local expansion, more political intrigue at City Hall and Gold Star joining forces with a sister restaurant at an East Side location. Interview starts at (19:03). Martin Sheen was born in Dayton, and his wife Janet in Cincinnati, a city his eldest son Emilio Estévez now cal...
Jun 26, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the completely bonkers local housing market, Charlotte's latest salvo in an effort to take the Western & Southern Open from Cincinnati, an Amtrak plan to increase train service, the founder of a local distillery retiring and a new leader for Skyline Chili. Interview starts at (19:18). The Brent Spence Bridge has been functionally obsolete for some time now, but a plan to build a companion bridge to help alleviate traffic seems to be moving forward after decades ...
Jun 19, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Andy and special guest host Meg Erpenbeck, the Courier's digital editor, talk about MadTree Brewing's third location, a Cincinnati startup's Mach 5 space plane, plans to fill vacant storefronts in OTR, the zoo's $680 million impact and how the Blackburn sisters are shaking up the Bengals. Interview starts at (25:56). Greg Rouse turned a pandemic hobby into a $5 million business. His sons launched Braxton Brewing Co., where he is also a co-founder, but amid Covid-19 shutdowns, Rouse and eldest so...
Jun 12, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Mayor Aftab Pureval's plans for new social programs, including a version of universal basic income in Cincinnati; a Tolkein-inspired brewery opening in Northern Kentucky; a plea deal by an indicted former city council member; and a $150 million development on the West Side. Interview starts at (20:02). Tony Munafo's dad always wanted to own his own business with his sons. In his mind, that meant a Subway franchise. But he was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 29...
Jun 05, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the impact ChatGPT could have on the news business, Hamilton County's plans to move 1,200 workers out of downtown, a ban on new surface parking in the urban core, the skyrocketing cost of homes, the closing of a Mount Washington book store and just how far Newport on the Levee has come since it was acquired in 2018. Interview starts at (18:10). Pat McMullen's high school graduation speaker said his class might not amount to much. The theme of his speech at Amelia Hi...
May 29, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about FC Cincinnati rolling out Amazon checkout-free technology at its newest concession, a new restaurant coming to the shuttered Pearlstar space in OTR, Miami University faculty voting to join a union, students making bank on NIL and hometown band the National making a homecoming with a music festival planned for September. Interview starts at (18:11). Phil Hurak, managing shareholder at Clark Schaefer Consulting, got his MBA and his law degree at the same time. He was ...
May 22, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about plans to build a new $400 million home for the Western & Southern Open – in Charlotte – as well as Xavier University's first-in-the-nation medical school, the Port taking a swing in Camp Washington, a preservation battle over a historic Cincinnati school and Mazunte's move to a new market. Interview starts at (18:49). David Falk would rate his incredibly popular downtown Italian trattoria Sotto a 5.5 out of 10. Maybe a 6 if he was feeling generous. It's not that...
May 15, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about the new interim CEO at Rhinegeist, Pure Romance no longer being an MLM, three projects that will transform Cincinnati's urban core, Jerry Springer's life and impact and $22 million for the Western & Southern Open. Interview starts at (17:35). Bernie McKay spent 28 years as a trust and estate attorney. He got into that because he wanted to practice in the gentler, more helpful side of the law. In 2021 he decided he wanted to spend more of his time in philanthropy...
May 08, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Hosts Andy and Tom talk about Gold Star Chili's ouster as the 21-year official chili of the Cincinnati Bengals, new plans for an old Costco location, eight partners leaving one downtown law firm for another, traffic barriers popping up in neighborhood business districts and the city of Covington suing itself to stop a doggie day care from opening. Interview starts at (15:40). Bob Coughlin founded Paycor in 1990. Four years into that, he found himself working too hard, wearing all of the hats tha...
May 01, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 28
