News & Media
Lafayette Life Insurance to Move to Great American Tower at Queen City Square
Company Relocating from Lafayette, Indiana
CINCINNATI – January 11, 2011 – Western & Southern Financial Group and its real estate company Eagle Realty Group today announced that Lafayette Life Insurance Company is the newest office tenant at Great American Tower at Queen City Square.
The company will relocate in mid-2011 to Cincinnati from Lafayette, Ind., bringing approximately 150 jobs. The company will occupy up to one floor of the tower. The announcement was made during the ribbon cutting ceremony that officially opened Great American Tower.
This lease brings the total leasing at Queen City Square to approximately 840,000 square feet, or 84 percent of the 1 million square foot complex. Only six floors – all near the top of the tower – remain available.
Lafayette Life is a member of Western & Southern Financial Group. This relocation, according to John F. Barrett, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Western & Southern is a vital step for Lafayette Life to further enhance its competitive position in the financial services industry. "Lafayette Life is a very important high-performing part of our family of companies," Barrett said. "In Cincinnati, we have the capacity and resources to help build on Lafayette Life’s strengths and enhance its support by taking full advantage of our scale through the back office services we have built."
About the Great American Tower at Queen City Square
The architecturally distinctive Great American Tower at Queen City Square – named after its lead tenant Great American Insurance – is the second phase of an office, parking and retail complex located on Sycamore Street between Third and Fourth streets. The project has three major components: a 1,600-car parking garage on 11 levels; an 800,000 sq. ft., 33-level office tower above a portion of the garage; and a interior pedestrian promenade with retail space. The tower is adjacent and connected to the existing 303 Broadway, the first phase of Queen City Square. In its entirety, the Queen City Square complex contains more than 1 million square feet of office and retail space and 2,200 parking spaces, and required a total investment of about $400 million from Western & Southern.
Great American Tower’s spectacular design and dramatic tiara, at 665 feet above street level, has significantly enhanced the city skyline. Pre-certified as LEED Gold, the building is the most environmentally sensitive building in downtown Cincinnati. Designed by Gyo Obata, founding partner of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK), one of the world’s largest architectural firms, the building features an inviting entry plaza and grand rotunda at Fourth and Sycamore, and a spacious promenade extending to the office tower lobby located on the southerly portion of the site. The siting of the office tower, and its predominantly glass exterior, maximize the views from the office floors, which are unobstructed in all directions.
Interior features include floor-to-ceiling windows and 9’6” ceilings, which provide abundant natural light in office areas. State-of-the art heating and cooling systems save energy and promote a healthy environment with generous amounts of fresh outdoor air. Column-free floors of up to 26,000 square feet allow for efficient space planning and flexibility for future office reconfigurations. Advanced technological infrastructure offers users the opportunity to take advantage of the latest in communications and high-speed data transmission.
Queen City Square is a development of Eagle Realty Group, a member of Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern), and is co-sponsored by Eagle Realty Group’s funding partners, the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority and the City of Cincinnati. Construction is the responsibility of Turner Construction.
About Lafayette Life Insurance Company
The Lafayette Life Insurance Company provides life insurance and annuity products to individuals and small businesses through multiple distribution channels. The individual product portfolio includes whole life, senior age whole life, term life, universal life, immediate annuities, and indexed universal life and annuities. Lafayette Life serves small to medium-sized businesses by offering retirement services products and administrative services.
About Eagle Realty Group
Eagle Realty Group offers a comprehensive range of services covering three core real estate areas. Investment Management offers asset management and investment advisory services. The company’s expertise in real estate development and management are documented by an array of successful ventures ranging from hotels to shopping centers to low-income housing to senior housing and office buildings. In addition, Eagle Realty Group’s Multi-Family Property Management Division serves apartment communities and Eagle’s Commercial Property Management Division provides property management services. The organization oversees investment portfolios consisting of over 32 million square feet of all types of real estate located across the United States and valued in excess of $2.7 billion.
About Western & Southern Financial Group
Western & Southern Financial Group (Western & Southern), a Fortune 500 company, is a Cincinnati-based diversified family of financial services companies with assets owned, managed and under our care in excess of $49 billion as of Sept. 30, 2010. For more information, visit www.westernsouthern.com. Western & Southern is the title sponsor of the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament.