Factory 52 Apartments, PLK Communities
New Construction Community Community of the Year Finalist

Industrial Appeal. Sustainable Design. Factory 52 is a place packed with history in Cincinnati's most recognized landmark. Located on 21 acres in Norwood, Ohio, Factory 52 Apartments is a lifestyle destination that transforms the way people live. This groundbreaking community features studio, one, two and three bedroom apartment homes. In addition to the myriad of shopping, dining and entertainment options, the community features two brand new mid-rise apartment buildings with 240 homes and the historic US Playing Card factory building which has been retrofitted with elevators and 66 truly unique garden style and loft apartments and a parking garage. Factory 52 residents enjoy an incredible living experience which includes a luxury saltwater heated pool, expansive fitness center in the heart of the action, an Aqua Lounge, Paw Spa, Co-Working Spaces, a Bark Park, Parcel Pending lockers, bike storage and a variety of parking options. All of this is located in the heart of Factory 52 which is the city's premier entertainment destination with expansive green space, an outdoor bar and live band stage, The Gatherall Foodhall, Aces Pickleball, Hi-Wire Brewing, Fretboard Brewing Company, Jeni's Ice Cream and a selection of retail shops as well.

Factory 52 Apartments was designed to bring a new level of living to the city of Norwood which has experienced a population decline due to aging housing and a lack of significant commercial/entertainment areas. Twenty-seven floor plans were designed to appeal to a broad range of renters and to use the factory building space judiciously. The homes feature thoughtful interior selections and varied colors schemes to add to the uniqueness of the community. The two new buildings, Central Green and Kenilworth, feature more traditional looks with dark and light cabinetry options, luxury vinyl plank flooring, quartz countertops, expansive closets and patios and balconies with incredible park views. The Factory building was retrofitted with a 1st and 2nd floor parking garage under two floors of living space. All the concrete floors were salvaged and carpet installed in bedrooms only. The homes feature Nautical Blue cabinetry, black hardware, quartz countertops, tile backsplash and incredible fourteen to seveteen foot ceilings. The building is fitted with black frame windows some exceeding 8 feet tall.

The management team at Factory 52 is dedicated to providing exceptional customer service and having the apartments as a part of a much larger entertainment destination brings with it more challenges. That said, the team has been proactive in ensuring resident comfort and convenience during large, public events which bring thousands of people to the site. These are things that most communities would not normally deal with on a regular basis. The team at Factory 52 including maintenance is available 6 days per week while also offering 24 Hour Emergency Maintenance. Our goal is to provide a seamless living experience.

In addition to routine maintenance, twice daily grounds pick up is performed, along with quarterly service to include filter changes, smoke detector inspections and other preventative maintenance care. Common areas such as, hallways and amenity spaces are professionally maintained and cleaned on a weekly service schedule. Additionally, a monthly exterior light audit is performed to ensure a well lit community.

Norwood was once a thriving blue collar city with auto manufacturing, US Playing Card Factory and railroads employing a lot of folks there. Once those businesses began to close, it was hard for Norwood to regain traction as it was out-funded by other surrounding growing areas like Oakley, Hyde Park and Mt. Lookout. Most of the rental housing is made up of small independent owner buildings.

US Playing Card (“USPC”) occupied the property from 1899 until 2009 (110 years). While in Norwood, USPC grew to be the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world. Ultimately, USPC left Norwood as their facility was functionally obsolete and a registered brownfield. This same obsolescence caused the property to be vacant for over a decade until PLK acquired it in 2019.

In addition to the physical property challenges, its location in the City of Norwood which has been in a State of Fiscal Emergency for decades left it out of many State programs which typically benefited larger Cities with more government infrastructure.

Factory 52 is well received by the local community as they see the benefit in both revenue to the city but also a way to breathe new life into a struggling neighborhood.

When we started design, we had to take a different approach to be competitive against properties located in the City of Cincinnati (directly across the highway). Our goal from day one was to create a regional gathering place in the City of Norwood. On the residential front, we knew that in order to attract new renters to Norwood and achieve competitive market rents we needed to build first-class exteriors on all buildings and provide luxury interior finishes. The goal with the new buildings was to incorporate them into the history of the site and to keep the industrial appeal.

Despite construction delays, the lease-up was incredibly successful. Pre-leasing started in June 2022, 5 months prior to initial turn dates. First move-ins happened in Dec 2022. Bye the end of May 2022 (12 months) the site was 85% Leased. By October 15,2023 the site stabilized at 95% leased. To date, F52 is renewing 65% of residents from their first lease with us. We stabilized at $1.33 mln (22.7%) ahead of proforma rents.

In late 2022, we worked with the University of Cincinnati to conduct a study on the 1 mile impact of Factory 52. Summary of initial estimates below:

The tenant operations expenditures of Factory 52 will increase tax revenue for the State of Ohio, Hamilton County, the City of Norwood, and other municipalities in the Surrounding Area. Additionally, payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT payment) will be made to Norwood City School District and the Joint Vocational School District, tax increment financing (TIF) debt service payment will be made to the City of Norwood, and new community development charges will be received by the New Community Authority.
o The State of Ohio will receive $2.8 million in earnings tax revenues and $1.5 million in sales tax revenues annually as result of the tenant operations.
o Hamilton County will receive $533,523 in annual sales tax revenues and $230,133 in annual lodging tax revenues.
o The City of Norwood and municipalities in the Area will receive $1.9 million in annual income tax revenues as a result of Factory 52’s annual tenant operations.
o An annual PILOT payment of $90,115 will be made to Norwood City SD and the Vocational School District. Norwood CSD will receive $85,891, while the Joint Vocational SD will receive $4,224.
See the rest of the list on the Factory Tmeline document.

The project had 13 recognized environmental conditions (RECs). This remediation was all privately funded by PLK at a cost of over $5mln.

PLK takes pride in lessening our environmental impact, and it should be noted that approximately 90% of all materials on the site were recycled or up-cycled in some form, including:
• Over 250,000 Board Feet of wood were salvaged and sold for reuse;
• Over 750,000 bricks were cleaned and sold for reuse; and
• 20,000 cubic yards of concrete were crushed and recycled.

One of the keys to the success of the lease-up was that we started pre-leasing five months before we were expected to get apartment homes from construction. We placed a sales trailer right on the construction site so that we could get people to the property and see it's location and to see the historic factory building and the 100 year old clock tower which we ultimately restored. That time frame of pre-leasing afforded us the opportunity to create a lot of buzz prior to move-ins.

The goal was to be ahead of any of the newer communities that were also expected to come out of the ground some time in 2023. By the time we reached the week of our first move-ins (12.9.22), the first building of 122 units was nearly 55% pre-leased and the overall community (306 units) was already 36.3% pre-leased.

Ultimately, we want our residents to be able to live, shop and dine at the development. We want to be the community that provides a true lifestyle for our residents. The Factory 52 retail and dining establishments offer unique perks and discounts to our residents.

We were also purposeful in choosing to build studios all the way to 3 bedroom styles because we wanted to be a place where a varied resident profile could live. We did not want the community to be limited to just typical 1 and 2 bedroom styles. The homes range in size from 408 square feet to 2019 square feet.