Written by Kenton Hornbeck, LINK nky reporter
The Covington Business Council's virtual luncheon on Thursday focused on the progress of the Covington Central Riverfront development project on the former IRS site.
The project aims to reconnect Covington through visual and physical connections to the Ohio River, surrounding neighborhoods, and the city at large.
The CBC’s virtual luncheon featured Tom West, the City of Covington’s Economic Development Director, and Bo Hubbard, the project’s Architectural Project Manager from consulting firm J.S. Held.
In August 2019, the Internal Revenue Service tax-processing center officially shut its doors. The IRS, which was once the city’s largest employer, opened the site in the late 1960s. The shuttered one-story building is located north of Fourth Street between Madison Avenue to the east and Johnson Street to the west, with an adjacent parking lot west of Johnson reaching the approach to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.
The closure left the city needing to replace over 600 well-paying jobs. The IRS still has a presence in Covington with some jobs being relocated to the Gateway Building on Scott Blvd.
The city purchased the 23-acre site from the federal government in August 2020. The prime riverfront real estate provided the city with an opportunity to develop a generational mixed-use development.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity,” Hubbard said during the luncheon. “We must all have patience as it evolves.”
Demolition for the IRS building will begin next month.
The selection process for choosing a demolition company has nearly concluded. The Cincinnati-based O’Rourke Wrecking Company was selected as the finalist out of a narrowed pool of four companies. The Covington City Commission is expected to finalize this decision in a vote at next Tuesday’s legislative meeting. Hubbard said demolition should be completed in about eight months.
Action will also be taken on the removal of environmental problems discovered on the site, including asbestos in the buildings, three underground storage tanks, and an underground concrete vault.
Hubbard projects the future construction will have minimal to no impact on bridge and roadway traffic around Covington. The demolition will be contained to the site.
“In the spirit of managing expectations, we’re tearing down a 20-year old building,” West said. “There will be some debris, there will be some dust and noise. We want to move on to the good noise.”
The project’s conceptual plan, created by Atlanta-based consultant Cooper Carry, calls for a restored street grid; a levee park; a community plaza for festivals; a mixture of buildings containing offices, retail shops, hotels, and residential units; and expansion of the adjacent Northern Kentucky Convention Center.
West stressed the importance of incorporating alleyways into the development which are often an integral part of Covington’s various business districts.
The 2027 land use projections for the CCR project the development to feature 175,000 square feet of office space, 70,000 to 80,000 square feet of retail space, 650 apartment units, 200 to 225 hotel rooms and 30-50 units for sale. The projections were made by Noell Consulting Group.
“It’s owed to future generations to ensure that it’s done right, is sustainable, and done in a way that’s not a quick fix,” West said.
The height of the majority of the buildings will be four to five stories to maximize views of the Ohio River. The tallest buildings will be located closer to Madison Avenue and are projected to be seven to nine stories maximum.
There will be no towers in the development, West said, because of the lack of demand for skyscraper-esque buildings in Covington.
At this stage, residential price points are too far out to project. Residential prices will vary because there will be different price points for different housing products offered, such as owner occupied homes, townhomes and rentals.
A primary goal of the project is to recapture the tax revenue lost from the IRS closure. The project is intended to spark job creation with nearly 1,200 full-time jobs projected to be created by the development.
Over 800 full-time jobs are projected to be office jobs with the other 300 to 400 jobs being split across the retail, hospitality and housing sectors. West said the projections are a conservative estimate on the potential economic impact brought by the development.
Around 1,600 part-time temporary construction jobs are expected to be created, approximately 1,100 in the private sector and 500 in the public sector.
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t tampered West’s expectations for how its effects will impact the future demand for the office, restaurant and retail space the development will provide.
Rendering: Atlanta-based architecture firm Cooper Carry
"use" - Google News
January 22, 2022 at 12:57AM
https://ift.tt/358Z2wx
How Developers Plan To Use Former IRS Site To Reconnect Covington - The River City News
"use" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2P05tHQ
https://ift.tt/2YCP29R
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "How Developers Plan To Use Former IRS Site To Reconnect Covington - The River City News"
Post a Comment