The Covington City Commission announced a development agreement on Tuesday night for a mixed-use development on two land parcels of the Central Riverfront Development along the Ohio River.
The commission will not cast a vote on the development agreement until their legislative meeting next week, but this is the first time the city has signaled its intentions for these particular land parcels.
The developer, called CCR-MN Developers, LLC, was specifically formed for this project, and consists of several companies: development company Silverman & Co., Messer Construction and architectural firm KZF Design. Silverman & Co. is behind several retail and office developments in Blue Ash and is spearheading a mixed-used development in Deerfield, Ohio, called The District at Deerfield.
“They’re local, they’re successful, they do high quality developments,” said Covington’s Economic Development Director Tom West.
West complimented the developers on their willingness to work with the city and listen to their desires for the project.
“They listened to us and made a number of changes to their approach and came back,” West said. “They do understand the community.”
If affirmed, this development agreement will be the second with a private developer at the CCR site after Drees Homes, which secured a development agreement for the site’s B block in March. This year also saw a mutli-million dollar injection of state money into the site for the establishment of the Northern Kentucky Center of Biomedical Excellence, which will see the relocation of NKU’s Chase College of Law and the Highland Heights branch the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine to the riverfront.
The Central Riverfront development sits on the former site of the IRS building, which was decommissioned in 2019. The city bought the land in 2020 with the hopes of redeveloping it, and many in the community still simply refer to it as the IRS site.
The development is slated to occur on the site’s M and N blocks, which run along Washington Street between 3rd and 4th Streets. Incidentally, block N is across the street from where the Drees Homes properties will appear. West said that construction should take about 18 months once everything has been finalized.
The development will be mixed-use, meaning that it will contain both residential and business properties. The development will feature about 7,700 square feet of retail space, 257 market-rate apartment units and 194 parking spaces. West stated that the rough total investment into the site will be $67.2 million.
Silverman and Co. Vice President Ryan Silverman could not share specifics about who the potential business occupiers might be, but he did say that they were focusing on local businesses.
“Our goal is to bring some exciting restaurant and other kinds of experiential, locally-owned retail type uses,” Silverman said.
The city will complete early infrastructural work, namely on sewage lines, sidewalks, streets, utility infrastructure and public spaces, as part of the development agreement. Moreover, the city plans not to use debt instruments or other municipal financing measures like industrial revenue bonds or tax increment financing districts. West estimated an annual 5.1% return on investment to the city, or about $228,000 per year.
“When we first heard about this, it was something that was on our radar immediately,” said Tim Burgoyne, Silverman Co.’s director of site acquisition and development. Burgoyne is originally from Taylor Mill, he said, and his mother even worked part-time at the IRS building when it was still operating.
“It’s my old homestead,” Burgoyne said. “So, it’s fun to come back here and be a part of this.”
The commissioners engaged in little discussion on the matter but offered some compliments to the developers.
“I’m looking forward to partnering with you both,” said Commissioner Tim Downing to the developers.
The commission will engage in additional discussion and cast a vote on the development agreement at the legislative meeting on Tuesday, June 11, beginning at 6 p.m. at Covington City Hall on Pike Street.