By Lorelei Smillie
NKyTribune reporter
The $125 million project to move Campbell County’s law and medical schools to downtown Covington has chosen its new location, but questions remain about the site-selection process.
The project, dubbed the Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence (CCBE), will combine the Salmon P. Chase College of Law and the Northern Kentucky campus of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine into one single facility.
In 2024, officials announced plans to move both schools from the Northern Kentucky University campus to downtown Covington. Early public statements indicated the project would be located at the Covington Central Riverfront (CCR), a 23-acre, city-owned site (the former IRS location) along the Ohio River currently undergoing a nationally-praised redevelopment.
The CCR project is being redeveloped by subdividing the riverfront property into individual parcels sold to multiple developers, with the goal of creating long-term economic revitalization through a new multi-use neighborhood in Covington’s downtown.
In October, Kenton County made the surprising announcement that the CCBE would instead be located on a 1.89-acre site at 11 Rivercenter Blvd., a private lot owned by the Butler Foundation: a decision that marked a sharp departure from earlier plans and raised new questions about the site-selection process.
Origins of the project
In early 2024, former Covington Mayor Joseph Meyer requested $11.5 million in state funding for land acquisition and infrastructure at CCR. That request prompted internal discussions among county officials. In a Jan. 9, 2024 email, Kenton County official John Stanton wrote to Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelman:
“Let’s discuss today. Covington wants $11.5 million for land acquisition and infrastructure at CCR. McD can (1) give them what they want, (2) ignore them, or (3) fund something at CCR that makes sense for them and for him.” (Note: McD refers to state Sen. Chris McDaniel.)
In the months that followed, representatives from Kenton County, the Northern Kentucky Port Authority (a quasi-government entity through which all the funding is funneled), the City of Covington, Chase College of Law, and the UK College of Medicine began coordinating on recommendations to redesign and relocate both schools from Campbell County to a city-owned site in downtown Covington.
On March 28, 2024, the state passed a one-time spending package with $125 million for the CCBE project. According to a detailed analysis by the Lexington-Herald Leader, the process unfolded quickly, secretively and without public input.
Sources say that the county chose to “ignore Covington completely” and told participants in the discussion not to talk to then-Mayor Joseph Meyer at all. Those sources say the mayor was not informed of the change of location plans until just two days before the official “announcement.”
Site selection
As plans for the CCBE moved forward, engineering firm HDR and real estate developer Pizzuti Solutions were tasked with identifying a suitable site in Covington. Their initial search evaluated several properties within city limits, with a particular focus on Site G at the CCR development.
As of January 2026, the City of Covington’s website still displays a CCR site diagram with Site G labeled as “Future home of NKU College of Law and UK College of Medicine NKY Campus.”
On Oct. 30 2025, Kenton County announced in a press release that 11 East Rivercenter Blvd. had been selected as the new location for the Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence.
So why did they switch sites?
According to planning documents obtained by the NKyTribune, Pizzuti outlined several final concerns with Site G, including insufficient parking spaces, the city’s asking price, the limited views of downtown Cincinnati and uncertainty about future nearby development.
Several of those concerns, however, appear to stem from inaccuracies in the site analysis regarding parking and sightlines.
Parking
Planning documents state that the CCBE will need at least 500 parking spaces to serve approximately 600 students and faculty.
For Site G, the city offered to build a private garage with 148 spaces exclusively for the use of the CCBE, priced at an additional $7 million.
Pizzuti objected to the additional price tag.
“This expense would put us well beyond our $125M project budget,” Pizzuti wrote in a May 30 email.
Originally, the proposed budget for the initial request of $250 million from the legislature included a budget of $44 million for parking. That allocation shrank when the project budget was cut in half, and internal county emails later revealed that no funds remained for structured parking.
In a June 13, 2025 email to city officials, Pizzuti wrote:
“At this time the budget accommodates the educational facility, but not the structured parking… we need to figure out a creative solution to the parking.”
The “creative solution” is to have all students and faculty park in existing the Kenton County Garage, which currently serves the Northern Kentucky Convention Center and the general public — and was funded by the state legislature for that purpose.
“The City has received concerns from community partners in relation to parking needs around the selected site, and is committed to addressing the issue collaboratively with the County,” said Dan Wohler, communications manager for the City of Covington, said recently.
In total, the Kenton County Garage has 1,500 spots. Gretchen Landrum, executive director and CEO of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, said the garage is typically about half full, though usage fluctuates. The Convention Center hosts nearly 300 events annually, with some events such as Cincinnati Gymnastics competitions using 1,200 to 1,400 spots for the entire day.
“There are no concerns as far as the garage goes in terms of capacity,” said Meg Erpenbeck, the communications manager for Kenton County. When asked about higher-capacity events that occupy above 1,200 spots, she replied, “I don’t know if that’s ever happened.”
Demand can spike unexpectedly. During this year’s Flying Pig Marathon, construction forced runners to pick up race packets at the Convention Center in Covington instead of Cincinnati, drawing more than 40,000 participants over several days and significantly increasing parking demand.
Landrum said she thinks capacity issues can be managed, but did acknowledge initial uncertainty.
“My understanding for the biomedical center is that they will have some of their own parking,” Landrum said.
According to the purchase contract for the new Rivercenter site, the CCBE will build “at least one level of semi-underground recessed structured parking containing at least 170 to 200 spaces,” 35 of which will be reserved exclusively for residents of the Towers of Rivercenter, and an additional 35 to be used by residents as well as CCBE occupants.
When construction of the recessed parking structure begins, those residents will also temporarily park in the Kenton County Garage.
Even with roughly 100 spaces on the CCBE property, higher-capacity convention events are expected to conflict with the CCBE’s parking needs.
The issue will intensify when the convention center expands. The City of Covington has reserved land for the convention center’s growth on the CCR site, which has been “long desired by regional officials” according to a 2024 press release from the city.
Sightlines
Another key reason cited for the rejection of Site G involved visibility of the river.
In a July 28, 2025 PowerPoint of site selection updates, Pizzuti wrote that “any building on Block G would need to be taller than 5 stories to be visible,” pointing out that the treeline rises to approximately 60-72 feet above the building. The visibility issue was cited in other documents as a primary disadvantage to Site G.
That assessment ignored a large feature of the CCR development: a podium-style garage that would elevate the entire site up to the top of the levees. The parking garage planned for underneath the site would have been built partially on top of the ground, creating a podium that will place the ground level at approximately 510 feet above sea level. Any development on Site G would rise well above the treeline, and have a clear view of the river.
By contrast, at the new Rivercenter site, the eight-story Embassy Suites by Hilton obstructs most of the view to the river.
The podium design and elevation details have been part of the CCR plans since the beginning of the project, reflecting a lack of accurate evaluation of the CCR site.
Pizzuti Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.
Other objections raised to Site G included its higher upfront cost and concerns about future development. In fact, the city offered Site G in two parcels: G-1, the part of the lot that could house the building (.65 acres), for $2.3 million, a savings of $1.5 million from the appraisal and $1.5 million less than the county ultimately paid for the RiverCenter parcel. Lot G-2 was to be given to the county on a revocable 10-year license at zero cost. It estimated a cost of $7 million for a private garage that would be an extension of a Public Garage planned for adjacent lots. (Read the City of Covington’s framework for the CBME development at CCR.) By comparison, the selected Rivercenter site includes 1.89 acres for the same $3.8 million purchase price, plus the costs of constructing one level of semi-underground structured parking, with other parking needs mostly shifted off-site.
Developers also cited the potential for future development west of the CCR site to obstruct views, although views will also be obstructed at the new location.
With the Rivercenter site selected, attention now turns to how the remaining logistical challenges will be resolved. Parking coordination, convention center growth, and future development near the site will all require ongoing collaboration between the city, county and project developers.