It all started back in the summer of 1960. Initially, it was simply an Idea: to create a few exciting new apartments for affluent young singles on Mt. Adams, an old world hilltop Cincinnati neighborhood of rowhouses and steep, crooked streets. A first building was acquired and converted into two apartments overlooking Cincinnati, which rented upon completion. As more buildings were acquired there, the Idea needed to become a Company. In June of 1961, founding partners Neil Bortz and Marvin Rosenberg created Towne Properties dedicated to leading the rebirth of Mt. Adams and to creating a portfolio of high quality, income-producing properties to be held for the long term.

Embraced by steep hillsides and the nearby 400-acre Eden Park, and blessed with views of the Ohio Valley, the hills of Kentucky and downtown Cincinnati, Mt. Adams was a great location upon which to found a business. Towne realized that to attract its market to this great but untested location, it needed to develop a unique and upscale product distinguished by great design. Its new apartments in Cincinnati were unlike any others then available: 2-story living rooms, loft dens, wood burning fireplaces, sunken cocktail pits, private gardens and rooftop decks all arose within handsomely refurbished traditional exteriors. Great designs, well built, in a great location became the foundation of Towne’s strategy for building value through long-term ownership.

As its first apartments in Cincinnati quickly leased to discriminating individuals who appreciated the difference, Towne soon recognized that it alone was best positioned to manage and assume long-term marketing responsibilities for them.

Thus from its inception, Towne played the role of Master Developer with marketing, quality, and long-term values as the keystones for its success. It committed itself to guide each project from initial concept through site selection, design, development, rent up and long-term management.

Buoyed by its initial successes, in the mid 60’s Towne took its strategy to the suburbs. With its third partner, Lambert Agin, who brought with him extensive experience in residential construction, Towne created a collection of award winning garden apartment communities throughout Cincinnati, Dayton and Lexington, Kentucky. As in Mt. Adams, each was carefully tailored to its market niche and each was designed to be sensitive to its own particular site and neighborhood. Today almost forty years later, most of these properties are still in the Towne Portfolio and continue to enjoy increasing values.

By the mid 70’s, Towne saw an opportunity to broaden its product line. It began building and selling condominiums in the suburbs and started offering its management services to third party owners. It also acquired, planned, zoned and developed land for both its own use and for sale to single-family builders.

More new product lines were added in the mid 80’s, a number of the projects being co-ventured with strategic partners: retail, including strip centers and Cincinnati’s foremost fashion mall, Kenwood Towne Centre, downtown office rehabs in Cincinnati and Dayton, suburban office parks and recreational properties.

In the early 90’s with partner Arn Bortz, a former Cincinnati Mayor, in charge, Towne assumed a leadership role in the renaissance of downtown Cincinnati. It has developed renovated office space, mixed use projects including the Backstage Entertainment District and Fountain Place in the heart of the city; and with the City of Cincinnati has developed in-fill and loft apartments. Led by partner Phil Montanus, who succeeded Agin, work continues in the suburbs with new single family subdivisions, Class A rental apartment communities and luxury, empty-nester condominiums.

Today, Towne manages a diverse portfolio consisting of apartments, condominium and homeowners association units, retail and office space and recreational properties. The management portfolio is in the capable hands of partners Robert Wahlke, Karl Boppel and Derek Wehman, who together represent more than 70 years of top management experience here at Towne Properties.

Over the years many of Towne’s projects have won accolades from both professionals and the communities in which they were developed. As a result, Towne has earned the undisputed title of the Region’s Most Honored Developer. Looking to the future, Towne’s Mission is to continue to create, both for itself and its strategic partners, market driven products that make a difference - all well-designed, well-located, well-constructed and well-managed “Great Places to Live, Work, Shop and Play”.