Corporex looking for help to build Ovation

Developer Bill Butler thinks retailers undervalue urban areas in Northern Kentucky.

This includes the 13-acres his Corporex company owns at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Newport. During a high-profile, 2006 press conference, officials hailed Ovation as a residential and commercial development where residents could live, work and play. Yet, nine years later not much else has happened. The former site of a public housing complex that was razed to make way for Ovation is now a field of grass and weeds in the middle of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky urban landscape.

That's one of the reasons why Butler is seeking an outside developer to help build the $1 billion project. Butler said he believes a new developer might be able to attract more retailers to the site. Three potential developers have already shown interest, he said.

"I think Ovation is a unique and uniquely misunderstood opportunity for retail of a multitude of types," Butler told the Enquirer Wednesday. "The area in Northern Kentucky continues to be underserved. There are 360,000 people here just in the immediate surrounding area, in the three-county area of Northern Kentucky."

Butler blamed the recession and the state's delay of building the Ky. 9 extension into Newport. The Kentucky highway department this spring will start building the project that will take Ky. 9/AA Highway from Newport's border with Wilder through the Ovation site to the Taylor-Southgate Bridge.

"The residential multi-family (housing) part is a slam dunk, but we really need to get the retail part pinned down," Butler said. "The retail part would generate the most amount of taxes to support the infrastructure."

Tops on Butler's list for retailers is a premium outlet store and a supermarket.

Although the project has been underway for nearly a decade, Butler said bringing on a new developer doesn't necessarily mean Corporex will walk away from the project.

Newport City Manager Tom Fromme remains confident that the project will be completed. If Corporex needs to bring on another developer, that's OK him.

"Many people ask, 'Do you think this development will occur?' Absolutely," Fromme said. "I talk to developers on an ongoing basis that are interested in doing development in the city. There's no doubt it's going to get developed, by either Corporex or someone else. It's too good of a location."

Any new developer would have to conform to the original vision of the massive project, Butler said. The proposal for Ovation includes 108 townhomes, 726 condos, 192 senior housing units, 1.2 million square feet of office, 300,000 square feet of retail space, a 3,000-seat showroom, two hotels and 6,200 parking spaces.

Corporex officials have said in the past that they could start building as soon as the road is being built through the site. That could still happen if a new developer comes on board, Butler said. The Kentucky highway department expects that portion of the roadway could begin by the end of the year.

At this point, there's still no date to break ground on Ovation. It's up to the state to build Ky. 9 through Newport.

"I'm hopeful something will happen here soon," Butler said. "It is highly dependent on the state following through on the expedited schedule. They are only six years late with what they promised."