Local leaders praise higher education relocation to Covington

State Senator Chris McDaniel believes the relocation of the Chase College of Law and the University of Kentucky School of Medicine will be a boon for the Covington riverfront.

The $500 million mixed-use development, which aims to transform the former location of the now-demolished IRS processing center, is well underway. Construction crews are out and about leveling land, installing a new street grid, and filling out horizontal infrastructure.

While reconnecting the street grid may be the project’s most eye-catching feature, the relocation of two higher education institutions arguably serves as its foundation and anchor.

At the Covington Business Council’s monthly luncheon on May 15, McDaniel, a Republican from Taylor Mill, was joined by NKU Chase Law School Dean Judith Daar and UK Medical Center’s NKU Campus Associate Dean Holly Dannemann to discuss the importance of the school’s relocation to the site.

In 2024, the Kentucky General Assembly allocated $125 million in state funds to finance the relocation of both schools. The money will flow through the Kenton County Fiscal Court and Northern Kentucky Port Authority, according to the City of Covington website.

McDaniel, chair of the Kentucky Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said he advocated for placing the school at the site due in part to its proximity to major businesses in Covington’s urban core.

“Whether you’re in CTI, or Bexion or Gravity, or the fact that we’ve got the life sciences lab coming on, or the law firms, the federal courthouse, the other things–it just sits in such great proximity to the urban core,” he said.

From McDaniel’s perspective, relocating the schools into Covington’s urban core will attract young students and professionals to Northern Kentucky.

In previous conversations with McDaniel, Daar said the senator understood the value of co-locating two higher education institutions within a single real estate development. She noted that cities nationwide are undertaking similar efforts to integrate educational institutions into urban settings, such as The Pearl in Charlotte, North Carolina and the University of Missouri–Kansas City Health Sciences District.

“There are other cities in which this is happening; Baltimore, D.C. and others,” she said. “I think it is an important trend of understanding the connections that law and medicine have to each other.”

Another key aspect of the project is its potential to expand each institution’s educational reach. Additionally, Dannemann said that relocating will place medical students closer to medical facilities, such as St. Elizabeth and biotech firms, including Gravity Diagnostics.

“It will allow us to expand from the very beginning, from a preclinical perspective, by moving our site to the Covington Riverfront,” she said. “Additionally, outside of the scope of medicine, it also opens opportunities for potentially other healthcare entities to also become a part of this endeavor as well.”

Looking ahead, Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann said project stakeholders are collaborating to determine the final site, budget and timeline.

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