Jan. 28—Most of the property where the Legacy Martial Arts Academy building stands in the 300 block of Main Street will soon become public parking as the school will relocate to NW Washington Boulevard.

The Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) of Hamilton owns the 0.8 of an acre and building at 327 Main St., and the majority of the property will be repurposed to create 65 parking spaces adjacent to the planned Agave & Rye development adjacent to the property.

Hamilton Director of External Services Tom Vanderhorst said the 6,400-square-foot building on the property would go to Local Hamilton LLC, the entity that's developing the Agave & Rye property. That makes up about 0.1 of an acre.

The project will cost about $600,000 to build out the parking lot, Vanderhorst said.

City Council will vote on the legislation at its Feb. 8 meeting, which will start the process of transferring the property at 327 Main St. to the city's ownership.

This project came through the CIC's work with Local Hamilton LLC's redevelopment project at 335/339 Main St., which is the former Ritzi Body Shop.

Originally, there was going to be very limited parking as part of the development, but it was determined that because of this project, as well as other development on Main Street ― the mixed-use Rossville Flats project is directly across Main Street. Vanderhorst said as part of the public parking lot project, Local Hamilton LLC offered Hamilton the opportunity to buy a portion of its property for $1.

Legacy Martial Arts is having a new 10,000-square-foot building constructed at 835 NW Washington Blvd., next to West Side Animal Clinic and El Mariachi, said Ryan Roach, who owns the martial arts school with his wife Amanda.

He said they hope to have the building finished, a project that started two years ago, by this July.

As for the Agave & Rye project, a demolition permit was issued in December for the back building on the property, according to the city. City Manager Joshua Smith told the Journal-News in December that city officials anticipate the restaurant to open this November.

Agave & Rye, which opened its first location in Covington, Ky. in 2018, has expanded into 14 locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, and Tennessee and has a restaurant planned for Indianapolis. Agave & Rye opened its first Ohio location at Liberty Center in Liberty Twp. in 2019.