The Covington "City Heights" housing project is going to be demolished and sold after current residents are relocated over the next ~3 years. I'm curious what will happen to this site. Topographically, it's interesting because it's on top of a hill that drops down steeply ~300ft on all sides. The current site plan uses ~20 acres with 366 apartments spread across 63 buildings. 

 

https://local12.com/news/local/city-heights-public-housing-complex-to-be-shut-down-cincinnati-ohio-covington-kentucky-drugs-violence-crime-residents-meetings-move

City Heights is in a really weird and inaccessible area, so unless they connect the other side down to 26th street or something I don't see anything dense going back into that spot. I'm 99% sure it will eventually get developed into a single family housing neighborhood built by (reads that Steve Arlinghaus is in charge of Covington's housing authority ) probably by Arlinghaus builders...

1 hour ago, ucgrady said:

I'm 99% sure it will eventually get developed into a single family housing neighborhood built by (reads that Steve Arlinghaus is in charge of Covington's housing authority ) probably by Arlinghaus builders...

Interesting... sure does seem like a conflict of interest there. 

He's just a realtor, I think it's his brother or uncle or something that runs the home builder but still. 

Another update on the old county building from the air:

 

 

OT but it's amazing how much these renderings look like the late-1990s The Banks rendering, stylistically speaking.

 

Everyone loves a watercolor / posterized-edges rendering... especially early in a project when the architect hasn't actually finalized any materials/details yet. I can't wait for this project to get going, I'm not sure why the original RFP for demo in 2019 was never realized, is this just a pandemic delay or was something found during that process that changed the calculus? 

On 12/2/2021 at 10:55 AM, ucgrady said:

especially early in a project when the architect hasn't actually finalized any materials/details yet.

Funny, though, that I'd take these buildings over the ones that are currently there...

On 11/30/2021 at 10:13 AM, ucgrady said:

Skin coming off Kenton County building:

The skin is all off of the old Kenton County building, and they've constructed new steel framing on the top:

 

On 12/2/2021 at 10:28 AM, Rabbit Hash said:

OT but it's amazing how much these renderings look like the late-1990s The Banks rendering, stylistically speaking.

 

 

I will never understand why we didn't mandate certain material choices at the Banks. I would much prefer the buildings in this rendering to what we ended up with.

1 hour ago, Miami-Erie said:

 

I will never understand why we didn't mandate certain material choices at the Banks. I would much prefer the buildings in this rendering to what we ended up with.

looking at the area around the arena in columbus makes me so jealous of all the brick

16 hours ago, seaswan said:

looking at the area around the arena in columbus makes me so jealous of all the brick

Yeah and the idiots at the city let the new management ownership group paint all the existing brick on phase one at the banks... HGTV grays are really pissing me off. Looking at you too Newport on the Levee

Did the city have to give any specific approval to allow the property management company to paint their own building? That seems like the kind of thing that doesn't normally require city approval.

4 minutes ago, taestell said:

Did the city have to give any specific approval to allow the property management company to paint their own building? That seems like the kind of thing that doesn't normally require city approval.

If it changes the outward appearance they would have had to go before the building department for initial review to decide if necessary for design or planning review. You are changing/altering the appearance of the exterior material. Its not like repainting something that was already painted. 

There is another thread for discussion of The Banks. Please try to keep this thread focused on Northern Kentucky development. 

15 minutes ago, jwulsin said:

There is another thread for discussion of The Banks. Please try to keep this thread focused on Northern Kentucky development. 

Its discussing the ugly painted brick at both the Banks and Newport on the Levee (NKY project) as a conversation hoping Covington doesn't allow bad HGTV gray shenanigans down the road.  

Looks like the two additional floors of the jail are framed and decked with the elevators and stair towers extending. 

 

Also snapped a photo of the new law offices completed along 4th Street in Covington

Slightly off topic, but... man, I wish they would convert the streets in that part of Covington to two-way. Right now it's both hostile to pedestrians and confusing to navigate as a driver.

17 minutes ago, taestell said:

Slightly off topic, but... man, I wish they would convert the streets in that part of Covington to two-way. Right now it's both hostile to pedestrians and confusing to navigate as a driver.

 

The entire block around the intersection of Park and Court should be closed off to vehicles. The city/ county should pursue an underground parking garage for the parking lot at the southeast corner and put a few stories of new construction on top, then close down that whole block to vehicles and make it a large open air DORA-like place. If the state would allow that. If not, lease out the ROW for restaurants/bars to have more outdoor seating.

The expansion of Hotel Covington is making good progress and they recently finished installing the new turret at the corner of Madison and Pike Street. Apparently the building used to have a turret but it was removed after being damaged in a tornado in the 1960's and Hotel Covington decided to rebuild it when renovating. This goes beyond historic preservation to be historic re-creation and is pretty cool without being too chintzy either. Should make for some pretty cool hotel rooms as well. 

Will this half have it's own lobby, or will there be a sky bridge connecting the two sides? Trying to grasp how they work out 2 separate buildings operationally.

It has a separate name, North by Hotel Covington and judging by this rendering from Business Courier the answer is no - they aren't physically connected. 

https://linknky.com/news/2022/03/28/a-potential-covington-office-development-is-announced-but-not-much-is-being-shared/

 

Not sure what to make of this project or design. Hopefully the back corner of the lot will eventually be developed, the exterior façade on the second and third floor just feels uncomfortable from a design perspective. Its suppose to be offices, but looks apartment/residential. 

16 minutes ago, savadams13 said:

Its suppose to be offices, but looks apartment/residential.

Agreed. The shape, floor size and stair locations looks like hotel or residential. Offices typically want big open office plans and this would only get there if they can get the other surface lot to sell. Either way it would be great if something finally gets built on this site, even if it's unfortunate that the surface parking remains undeveloped.

 

On another note I hate that the article you linked mentioned it could hurt local businesses by removing parking... please. It will be filled with office users who need to eat lunch, attend happy hours, meet clients etc. at all those local businesses. That's a very smallminded take on this project and isn't even backed up by the businesses like Molly Malones that they reached out to. 

7 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

Agreed. The shape, floor size and stair locations looks like hotel or residential. Offices typically want big open office plans and this would only get there if they can get the other surface lot to sell. Either way it would be great if something finally gets built on this site, even if it's unfortunate that the surface parking remains undeveloped.

 

On another note I hate that the article you linked mentioned it could hurt local businesses by removing parking... please. It will be filled with office users who need to eat lunch, attend happy hours, meet clients etc. at all those local businesses. That's a very smallminded take on this project and isn't even backed up by the businesses like Molly Malones that they reached out to. 

Ha! I skimmed over that part I was just trying to digest the design and site relation of the building to the area. The more I look at it the more I want to get a red sharpie marker out like my college professors back in the day, on pin up day and destroy it. 

Urban Sites doubles down on Covington with planned office building

 

Urban Sites, which is already investing in Covington with the more than $31 million transformation of the former Kenton County Administration Building at 303 Court St. into apartments, is looking to boost its activity in the neighborhood with a potential office building.

 

Urban Sites is working on plans to bring an office building with ground-floor retail space to the parking lot at the northwest corner of Greenup and East Fourth streets. The development, known as Greenup Street offices at this time, could provide just under 50,000 square feet of office space, as well as a 5,000-square-foot retail space and some on-site parking, as it is designed today.

 

Danny Lipson, chief development officer with Over-the-Rhine-based Urban Sites, said this site provides an opportunity for a credit-worthy build-to-suit office tenant to move its headquarters to the Roebling Point neighborhood in Covington.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/03/30/urban-sites-plans-office-building.html

 

The Kenton County building conversion is starting to get framed and dried in and it really hit me today that we are getting a new 12 story tall apartment tower in downtown Covington. I knew this in theory but sometimes renovations or conversions don't have the mental impact of a brand new building but this is going to be a huge boost to the Roebling point area.

 

The IRS building has started coming down.

 

https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/kenton-county/covington/covington-begins-demolition-of-former-irs-facility-on-tax-day

On 4/12/2022 at 9:36 AM, ucgrady said:

The Kenton County building conversion is starting to get framed and dried in and it really hit me today that we are getting a new 12 story tall apartment tower in downtown Covington. I knew this in theory but sometimes renovations or conversions don't have the mental impact of a brand new building but this is going to be a huge boost to the Roebling point area.

 

What I also like it how even adding just those 2 floors has made the building more prominent. I was going across the Brent Spence this weekend and could notice it from the bridge. It really adds to Covingtons skyline and would be nice to see all these parking lots around it developed. 

Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati did a really good tour of the Hotel Covington expansion. I didn't take many pictures but some highlights are that the lower level will be a huge new ballroom, bigger than any of the other Madison Event venues they own. The middle of the building has a light well which ends with a glass ceiling above the ballroom to get natural light down there. The North building will be connected to the existing Hotel Cov by both a tunnel under the alley (which will be used for laundry and other back of house/catering) and on the second floor over the alley in front of the courtyard which will be used by guests. There is a new built up top floor that is set back and will have a terrace all the way around with some of the nicest and biggest hotel rooms I've ever seen, complete with full kitchens and catering access/capabilities for events/groups. It's going to be really really nice. 

 

 

 

Bonus pic- on the roof of the first national bank building a new bar is being built and will be run by Bill Whitlow of Rich's proper. It looks real swanky. 

Grabbed a progress photo of the Kenton county jail conversion, to apartment tower. This has really made an impact visually near and far for the area.

 

Also we need just a Covington, KY development page right? 

^Anybody been up in that building to see what the views are like? I assume it's got nice views of the Roebling and downtown Cincy. 

On 6/8/2022 at 8:13 PM, jwulsin said:

^Anybody been up in that building to see what the views are like? I assume it's got nice views of the Roebling and downtown Cincy. 

From 

Covington issues RFQ for new City Hall at 622 Scott St (strategically positioned a block from Amerasia and Riverside, no doubt)

 

The RFQ lays out these principles:

• 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 City government and meant to last a century or more for future generations.

 

https://www.covingtonky.gov/news/2022/09/06/city-seeks-architectural-firm-for-new-city-hall

2 hours ago, Pdrome513 said:

Covington issues RFQ for new City Hall at 622 Scott St (strategically positioned a block from Amerasia and Riverside, no doubt)

 

The RFQ lays out these principles:

• 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 City government and meant to last a century or more for future generations.

 

https://www.covingtonky.gov/news/2022/09/06/city-seeks-architectural-firm-for-new-city-hall

 

* should also have a tunnel to the Lee's chicken next door, for ease of access for city workers...

19 hours ago, Pdrome513 said:

622 Scott St

RIP Mad Hatter - Hopefully some kind of memorial plaque is placed in the new city hall to commemorate the amazing run of punk rock that ran through that place. 

 

Anyway glad to see them move forward on a permanent location because the Pike street location has always felt awkward. As much as the urbanist in me knows it's wrong... I really love Lee's and selfishly don't want that location to go away - long live the sauce bar.

Could city hall have some height to it? If I remember correctly that’s a pretty small lot. 

1 hour ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Could city hall have some height to it? If I remember correctly that’s a pretty small lot. 

Does the project include both 620 (92'x190') and 622 (42'x190') Scott? Or just 622 Scott?

^Both 620 and 622

134'x190' = 25,460 sq ft = 0.58 acres

Metal siding starting to go up. I think I forgot that the building will be black which should be interesting looking. I won't judge until it's finished, hopefully the oil canning can be minimized but I do worry about thin, hot aluminum on a such a large surface. I'm at least confident it will add needed variety to Covington's skyline which is currently all pink/brown Corporex and the white/blue ascent. 

 

54 minutes ago, ucgrady said:

Metal siding starting to go up. I think I forgot that the building will be black which should be interesting looking. I won't judge until it's finished, hopefully the oil canning can be minimized but I do worry about thin, hot aluminum on a such a large surface. I'm at least confident it will add needed variety to Covington's skyline which is currently all pink/brown Corporex and the white/blue ascent. 

 

Hopefully it will last and won’t be heavily dented and faded in a few years. 

3 minutes ago, Ucgrad2015 said:

Hopefully it will last and won’t be heavily dented and faded in a few years. 

I am more concerned about the amount of cooling that will have to happen in the summer for the residence in the building. The black is very cool looking, but man that is going to be an oven in the summer...

Edited September 9, 20222 yr by savadams13

Some cool photos of DBL Law's new office space in Covington:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/09/20/dbl-law-headquarters.html

 

Covington out out an RFQ for a new City Hall (at 622 Scott Street) and the final 3 are an interesting group. 

 

- Gensler & WorK Architecture & Design

- SHP & Behnisch Architeckten

- Brandstetter Carroll

 

I'm very curious about the international firms Gensler and Behnisch getting on board for such a small project but I'm excited to see what comes out of it. I have no idea how this stays in the city's expected budget either, but that's for someone else to worry about... 

If they knock down that Lee's next door, I will PERSONALLY DESTROY THEM.

The Lee's and it's delightful sauce bar is staying. Is it the best use of an urban block? No. Do I love Lee's and have I patronized that location a hundred+ times (especially when Mad Hatter was next door and before other options existed around the Madison theatre)? Yes. 

Tapestry Ridge apartments in Covington wrap up construction

 

The transformation of Northern Kentucky University’s former Covington campus into luxury apartments with views of the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati is nearly complete.

 

Arlington Properties Inc., a Birmingham, Ala.-based real estate development, construction and property management company, has been building Tapestry Ridge on the roughly 38-acre site at 1401 Dixie Highway. The development will include a total of 267 apartments.

 

William Morris, vice president of development at Arlington Properties, said Tapestry Ridge is wrapping up construction this month. The apartment community is already 48% leased.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/11/22/tapestry-ridge.html

 

On 9/6/2022 at 5:48 PM, Pdrome513 said:

Covington issues RFQ for new City Hall at 622 Scott St (strategically positioned a block from Amerasia and Riverside, no doubt)

 

The RFQ lays out these principles:

• 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 City government and meant to last a century or more for future generations.

 

https://www.covingtonky.gov/news/2022/09/06/city-seeks-architectural-firm-for-new-city-hall

Covington Pet Peeve: The fact that so many people, Google Maps, and even city officials call it Scott Street. At no point on its entire length do the street signs read Scott Street. It is Scott Boulevard.

I've lived most of my life in Covington or adjacent areas and no one has ever called it Scott Boulevard. I think this is because 1. It is not a boulevard and actually is less boulevard-y that Greenup with it's tree lined corridor and 2. Scott Street is alliterative, and only two syllables, making it faster and nicer to say.