Engineering firm HDR Incorporated has been selected to manage the development of the biomedical center planned for the former IRS site in Covington.
HDR Incorporated is a national firm that offers architecture, engineering, consulting, construction and related services. The company has over 200 offices across the United States, including one in Cincinnati.
Christine Russell, the executive director of the port authority, announced the news at a Kenton County Fiscal Court meeting on Tuesday.
“The Port Authority took action today to accept that bid and to authorize me to begin contract negotiation with them,” Russell said during the meeting.
The Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence project will relocate Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Northern Kentucky campus to the 23-acre IRS site in downtown Covington. Both are moving from NKU’s main campus in Highland Heights. The Port Authority is considered to be the owner of the project.
The Port Authority and Kenton County posted a request for proposal, or RFP, to their respective websites on July 29. The RFP sought consultants to provide project manager services for developing the education complex. Bids for the contract were due on Aug. 19.
Russell said a selection group of representatives from the port authority, Kenton County, University of Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University, City of Covington and The Catalytic Fund met on Monday, Sept. 9 to analyze each bid.
Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said the port authority and county received several quality bids, but the selection committee ultimately chose HDR Incorporated.
“That project is about a $3.3 million agreement that will be signed, but that was actually in the middle to the lower cost of all the bids that were out there — a lot of great proposals,” he said.
The total funding for the project for the current fiscal year is $10 million, which will be used for the consultant contract, other professional service agreements and other costs associated with the site’s acquisition, according to the RFP. The remaining $115 million will be unlocked in Fiscal Year 2026 and is expected to be used for hard construction activity.
The RFP also included a prospective timeline showing that the conceptual design process will occur from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2025. Schematic design and preconstruction activities will commence during the spring and summer of 2025. Construction will begin in late 2025 and will be completed in mid-2028 barring any setbacks.
The Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence is only one aspect of the broader Covington Central Riverfront Project underway at the former IRS site. Construction crews are currently developing the site’s horizontal infrastructure, including installing sewer lines, utilities, streets and sidewalks.
Covington subdivided the site into 16 individual parcels for different developers to bid on. Two of the parcels already have developers: Fort Mitchell-based homebuilder Drees Homes and CCR-MN Developers, LLC — a recently formed development company consisting Silverman & Co., Messer Construction and architectural firm KZF Design.
