NEW RICHMOND — This Clermont County river village opens its rebuilt front porch on Friday, Oct. 16, when Liberty Landing, a $13.4 million Ohio River redevelopment years in the making, welcomes the public with a 1 p.m. grand opening along the 100 block of Front Street.
The project, which broke ground in August 2025, gives the village of about 2,800 residents, roughly 20 miles east of Cincinnati, a modern riverfront built around a marina and sweeping overlooks of the Ohio River. A new brick plaza anchors the space, marked by a large sign reading “New Richmond Liberty Landing Est. 1814,” with metal tables, park benches and streetlights for visitors.
The work also reshaped the village’s commercial spine. Parts of Front Street were widened by about 25 feet as part of the redevelopment, a change meant to make the downtown riverfront easier for visitors, boaters and local businesses to share.
Liberty Landing was paid for through the state’s Ohio Wonderful Waterfronts Initiative, which awarded New Richmond its $13.4 million in 2024. The initiative funded 21 economic development projects in Appalachian waterfront communities across Ohio, with the stated goals of expanding access to local waterways, reviving historic riverfront downtowns and creating new tourism and recreation opportunities.
State and local leaders are expected to mark the opening. Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik and state Rep. Adam Bird are scheduled to give remarks, joined by Clermont County Commissioner David Painter and New Richmond Mayor Glen Ewing.
For village officials, the landing is the latest attempt to draw more visitors to a community that has been reinventing itself since the Beckjord Power Station closed in 2014. The plant once employed more than 100 people in the village, and its loss pushed leaders to look to the river — New Richmond’s oldest asset — for the next chapter.
An earlier riverfront idea, bringing the century-old floating theater Showboat Majestic to the village, was abandoned in 2022 after officials lost patience with the vessel’s owner. Liberty Landing is a more permanent bet: public space, river access and downtown frontage that stays in village hands.
Friday’s opening is free and open to the public, and it lands on a busy fall weekend along the river. Residents and visitors who attend will be among the first to walk the plaza and overlooks that village leaders hope become the region’s next regular stop.
