Last November developers broke ground on the $80 million second phase of Newport on the Levee, called Aqua on the Levee, some 15 years after the first phase opened. Since that time, a significant amount of work has progressed on the project that will yield 239 apartments, a hotel, and 8,300 square feet of retail.
The project is being built atop what long sat as a three-acre surface parking lot at the foot of the Purple People Bridge.
The residential component is expected to bolster business for retailers at the complex that have struggled to draw crowds on non-weekend days. It will also bring the first Aloft Hotel to the region, which will also be the trendy hotel’s first in Kentucky and feature 144 rooms, a bar and 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
The project is being developed by Capital Investment Group and Musselman Hotels, and is expected to be completed in fall 2016.
EDITORIAL NOTE: All six photographs were taken by Travis Estell on September 27, 2015.