Gateway Plans New $82M Urban Campus

Gateway Community and Technical College in Kentucky has released its plans for a new Urban Campus in downtown Covington, a project estimated to cost $81.5 million over the next decade. Already being called a "game-changer", the prospect of thousands of students, plus teachers and staff, flooding downtown streets makes the Gateway urban campus the city's most important development project since Corporex Cos. developed the RiverCenter office complex in the early 1990s.

"Today's announcement has been 10 years in the making. It is the culmination of many hours of collaboration, negotiation, discussion, and visioning by dozens and dozens of community leaders, government officials, concerned citizens, Gateway's board of directors, faculty, staff and students, the Gateway Foundation board, and our planning consultants,” said Gateway President and CEO Ed Hughes. "We were encouraged early by the community to think big."

It's expected that the new campus, which will be created primarily in a six-block area from 4th to 7th Streets and from Greenup to Madison Avenue in Covington, will serve an additional 2,500 urban students per year by 2014.

"The increase in students, faculty and staff will boost the local economy with more jobs, retail and restaurants. It will invigorate Covington's Madison Avenue corridor and restore it to the vibrant district it once was," said Covington Mayor Chuck Scheper.

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Covington City Hall to Convert to $25M Luxury Boutique

Aparium Hotel Group and The Salyers Group announced this week that it would partner with the City of Covington, KY to develop The Hotel Covington inside what is currently city hall. According to a WCPO report, plans call on keeping the historic shell of the building, which originally housed a fancy department store that catered to the well-to-do of the time. The City of Covington, under the leadership of Mayor Chuck Scheper, will invest the 102-year-old former Coppin's Department Store building, now home to City Hall and state offices, to the project. The $25 million project is expected to create approximately 125 jobs and foster economic development along Madison Avenue, a wedding district already established in downtown Covington.

"We're very excited about this project," said Covington City Manager Larry Klein. "We think the impact is going to be huge. It's going to be great for the small businesses already in the area. It's going to attract more small businesses as we bring in out of town people and people who live here."

"This property ideally suits our commitment to delivering Translocal Hospitality in urban markets," said Mario Tricoci, CEO of Aparium Hotel Group. "The Hotel Covington will draw inspiration from the local culture and cultivate a following through a sense of civic pride and exciting food & beverage."

Located at 638 Madison Avenue, the seven-story Hotel Covington will have 107 rooms and a signature restaurant and bar. Covington's City Hall will move to another location, which has not been determined, according to the report.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.