The Kenton County Planning Commission unanimously voted last week to approve a zoning change for a 26-acre parcel of land for a development at the former site of the Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell.
The land is located along Buttermilk Pike, Royal Drive, Grace Avenue and Interstates 71 and 75 and contains 5 land parcels of varying size. Currently the land is mostly vacant, but it was the former location of the Drawbridge Inn, a well-known hotel and convention center. The Drawbridge closed in 2012 after 42 years of operation.
“I think that this is a great opportunity for the city of Fort Mitchell to go ahead and utilize this property that has been vacant for so many years,” said the Kenton County Planning Commission’s Fort Mitchell representative Jeff Bethel.
In order to allow the development to proceed, the city proposed a new type of zoning to the planning commission, which the commission also unanimously approved. The city also had to secure an extension of the land’s tax increment financing, or TIF, status from the state, which Fort Mitchell City Administrator Edwin King said the city had successfully secured just that morning.
The new zone, called a mixed use 2, or MU 2, zone allows for a broad range of developmental uses, including residential, commercial, industrial, lodging and recreational uses among others.
TIF districts, on the other hand, are a way for cities to attract developers to their areas by rerouting tax revenue into the district. If a city has established TIF districts, a portion of the property taxes collected in the area are redirected from general community services and instead injected into the development on the TIF district over a period of time. This can be a way of speeding up infrastructure development on the land and can reduce costs for the developers.
Park Hills Representative Commissioner and Commission Treasurer Phillip Ryan called the new zone “unique” but “vague.”
“This to me sounds like a developer’s dream,” Ryan said.
No one spoke out against the zoning change or the development itself during the public hearing portion of the meeting, and, in spite of Ryan’s trepidation about the breadth of development allowed within the new zone, comments about the development were generally positive.
“It’s an exciting development,” Bethel said. “It’s something that can’t really be repeated in Fort Mitchell because Fort Mitchell’s running out of land; this is about the end of it.”
Multiple attempts at developing the land have occurred over the years, but this most recent development has been in the works for at least two years, based on statements from Greg Berling, a developer from Buttermilk Pike Development Company, who accompanied King to the meeting to answer questions. Preliminary development announcements for the site occurred in May, but a final development plan has yet to materialize–the city did not submit a completed development plan when it requested a zoning change.
The Kenton County Fiscal Court also issued $2 million to the development to aid in storm sewer improvements in October.
Berling distributed preliminary development plans the commissioners, and King gave a summary of the goals for the site.
“Lot one is contemplated for development with an upscale continuous care retirement center, a CCRC, which will have apartments and independent living units, assisted living units, a medical wing for residents in need of more care, restaurants, a spa, fitness center and some other amenities,” King said.
The announcement in May touted a specific retirement center called the Ormsby, which currently has a website, but neither King nor Berling mentioned that name during the meeting.
“Lot two is contemplated for development with an office building and a medical office building… on top of a multi-level parking garage,” King continued. “Lots three, four and five are contemplated for development with a mix of hotels, restaurants, some retail, luxury apartments or other uses, as set forth in the master development agreement between the city and the developer.”
“City staff, city elected officials and our development group have really worked hand in hand to get this thing rolling,” Berling said.
King stated in October that the project is expected to take five to ten years to complete and will likely cost around $150 million.
The next meeting of the Kenton County Planning Commission will take place on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 at 6:15 p.m. at the Kenton County Administration Building on Simon Kenton Way.