The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge dominates the Northern Kentucky skyline. Take an exclusive tour inside this contemporary masterpiece.

From the high-style lobby to the views from the condo terraces, living in a landmark can be pretty sweet.

The design inspiration for Daniel Libeskind, the architect for the Ascent, came from what he saw around the building site. He used the shape of the Ohio River to inform the curve of the structure. The blue color references the cables on the Roebling Bridge and Kentucky’s rolling hills are reflected in the way the tower bows out toward the bottom.

The building has won numerous awards, but what is it like to live there?

According to residents Mike Miller and Ken Roth, it’s wonderful. Miller said, “People come here for the architecture, but stay for the community.” The layout makes it possible for residents who prefer privacy to go from the garage to their condo without seeing anyone. For the more social residents, there are beautiful community spaces, like the coffee bar, library area, wine lockers, tasting room and theater. The residents gather for parties or committee meetings and at the fitness room and outdoor pool.

The condo featured in the episode has nearly 270-degree views from the windows, the large terrace off the dining room and the smaller one off the master bedroom. The open layout and contemporary detailing create a sophisticated atmosphere.

Surrounding the Ascent are interesting restaurants, bars and shops, both in Covington and across the bridge in Cincinnati. Libeskind’s vision was that “the Ascent will provide a lifestyle unlike any other in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana. It is a building that will inspire a region. It is a call to greatness.”

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Thank you to the exclusive sponsor of this episode:

 

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More information about the property

Learn more about The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge here.

Learn more about the City of Covington here.

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Additional photos of the property (slide show)

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If you’d rather read than watch, here is a transcript of the episode:

Jill Morenz, host: Hi, welcome to another episode of “Beyond the Curb River City Living,” I’m Jill Morenz with the Catalytic Fund. Today, I’m taking you inside the contemporary landmark in Covington, The Ascent. It’s amazing!

The exclusive sponsor of this episode is Corporex, pioneers in the redevelopment of the Covington Riverfront. Corporex is a national development and investment firm with a 56 year history of developing world-class hotel, office, residential, and mixed use projects across the US. Including Ovation, a 25 acre multi-use project currently under development in Newport, Kentucky.

The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge is a significant feature of the Northern Kentucky skyline. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind to reference the Ohio River, the Roebling Bridge, and the hills of Kentucky. He said he wanted to provide a lifestyle unlike any other in Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana. The building sits on a one-acre site, and is 300 feet tall at the pinnacle.

The contemporary style begins in the stunning lobby, and continues into the condo in our episode. Its open floor plan includes the entry, dining room, living room, and kitchen. Notice the deep red used on the backsplash and island accents. This color is was pulled from the dramatic granite counters, which also inspired the faux finish on the structural concrete column. The dining room has two walls of windows, and access to the main terrace. From here, you can see the river and skyline in both directions. In fact, this condo has nearly 270 degree views. The master bedroom’s fireplace is a twin of the one in the living room. There’s access here to another balcony, perfect for morning coffee, or to enjoy the city lights before bed time. The large master bathroom makes pampering a priority. At the other end of the condo is the guest suite with a bathroom and large closet. The third bedroom is used in this condo as an office.

Mike Miller and Ken Roth, along with his wife Sherry Roth, are long-time residents of The Ascent.

Mike Miller, resident: Daniel Libeskind really had a vision. He wanted a building to mimic the the blue cables of the Roebling Suspension Bridge and captured it really well. Not only does the building ascend, but it also kind of bows out from east to west. So that also is representative of the Ohio River, kind of the bends and the bows in the river. Also, the rolling hills of Northern Kentucky, which is really nice! Fairly recently, Architectural Digest looked at the best designed building in each state, and they chose The Ascent in Kentucky. And again, there’s no building like this in the world, and I can see why they chose it. What’s really nice about the community is, you can be as social, or as private as you’d like. And there’s a number of committees you can be involved in. There’s a social committee, landscaping committee, there’s a gym committee, a finance committee, it’s really endless, and you can be as social as you like. And for those folks that are more private, which is really nice about the building, and this is also a really unique aspect of the building is, there’s two sections of the building, there’s the east tower, and the west tower. And they’re separate elevators. So in each section, there’s only up to three condos per floor. And some floors, there’s only two condos, and other floors, there’s one condo. So it’s really nice from a privacy perspective, and people really like that and appreciate that. Well we hear this over and over again from owners, which is really nice, people say they come to the building for the architecture, and they stay for the community.

Ken Roth, resident: When we started looking for downtown condos, we looked at the Ascent and, of course, the architecture is one of a kind. It’s not “phase one” of however many phases, like other condos might be. The public spaces are really outstanding. We’ve got this Club Level downstairs with the dining room that seats 60 or 70 people, and that’s great. We have the private wine lockers. That’s great. There is a coffee bar there. This is all on the Club Level. And, people actually have private events there. There’s been wedding parties where they go have the wedding party dinner, and then they go outside and catch the Red’s Friday night fireworks afterwards. Other things that I like here is, the gym has really good equipment, and there are saunas, private locker rooms. The massage room, which I’ve taken advantage of a number of times. So yeah, there’s lots of good amenities here. One other amenity that I really like here that a lot of buildings don’t have is, we have 24/7 concierge service down in the lobby. So no matter what time of day you’re coming or going, or if you need any kind of assistance with something, there’s somebody there.

Jill: Thank you so much for joining me on our tour of The Ascent in Covington, Kentucky. You can find details on this episode, and all our episodes at beyondthecurb.org. I’m Jill Morenz, and on behalf of the Catalytic Fund, and our exclusive sponsor Corporex, thank you for coming “Beyond the Curb” with us.