By Greg Paeth
NKyTrib senior reporter
If you feel like you’re running out of places to spend your money on Mall Road in Florence, just be patient for a while.
The last sizeable piece of undeveloped land along Mall Road has been sold and three substantial companies that will be more than willing to process your credit card transactions are planning projects in a multi-million-dollar development that will be known as Florence Heights.
The home improvement chain Menard’s, big box wholesaler Costco, and Dave & Buster’s, which offers food, drink and entertainment, all have plans to build on a 60-plus acre tract that had been known as the Berkshire Farm. The property is situated between I-71/75 and Mall Road just north of U.S. 42.
All three companies have locations north of Cincinnati near the I-275 belt that circles the metropolitan area. But the Florence stores will be their first facilities in Northern Kentucky. Costco hopes to be open no later than Christmas of this year while the Menard’s store won’t be completed until the spring of 2016, said Florence Mayor Diane Whalen.
The timetable for Dave & Buster’s was not available.
The development plan calls for two additional commercial uses – probably restaurants – on property that fronts on the east side of Mall Road. The developer and the city said they hope to attract restaurants that are new to the Florence area.
Joe Berkshire, whose family has owned the property since 1870, had high praise for Whalen and the city staff. “They did an excellent job putting it all together,” said Berkshire, who declined further comment.
The recently completed rebuild of the entire Mall Road corridor between Ky. 18 and U.S. 42, a $13 million project, may have stimulated new interest in developing what had been farmland, Whalen said.
The state agreed to pay for much of the redesign of the road, sidewalk construction and other amenities because the Mall Road corridor is a money maker, Whalen said.
“We send $35 million a year in sales tax to Frankfort and this reinvestment is going to produce additional revenue,” Whalen said.
The property is the only sizeable tract on Mall Road that has not been developed for commercial use in the nearly 40 years since the Florence Mall opened in 1976 and touched off explosive growth in what had been a sleepy little suburb.
Mayor Whalen’s late father, C.M. “Hop” Ewing, was the mayor of Florence when the mall opened. He was the city’s top elected official from 1961 to 1981.
Whalen said the new construction by the developers as well as the investments by the state and the city may stimulate some fresh investment by other property owners whose buildings are somewhere around 40 years old.
New road construction will open up access to the site. The road will run from U.S. 42, near the southbound exit ramp from I-71/75, and then parallel the interstate before it bends to the west and intersects with Mall Road, where another stoplight will be installed.
“We wanted to make sure that all of the infrastructure was in place so we wouldn’t have any traffic bottlenecks,” said Joshua Wice, director of community and business development for Florence. The city is contributing about $3 million for the road while the developer is paying a similar amount, Wice said.
The state also is moving ahead with a previously planned project that calls for the construction of a new southbound entrance ramp to I-71/75 off of the existing interchange that is located about a half mile north of the Berkshire tract. That interchange now includes a southbound exit ramp for the Florence Mall as well as an entrance ramp for northbound vehicles. Wice said the new entrance ramp was estimated to cost about $1.8 million. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year.
Anchor Properties, based in Covington, is the primary developer of the project.
The company acquired the property in the fall from the Berkshires for $10 million and then sold parcels to Costco for $6.4 million and Menard’s for $3.5 million, according to a couple of people who are familiar with the project.
“This will be a new addition to the Northern Kentucky marketplace and it’s good for Florence because it helps the city maintain its leadership in retailing,” said Matthew Grever, Anchor’s senior vice president for development. “It’s going to be a great addition for Florence and only the second Menard’s in Kentucky.”
Site work has begun for the Costco, which has cleared all of the regulatory hurdles, according to Jerald Noran, chief building official for the Boone County Building Department. The store will have 160,000 square feet and will be built at a cost of $18 million, Noran said. Plans also call for the construction of a gas station that will cost about $1.1 million.
Noran said the Menard’s building will be slightly larger than Costco’s at 162,500 square feet. The Dave & Buster’s building will be 30,000 square feet.
Noran said cost estimates were not available for either structure because they have not yet applied for building permits. He said the developers are now working with the Boone County Planning and Zoning Department on the plans.
The project included moving what was left of a family cemetery to the Hopeful Lutheran Church Cemetery on Hopeful Church Road, which is not far from Mall Road. Although the property had been owned by the Berkshire family for about 145 years, deceased members of the family were not buried there, the mayor said.
Costco, based in Issaquah, WA, describes itself as a warehouse club and traces its roots to a store it opened in San Diego in 1976. The company now has 671 stores, including 474 in the U.S. It is one of the country’s largest retailers.
Menard’s, with a home office in Eau Claire, WI, is family owned and was founded in 1960. The company has 280 stores in 14 states. Home Depot and Lowe’s are a couple of its primary competitors.
Dave & Buster’s is headquartered in Dallas and was founded in 1982. The publicly traded company has 73 locations in 30 states.
Greg Paeth, former reporter and editor with The Kentucky Post, is senior reporter for nkytribune.com. He is a Covington resident.