The Northern Kentucky Convention Center is set to buy a parcel at the Covington Central Riverfront site to expand its facilities. The Covington Board of Commissioners will vote on the $3.2 million sale of the land next week.
The purchase will allow for the construction of an outdoor amenity space, according to city documents. The land itself consists of what has been labeled as lot P at the CCR site, as well as an adjacent strip of land for parking. The sale agreement was placed on the consent agenda for next week’s meeting, meaning it will likely pass.
Representatives from the convention center did not speak at this week’s meeting; however, Northern Kentucky Convention Center CEO Gretchen Landrum has spoken about the expansion in public settings in the past. At a meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission in May, Landrum discussed two different studies the center had completed, one in 2019 and another in 2023, both of which suggested that an outdoor event space was more needed than more brick-and-mortar space.
Landrum described the expansion as part of the convention center’s ongoing efforts to modernize.
“The study currently estimates that we book about 35,000 hotel room nights per year, based on the convention center,” Landrum said in May. “That number is projected to go to 60,000 when the convention center modernization is completed.”
