The City of Florence is close to annexing more than 270 acres that formerly made up the area known as Marydale and that are now hoped to be turned into a mixed-use development.
City council listened to the first reading of an ordinance that would make 272.025 acres of the property part of the City of Florence. The sprawling undeveloped land is northeast of Houston Road, southwest of Donaldson Road, and southeast of Turfway Road, adjacent to the city limits.
The city is examining the creation of a local development area for the property as a way of implementing a tax increment financing (TIF) district.
Vinings Trace, LLC, a subsidiary of Eagle Realty, which is a subsidiary of Western Southern Financing Group, hopes to create space for office buildings, apartments, restaurants, medical facilities, educational institutions, and more.
The companies have been associated with the property since at least 2006. Similar plans were reported by local media about the land as early as 2013.
No building plans have been officially filed for consideration, but is expected to include high-end office buildings and upscale housing for urban development, allowing residents to walk to work.Â
Other hopes include a hotel and senior housing.
“There is nothing like this project, on this scale, in this entire area,” said Florence Economic Director Josh Hunt. “Their next step is that they have four years to establish the TIF district, and then this is a 30-year development project, so it is definitely a legacy project, worth about $400 million when it is finished.”
Mayor Diane Whalen was praised for the effort, in which she has been persistently striving to make it happen, beginning with a letter to Eagle Realty Group back in 2006 when the company acquired the land, but she said it was a group effort.
“It was a 15-year overnight success,” Whalen stated. “We welcome Marydale into the city of Florence.”
“This project has been several years in coming,” said Florence Councilman Mel Carroll. “This is the biggest economic project we have entered into; 272 acres which will be a mixed use development that will provide jobs, and housing, and many opportunities, training, shopping for the people of Northern Kentucky. It should be one of the hallmarks of Northern Kentucky as far as development goes. It is hard to find this much acreage so close to the expressway and that makes it a very valuable asset to the city.”
Council also authorized an infrastructure agreement with the development related to a sanitary sewer line. The annexed area will be part of the city’s water and sewer systems.
-Patricia A. Scheyer, RCN contributor