Western & Southern Financial Group has officially taken the stage at one of downtown Cincinnati’s most storied blocks, closing on the purchase of the Cincinnati Masonic Center and the attached Taft Theatre for $10 million. The deal hands the locally based insurer the keys to a Fifth Street landmark that has hosted concerts, theater, and civic events since the 1920s, and further enlarges Western & Southern’s footprint on the east side of downtown while putting a major performance venue directly under the company’s ownership.
As reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier, Western & Southern paid $10,000,000 for the Masonic Center and the Taft Theatre in a transaction that closed this week. The Courier identifies Western & Southern Financial Group as the buyer and credits Brian Planalp for the reporting. Public details about how the purchase was financed or the seller’s terms were not included in that initial coverage, so for now, those parts of the story remain offstage.
Property details and history
Offering materials describe the Cincinnati Masonic Center as a multi-building complex totaling roughly 344,000 square feet across several parcels and containing ballrooms, lodge rooms, and the attached Taft auditorium. The Masonic Center’s own history page traces the site’s origins to purchases in the 1910s and a formal dedication of the building in 1928 at 317 East Fifth Street.
For more on the size and age of the complex, see LoopNet and the history section from the Cincinnati Masonic Center.
Taft remains an active venue
For now, the show goes on at the Taft Theatre. The venue remains part of the city’s live entertainment network, with Music & Event Management, Inc. (MEMI) listing the Taft among its venues and continuing to book shows there. The calendar has events on the books this summer, and the theater is still hosting concerts, comedy, and family programming that rely on uninterrupted access to that downtown stage…