The next couple of years are bringing big changes to northern Kentucky and specifically the city of Covington.

One of those changes will be the opening of the Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence, which will become home to both a law and medical school.

Our Emily Prince has more on the recent groundbreaking.

Leaders and society have to invest in the future, not dwell on the past.

State Senator Chris McDaniel addressed the crowd at last week's groundbreaking of the Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence, an eight story building in downtown Covington that will soon house include Chase College of Law and the Northern Kentucky campus of UC's College of Medicine.

Right now, those programs are located on Pnc's campus in Hammond Heights.

The Kentucky General Assembly footed a $125 million bill in 2024 to make this project happen.

McDaniel, who chairs the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, is largely credited with the development.

The Northern Kentucky senator said he believes the new campus will make the colleges more competitive and attractive to students.

This building represents that it is an example of cooperation that leads to excellence and bringing some of the best and the brightest from around the nation here into downtown Covington.

Kenton County Judge Executive Chris Coleman said.

The new facility will allow the medical school to increase its enrollment by 40%.

More medical students means more opportunities to train, practice and ultimately build careers right here in Northern Kentucky.

And for law school students.

Inc.

President Katy Short Thompson said the location is well suited for legal training.

Right here we are within two miles of greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky's 25 largest law firms, and five federal and state courthouses.

Some leaders in Campbell County aren't as thrilled about the project, however.

State Representative Matthew Lehman, a Democrat who represents Campbell County, said the way the project came about left a bad taste in his mouth.

When we allocate those types of funds as a general assembly, we want to see real economic development and new jobs.

And unfortunately, as of today, it doesn't work to be much more than moving to existing programs from Pnc's main campus and highlights to Covington, which is about six miles away.

At Thursday's groundbreaking, President Short Thompson addressed the move.

She referenced that Chase College of Law used to be in Covington during the 1970s.

Chase was in Covington for many years and is much older than NKU itself.

And we are not losing chase.

We are creating an exciting new dynamic and even larger NKU footprint in our community.

There are still concerns over the loss of tax revenue for Campbell County and who's in charge of the project.

The Northern Kentucky Port Authority and Economic Development Organization is considered the project manager, and received the $125 million.

When you go this route, you avoid public accountability or avoid a lot of transparency.

It's it's, you know, the these decisions got made in a way that is not regular.

Christine Russell executive director of the Northern Kentucky Port Authority, says the legislation that made this project possible specifically delegated the Port Authority as the lead.

This is a big project, and we have at the table Kenton County.

We have Northern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, and working in partnership with the city of Covington, all to move this forward.

Russell said construction on the downtown project should begin in July for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Emily Prince.

Thank you.

Emily.

If all goes according to plan, the new center will be complete in 2028.