By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

COVINGTON - The city's economic development department wants to create an arts district on parts of West Pike Street and Madison Avenue to include art galleries, restaurants, shops and residential living for artists.

A plan will be presented to the city commission this summer, but local artists and entrepreneurs aren't waiting.

"I originally thought of opening my store in Cincinnati, but I fell in love with Covington," said Christopher Lester, owner of Relic Gifts and Accessories at 15 W. Pike St.

Lester opened his store about two weeks ago. He sells candles, bath products, stationary, local artwork and more.

He thinks the area will grow. The city's renaissance manager, Kathie Hickey, said it will.

"It's going to happen and it needs to happen," said Hickey. "It's a priority with the city."

It's such a high priority that about eight city officials visited the arts district in Paducah, Ky., a couple of months ago to get ideas. Mark Barone, Paducah's artist relocation program coordinator, took the group to an area near downtown Paducah that he said had been referred to as "blighted" for more than 60 years.

Today, four years after the revival started, that area has 40 artists who have set up galleries.

That has spurred other development, too.

"It just keeps building on itself," said Barone, who recruited artists nationwide to relocate to Paducah. "Three or four years ago there wasn't anybody down here. Now you see bike riders and people walking around all the time."

Barone said the city has invested about $800,000 in the revitalization, and should get all of its money back through business licenses and property taxes by the end of the decade.

Hickey said Covington is still in the early stages of starting the district and doesn't know how much it will cost or what the city can afford to invest. Tax-incentive plans and a loan program are in the works.

District boundaries haven't been defined yet, but the city wants to give those who walk through MainStrasse Village a reason to keep going toward downtown.

Mike Amann, 24, is another entrepreneur who believes in the effort. He bought a three-story building at 30 W. Pike St. and has run a screen-printing business - Powerhouse Factories - on the second floor for the last six months. He lives in an apartment on the third and is putting an art gallery on the first. It will open in October with two or three artists.

"I'm really excited about it. I think (the arts district) is going to take time and it will all be a matter of patience," said Grone. "If we can get more people in to create more of an attraction, it will work."