An overview and update on the Cincinnati Convention Center District

Katie Westbrook began her professional career in real estate development at 3CDC. She joined the team in 2012 as a development intern and since then has served in multiple roles within the organization.

Her duties first focused on bringing 3CDC’s commercial leasing efforts in-house. Next, she moved on to serve as a financial analyst for 3CDC, where her work focused primarily on refinancing debt associated with completed development projects that had reached stabilization. Westbrook was promoted to senior financial analyst in 2015 and, after serving in this role for one year, she transitioned back to the development team as senior development officer in 2016.

In January 2019, Westbrook was promoted to development manager, and in 2022, to her current role as development director. Her responsibilities include the overall management of the development team, which includes managing the development staff, project management, underwriting of projects, closing permanent financing for construction and management of the project team through completion.

Westbrook has directly managed the construction and financing for several of 3CDC's developments, including the headquarters for Empower ($17 million), the Court & Walnut development featuring a new Kroger grocery store, 560-space parking garage and 139 residential units ($94 million) and most recently completed the redevelopment of Foundry in downtown Cincinnati ($51 million) and Willkommen, a large scatter-site mixed income/mixed-use project that includes the rehabilitation of 16 historic buildings and construction of four new buildings ($52 million). Westbrook is currently leading the efforts for 3CDC to redevelop the Duke Energy Convention Center ($200 million) and selecting the developer for a new convention center hotel ($500 million).

Prior to joining 3CDC, Westbrook received a master’s degree in community planning from the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Science in geography from Ohio University. Westbrook currently lives in Over-the-Rhine near Findlay Market with her husband, Mark, and their dog, Penny.