Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Covington Priorities: Help Workers, Redevelop Site

Ann Thompson
/
WVXU
Covington City Manager Larry Klein points to the 23 acre IRS site which will become vacant in 2019 and talks about the redevelopment possibilities.

Covington City Manager Larry Klein says he's sympathetic and concerned about the 1,638 jobs slated to be eliminated at the Fourth Street Internal Revenue Service building in 2019 and the city will do everything it can to help them.

Priority number two is to redevelop the prime real estate site, along the Ohio River and close to I-75. He says, "There's always been interest just because of its location to the interstate, to Cincinnati, the metropolitan statistical area."

On Friday Klein stood on the levee built to protect the IRS building from Ohio River flooding. It gave him a good look at the 23 acre property that will become available in a couple of years.

He told WVXU the possibilities are endless. "Whether it's residences or offices like you see at General Electric across the river, or baseball or football stadiums, folks want to be around other folks in dense areas where there is a lot of activity."

A Friday news release from Covington said this:

"There are endless possibilities as to what this property could be used for, including the potential expansion of the Convention Center, residential and commercial development, a large institutional-type user, public space, and of course public parking to accommodate our current and future parking demands, similar to what has developed on the Cincinnati side of the Ohio River in recent years. We realize the need to plan for the future is now.”

Thursday he met with Covington's Mayor and economic development department to talk about the site.

He says it could easily be integrated into new riverfront development, like Riverfront Commons.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.