The city of Covington is looking for the next round of developers to build out a new neighborhood on the Ohio River.
The city released three requests for proposals recently for its Covington Central Riverfront development.
One of those RFPs — for what the city is calling "Block K" — seeks developers for a headquarters hotel to complement an expanded convention center. That request is open until Oct. 28. Another, for Block C, is looking for a project that incorporates a parking structure with residential and commercial space around it. That request is open until Aug. 29.
A third RFP includes two blocks with six parcels each. It's open until Sept. 26.
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Economic Development Director Tom West says those blocks are meant to echo surrounding historic neighborhoods — and to give local developers unique opportunities to work on the project. The blocks will sit on either side of an expanded Russell Street, which will have a park-like median like the one you see in Mainstrasse Village. The city is especially interested in the architectural designs of proposed developments in this gateway area.
"We based those parcel sizes on the sizes of parcels in downtown Covington and Mainstrasse Village," West says. "We want to have that Covington feel at that same scale with individual developers, different architects, different owners and different types of businesses."
There are already multiple developments slated or penciled in for the site. The Kentucky General Assembly has set aside $125 million to relocate Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase Law School and a branch of University of Kentucky's School of Medicine to the development. Drees Homes plans to build 16 townhomes on the site, and another developer, Silverman and Company, will build more than 250 apartments, 7,000 feet of retail space and a parking garage there.
As the city awaits responses to the RFPs, it's been busy preparing the site, which was formerly occupied by an IRS processing center. Grading work will finish in roughly October. The city anticipates finishing public utilities and a street grid in the next several months.
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West says there will also be some creative touches added as the project moves along.
"We're working on a time capsule that will be placed on the site next spring," he says. "And we're working on a public art project with community partners, possibly even using some of the artifacts we were able to recover from the IRS building before we demolished it."