BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Not too long ago, Northern Kentucky's riverfront land lacked luster. Now with an aquarium, entertainment complexes, hotels and office buildings springing up, property values are skyrocketing.
At the time Covington Finance Director Greg Engelman joined the city government in 1976, the downtown was anything but a postcard.
"In general, it just wasn't a very attractive place," he said, "and the businesses that had been there had been there for a really long time and were beginning to get rundown."
Today's Northern Kentucky riverfront real estate picture is something quite different.
"I don't think most people would recognize it from 10 years ago," said Mr. Engelman, who announced last week that he is leaving the city for a job in Butler County. "It doesn't bear any resemblance to what was there."
Neither do the land values. Like the buildings going up on the land, the property values are escalating.
"Certainly, we've seen them go up significantly in the last 10 years," said Kenton County Property Valuation Administrator Mark Vogt.
Mr. Engelman said he remembers the city's paying $3.5 million in 1988 for the land that would become the RiverCenter towers, the Embassy Suites hotel, two parking garages and the new Marriott under construction.
The cost, which included relocation and demolition, was probably more than what the land was worth at the time, he said.
As of Jan. 1, 1998, he said, the assessed valuation was $66,759,500. The developer of RiverCenter, Corporex Cos., leases the air rights from the city, which owns the land. Mr. Engelman said the payroll tax revenues from businesses in the area continue to increase.
The increases in land values and assessed valuations are not limited to the big businesses.
The White Castle on Covington's Third Street jumped from a $154,000 assessed valuation in 1989 to $579,600 this year. Land alone represented $286,000 of the total.
The nearby Ridgeview Lincoln-Mercury dealership jumped from $716,000 in 1989 to $1.68 million this year.
"It's really gone the whole length of the river," Mr. Vogt said.
In Newport, values are increasing as well.
That doesn't surprise Laura Long, the city's economic development director.
"For years it was undervalued," she said.
The city bought the Riverside Automotive property on Fourth Street for $1.9 million. The previous owner, Betty Jo Lehmann, bought it for $709,500 in 1983.
Ms. Long said the price the city paid was fair value.
The dealership is moving to Alexandria. The city plans to use the lot initially for tour bus parking for the the new $40 million riverfront aquarium. The city also owns that land, which is valued at $1.4 million. Long-term plans could include more development. Newport's housing authority plans eventually to relocate families in the 202 public housing units along the flood wall north of Fourth Street. The property, just east of where the Licking River flows into the Ohio, is eyed as a prime spot for future riverfront development.
The plan calls for families to be moved to new or rehabilitated housing in several areas around the city and the demolition of the housing units on the current 12.9-acre site, which was appraised at $7.3 million last year.
Ms. Long said some people complain when the property values increase because it means more taxes.
"But at the same time, you have to protect your investment," she said, "and the only way you can protect your investment is if the value goes up."
