The Covington City Commission approved the development agreement with Drees Homes at their meeting Tuesday night, allowing the company to buy land and develop 16 townhomes on the B block of the Covington Central Riverfront development site, more commonly known as the former IRS site.
The city announced its intention to enter into the agreement last week, where renderings of the proposed townhouses were presented to the commission.
The city also discussed contract agreements with Bray Construction and Terracon, valued at a maximum of $14.9 million and $211,050, respectively, to perform infrastructure construction and geotechnical oversight. Those proposals were also approved. The first round of infrastructure construction is expected to be completed by September of 2025.
Drees Northern Kentucky Division President Ben Taylor told LINK nky at last week’s caucus meeting that the anticipated starting price for the homes would be about $500,000.
The city plans to issue about $18 million in bond anticipation notes to pay for the infrastructure. Bond anticipation notes, or BANs, are short-term debt instruments wherein a city solicits cash from investors, issuing them a note saying the city will pay the money back with interest once it secures normal general obligation bonds from an institutional investor. BAN issuances tend to be faster than normal bonds and, thus, are one way the city can get a quick cash injection.
Unlike the other agreements, however, the issuance is a city ordinance, so the commission must complete a second reading of the policy at their legislative meeting on April 9 before casting a vote to approve or deny it. They completed the first reading on Tuesday.
