2505 Ted Bushelman Blvd Florence Ky 41042

You've probably driven past it without thinking twice. But 2505 Ted Bushelman Blvd isn't just another address in Florence. A stretch of road off Houston Road, tucked behind the big-box stores and the highway noise. It's one of those places that tells you something about how this part of Northern Kentucky actually works — if you know where to look.

What Is Ted Bushelman Boulevard

Ted Bushelman Blvd runs east-west between Houston Road and Industrial Road. He died in 2019. The street is named after Ted Bushelman, a longtime Florence city council member and former mayor pro tem who helped shape modern Florence during its boom years in the 1980s and 90s. Practically speaking, it's short — maybe six-tenths of a mile end to end — but it carries a disproportionate amount of the area's commercial weight. The boulevard naming came after.

The address 2505 sits on the north side of the road, roughly halfway between the Houston Road intersection and the railroad tracks that mark the eastern end. It's a commercial parcel. Think about it: has been for decades. What sits there now — and what's been there before — says a lot about the economic shifts in Boone County.

The parcel itself

Current county records show 2505 Ted Bushelman Blvd as a 2.Typical late-80s spec construction. Which means three-phase power. Steel frame, brick veneer, flat roof. Parking for roughly 80 cars. Consider this: loading docks on the rear elevation. Consider this: 4-acre lot with a 24,000-square-foot building constructed in 1989. But the kind of building developers threw up fast when Florence was absorbing Cincinnati's suburban overflow. Sprinklered.

Nothing fancy. But functional in a way that newer builds often aren't — generous column spacing, 22-foot clear height, drive-in doors and dock-high. That flexibility matters more than people realize.

Why This Address Matters

Florence doesn't get talked about the way Covington or Newport does. No historic riverfront. No entertainment district. But Florence is where the logistics backbone of the region lives. But i-71/I-75 cuts right through. The Norfolk Southern mainline parallels the highway. You're 12 minutes from CVG, 15 from downtown Cincinnati, 20 from the Ohio River bridges. That geometry — highway, rail, air, river — is why Amazon, DHL, and a dozen mid-sized distributors have facilities within three miles of Ted Bushelman.

2505 sits in the middle of that geometry.

The Houston Road corridor context

Houston Road is the spine. It's a connector street that became a destination. Trucks turn off Houston, do their business on Ted Bushelman, and leave. On the flip side, the properties along it — 2505 included — benefit from Houston Road visibility without Houston Road traffic speeds. Ted Bushelman connects Houston to Industrial Road, which parallels the railroad. Run north from the mall and you hit industrial park after industrial park: Houston Industrial Park, Florence Industrial Park, the newer developments past KY-18. Neighbors don't complain because the neighbors are all doing the same thing.

That's the quiet genius of this corridor. Flexible enough to adapt. It's zoned I-1 (Light Industrial) with PUD overlays that allow office, warehousing, light assembly, and limited retail. Restrictive enough to keep the heavy stuff — chemical processing, outdoor storage yards, truck terminals — further out toward the county line.

How the Property Has Been Used

1989–2003: Regional distribution

Original tenant was a Cincinnati-based wholesale hardware distributor. They ran a 15-truck fleet out of 2505, serving independent hardware stores across Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Which means the building was set up for that: wide aisles, pick modules on the ground floor, bulk storage overhead. They left when they consolidated to a larger facility in Hebron — closer to the airport, closer to the interstate. Classic Florence story. Companies grow here, then graduate to Boone County's bigger parks.

2003–2014: Light manufacturing

A plastics fabricator took the lease. Thermoforming, CNC routing, assembly. They added a paint booth (permitted, vented, still there), compressed air drops at every column, and a small office buildout in the front 3,000 square feet. Good tenant. Paid on time. Left when the owner sold the building to an out-of-state REIT that wanted to reposition for "last-mile logistics" — the buzzword of 2014.

Want to learn more? We recommend the osha standard requires flexible cords to be rated for and what are the risks of working on a construction site for further reading.

2014–2021: The REIT years

The REIT spent $400K on improvements: new TPO roof, LED relighting, dock levelers replaced, fire pump upgraded. " Three tenants cycled through in seven years. A pet food subscription fulfillment operation (eighteen months — they outgrew the clear height). A mattress-in-a-box company (six months). Then they marketed it as "e-commerce ready.A medical supply distributor (three years, left for a build-to-suit in Erlanger).

The churn wasn't the building's fault. On the flip side, it was the mismatch between what the REIT promised — "last-mile" — and what the building actually is: a solid 80s warehouse with 22-foot clear. Last-mile wants 32-foot clear, 50-foot dock spacing, ESFR sprinklers, trailer parking for 100+. 2505 isn't that. Never will be. But it's good at what it is.

2021–present: Local ownership, stable tenancy

A Northern Kentucky investment group bought it in late 2021. They knew the building. In real terms, one of the principals had competed against the hardware distributor in the 90s. On top of that, they didn't try to reposition. They leased it to a single tenant: a regional HVAC/R supply house that needed counter space, warehouse space, and a will-call window for contractors. Five-year lease. That's why two renewal options. They're still there.

That's the story of 2505 in miniature. It performs best when the owner understands what it is — not what a brokerage memo says it could be.

What Most People Get Wrong About This Location

"It's just a warehouse address"

People see "Industrial Road" or "Ted Bushelman" and assume: trucks, noise, grit. But walk the corridor at 10 AM on a Tuesday. On top of that, you'll see more sprinter vans than semis. More HVAC techs in branded polos than forklift operators. The tenant mix has shifted. Still, light assembly, specialty trade contractors, wholesale showrooms with warehouse backs — that's the real profile now. 2505's current tenant runs a showroom in the front 4,000 feet. Contractors walk in, touch product, place orders, pull from will-call. It's retail-adjacent industrial. The zoning allows it. The building supports it. But you wouldn't know from the street.

"Florence industrial is all the same"

It's not. The Houston Road corridor differs from the KY

Route corridor. Ted Bushelman has the older, smaller flex spaces that serve local trades. 2505 sits in a unique pocket: large enough to matter, but not so large that it only attracts corporate users. Houston Road has the deep-bay, high-clearance buildings that serve national distribution. Not too big, not too small. It's the Goldilocks zone of the corridor. Just right for a regional operator who needs a permanent home.

"The values are all driven by e-commerce"

This is the biggest myth. The appraisal reports might say "potential for e-commerce conversion," but the actual transactions tell a different story. The HVAC supply house pays rent on time, every month, because they're not trying to disrupt an industry. Worth adding: " The building's value isn't in what it could become for a disruptive model; it's in what it is for a proven, profitable business. The 2021 sale to the local group was priced off a 6.They're serving one. 5% cap on stable, long-term tenancy—not a 5% cap on "last-mile potential.That's what makes 2505 bankable.

The Real Lesson of 2505

It's a building that survived a national REIT's misdiagnosis by returning to local hands. Think about it: it outperformed the churn of the e-commerce gold rush by sticking to its strengths. It's a story about patience, about matching the right tenant to the right asset, and about the enduring value of a building that does one thing very well.

In a market obsessed with the next big thing—last-mile, cold storage, data centers—22-foot clear height and a will-call window are quietly, reliably, making money. Consider this: that's not a repositioning strategy. That's just good stewardship. And in the end, that's what real estate is about: not the buzzwords on the brochure, but the rent check that arrives on the first of every month. For 2505, that's been the story for forty years. It'll likely be the story for the next forty.