COVINGTON, Ky. — Covington's city government hasn't been stationed in its own building for the last 50 years, instead renting spaces throughout Covington, but the city could be on a path to change that.
On Tuesday, the Covington board of commissioners voted to allot city officials to enter into negotiations with Brandstetter Carroll, Inc., an architecture firm with locations in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Lexington, Ky. and Charleston, SC, and Elevar Design Group, headquartered in Cincinnati.
The goal, according to the city, is to create a permanent home for city hall on a now-empty lot at 620-622 Scott Boulevard.
Elevar Design Group has worked on several local spaces, such as TQL Stadium, RiverHaus and renovations made to local schools across the region. Brandstetter Carrol, Inc. specializes in landscape architecture and planning and city buildings, according to the company's website.
The firms have worked together for the last 10 years, designing nearly 200 public buildings including the Kenton County Administration Building, Campbell County Administration Building, Newport City Hall, the Kenton County Jail and the Delhi Township Town Center, according to Andrew Wilhoite, Covington's city director of special projects, in a press release.
If the city enters a contract with the two firms, it will begin a design phase, which should take the rest of 2023, the city said. Covington officials hope to begin construction in early 2024 and move in to their new home in early 2025.
In the last 50 years, Covington's city hall has lived in five different locations; ten years ago, it moved from its Madison Avenue location to 20 W. Pike Street, to make way for the development of Hotel Covington in the former Coppins Department Store.
It's been renting a space in the former J.C. Penney location on W. Pike ever since, though the facility has gotten tight, the city said.
"Despite a retrofit, the building — a former J.C. Penney department store — remains inadequate for government functions," reads the press release from the city. "It lacks office space, meeting rooms for large groups, technology, a lobby area and even a lunch room. Desks are jammed into hallways, closets and common areas. People who work together are physically separated. And citizens who come to pay bills or apply for permits must conduct their business out in the open. Furthermore, the commission chambers is poorly lit and has terrible acoustics."
In 2019, Covington Mayor Joe Meyer and city officials began a citizen engagement process that identified necessary factors in building a new, permanent city hall building. With citizen input, the city crafted a list of boxes the new building must tick to be the home of city hall:
- Foster multiple connected venues for a broad civic exchange
- Locate the new building at a hub of Covington public life
- Provide reasons to go to city hall
- Build up Covington's public square
- Be a center of design and culture
In 2020, Covington bought a vacant lot on Scott and, in late 2022, acquired another nearby parcel to add to the space.
Wilhoite said 13 different architectural firms submitted applications to work on the new building; a committee of city staff, residents and business owners spent three months vetting the applicants, though the press release did not elaborate on how much influence this committee had over the final decision.
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