Middletown’s next downtown move may be guided by Hamilton’s redevelopment playbook

A contingent of Middletown leaders was shown what downtown could be by looking at Hamilton’s pathway to redevelopment.

A critical part along that path was the CMC Properties development known as The Marcum, a mixed-use development in Hamilton’s downtown that Butler County Finance Authority President and CEO Joshua Smith called “critical” in establishing the city’s renaissance.

Smith was Hamilton’s city manager from late 2010 until April 2024, when he was appointed to lead the BCFA. The Marcum opened in 2018 where Mercy Hospital once stood, specifically the hospital’s parking lot. The hospital building property is now where Marcum Park and RiversEdge exist.

CMC was the lone developer to submit plans for the site of the historic Manchester Inn and the adjacent Sonshine building. The 103-year-old former hotel has been vacant for years, and the developer proposes replacing it with a development similar to the Marcum and its sister project, Rossville Flats, another CMC development that features market-rate apartments and retail space that opened in late 2023.

The Middletown project, which would have between 100 to 125 apartments and 10,000 and 15,000 square feet of retail space, would be called “The Manchester.”

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