City seeking developers for hotel, other uses; subdivided parcels provide opportunities to local firms
COVINGTON, Ky. – The City of Covington is looking for private developers to fill in four more pieces of its 23-acre blank canvas just west of downtown.
Requests for proposals (RFPs) have been released for Blocks C, D, E, and K for the new neighborhood-to-be now known as the Covington Central Riverfront. The master plan calls for a hotel on one of the sites and a mix of retail, office, and residential use on the others.
The four “blocks” include up to 16 distinct parcels. Two of the four contain a total of 12 parcels, modeled on the parcel sizes of downtown and Mainstrasse Village streets. They will be separated by a 75-foot-wide extension of Russell Street that will include a park-like median similar to 11th Street at Scott and Greenup streets and to Sixth Street in MainStrasse.
“The way we are dividing up the parcels in this new neighborhood should provide multiple local developers with the opportunity to get in on the action,” Economic Development Director Tom West said. “We want the folks who have been investing in the broader community over the years to get a fair shot at being part of this new neighborhood. That is part of what will make it and keep it uniquely The Cov.”
- Block C, which consists of three parcels totaling 0.97 acres, sits east of Johnson Street on the western side of the site. The City’s master plan calls for residential and retail uses, plus parking. Responses to the Block C RFP are due Aug. 29.
- Blocks D and E, which are combined in the same request, consist of six parcels each on either side of the Russell Street extension just north of Fourth Street. Block D is 0.75 acres and Block E is 1.25 acres. Both are destined for a mix of retail, office, and residential use. Because Russell Street “will be one of the more striking gateways into the neighborhood … the design of any structure(s) is of paramount interest to the City,” according to the RFP. Responses to the Blocks D and E RFP are due Sept. 26.
- Block K, a single parcel of 0.86 acres, sits on Rivercenter Boulevard just west of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. The successful developer is encouraged to work with MeetNKY – the region’s convention and visitors bureau – which is partnering with the convention center on its redevelopment and enhancement. Responses to the Block K RFP are due Oct 28.
The 23-acre site, located just west of Madison Avenue and north of Fourth Street, was home to a sprawling one-story IRS tax-processing facility for more than five decades. But the facility was decommissioned in 2019, the City bought the site in 2020, and the building was demolished by O’Rourke Wrecking in 2022.
The City worked with the public and Atlanta-based consultant Cooper Carry to create a conceptual master plan for a mixed-use neighborhood integrated into the surrounding commercial and residential districts. (One priority is replacing the payroll tax revenue that was once produced by the site to help fund services in the rest of the city.)
Covington also worked with an engineering and architectural team led by KZF Design to design public infrastructure.
Bray Construction Services is currently regrading the site and laying Phase 1 of the public infrastructure, a $14.9 million contract that will include streets, sidewalks, utilities, and a public plaza.
As part of the grading work, 60,000 cubic yards of fill dirt was trucked to the site to elevate the extension of Third Street and to create a levee park reached via a “land bridge.”
Bray expects to have the site up to grade by mid-October, said Elizabeth Wetzel, Director of Special Projects and Intergovernmental Affairs for Covington.
“The City is making great progress getting the infrastructure ready for development of these lots,” Wetzel said. “Over the next several months, we’ll finish bringing the site elevation up to grade, get utilities in the ground, and get the street grid in place. We’re looking forward to seeing the individual block development proposals that come in, and then coordinating with the new developers.”
A series of announcements and development agreements this spring have begun filling in the 23-acre site:
- Drees Homes will build 16 townhomes. That $7 million project will go on block B, a 0.88-acre parcel fronting Fourth Street just east of Russell Street.
- Silverman and Company Inc. will build an estimated 257 market-rate apartments, 7,700 square feet of retail space, and a partially below-grade parking structure. That $67.2 million development will go on blocks M and N, also on Fourth Street just west of Madison Avenue.
- And the Kentucky General Assembly allocated $125 million toward the relocation to the site of the Salmon P. Chase School of Law and the Northern Kentucky campus of the University of Kentucky’s four-year School of Medicine. The Northern Kentucky Port Authority, in partnership with Kenton County, has issued a request for proposals seeking a project manager to oversee that project. The specific location has not yet been selected.
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More about the site and its history, as well as the City’s master plan and conceptual renderings, can be found at Covington Central Riverfront.
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