The City of Covington’s government has had multiple homes over the past half century, including two different stints at its current digs, a spacious rental on Pike Street in what was once the downtown J.C. Penney store. It moved back there in 2013, after a previous residency in the 1980s, departing a building on Madison Avenue that was also home to a department store, Coppin’s, once that property was slated to become Hotel Covington.
On Tuesday, a timeline was established for the city own its own home again.
City Manager Ken Smith presented the plan to the city commission.
“I want this to be a building that the community can really be proud of,” Meyer said. “I want it to represent this generation’s aspirations for future generations.”
The new City Hall is expected to be constructed on an empty at 620 and 622 Scott Blvd. adjacent to the Lee’s Famous Recipe and a block south from the Kenton County Library’s Covington branch.
The city is in search of architects to design the new building. The city laid out the following ideals of what it’s looking for in a firm:
- Foster multiple connected venues for broad civic engagement. Meet people where they are.
- Provide many reasons to come to City Hall. Covington’s City Hall should be as vibrant and diverse as the city itself.
- Build Covington’s public square. A new city hall is as much about the future of Covington’s public realm as it is about a new building.
- Be a center of design and culture. The building’s design should be at the center of Covington’s differentiation strategy.
- A building clearly identifiable as a home for the city government and meant to last a century or more for future generations.
According to Smith, 29 architectural firms have requested information regarding the project.
“I’m very pleased with the number of people interested in this project,” Smith said.
The city also hired a director of special projects and inter-governmental affairs to oversee the operation. Andrew Wilhoite began in the role on Monday.
Design Timeline
2022
- Sept. 22: The city’s request for qualifications (RFQ) submissions are due.
- Early October: A committee comprised of city administrators, elected leaders and citizens will review the submissions.
- Mid-October: Smith said the city hopes to select the top three firms from the RFQ process.
- Early December: The top three firms will be asked to submit three conceptual renderings/site plans.
- Mid-December: The city will review the submitted renderings/site plans and seek out comments from the public.
2023
- Early January: Smith said he wants to make a recommendation to the city commission on which architectural firm the city would like to use to design the building.
- Mid-January: A contract will be brought before the commission if it agrees on the recommended firm.
- February: Design work commences.
- December: Design work completed.
2024
- Winter: The City will go through the bidding and selection process for a contractor.
Smith said the construction timeline is to be determined due to the unpredictable nature of supply chains in recent years.
“We think 15 months, that’s probably realistic to build a building of this size, but we don’t know what the supply chain issues will be in 2024,” Smith said. “We don’t know the material availability. We just don’t know. But if things go according to our hopes and our efforts, we would like to be in the new city hall in 2025.”
Meyer said he would like to see the window for the design period shortened because it could help the city get the project out for bid quicker.
History
Covington City Hall has been in five different locations over the past 50 years. The city moved into their current home at 20 W. Pike Street in 2013. The city was previously located at 638 Madison Avenue in the building that is now Hotel Covington.
The move was anticipated to be temporary, using the building for day-to-day operations while searching for a new spot. A five-year lease was signed tying the city to 20 W. Pike Street until 2018.
“We ambitiously signed a lease assuming we would be here no longer than five years,” Smith said.
Nearly a decade later the city is still there.
In 2018, the city signed another four year lease with a one-year extension. The city opted into that extension in April.
In 2019, the city launched a privately funded effort called “BeSpoke” to consider what the community would want from a new City Hall.
The 16-member task force, made up of residents, government officials and local business owners met for 10 months to come up with the best possible answers. The task force decided a new city hall should:
- Be in a visible, accessible, central, and prominent site that is “both symbolically and physically important to Covington.”
- Not be a “single-purpose fortress” dedicated only to government offices but one with regular community events and programming.
- As a true civic commons, include “a place for community voice, debate, and demonstrations.”
- Celebrate the city’s architectural diversity and history.
“The opportunity to build a new City Hall is pretty rare,” Meyer said in 2019. “The temporary home on Pike Street is our fifth since the 1960s. It’s time to take the long-term view – planning not for the next decade but maybe for the next century. As Americans, we tend to take the short-term view, but this city is going to be here for 500 years, or as long as the river we’re built on.”
In 2021, Covington purchased the plots of land at 620 and 622 Scott Street next to Lee’s Famous Recipe. The purchase price of the lots, which are currently empty fields, was $550,000.
In June 2022, the city commission approved funding for the project’s architectural work in the Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget.
