A new Hyde Park for the Greater Cincinnati region?
That’s the future real estate developer Bill Butler envisions for Northern Kentucky’s urban communities.
“Here is my biggest prediction about that — our Northern Kentucky urban area will become the new Hyde Park for the entire metropolitan region of Greater Cincinnati in time,” said Butler. “That’s what’s happening.”
For his part, Butler has played a role in the revitalization of these communities through his company Corporex, which developed the RiverCenter and Ascent in downtown Covington. It’s also the firm behind Ovation — a $1 billion mixed-use development located along the convergence of the Licking and Ohio rivers in Newport.
On Tuesday morning, the 81-year-old Butler laid out his vision for future development in Northern Kentucky at the NKY Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs ‘N Issues breakfast panel. Butler’s keynote speech was part regional history lesson, part vision for the future.
“After many years, we and our community and others are witnessing the beginning of the reinvigoration of our river cities as people come full circle in their lives and what they want,” Butler said.
From Butler’s perspective, developers historically favored the Cincinnati side of the Ohio River due to its higher elevation. After a devastating flood ravaged the region in 1937, the leaders of Northern Kentucky’s river cities constructed flood walls.
This had unintended consequences, Butler said. The installation of flood walls, while necessary, hid Northern Kentucky’s river cities, separating them from the Ohio River.
“Once the walls were built, then we had another problem because our river shades were orphaned behind the walls and separated from its biggest asset, which is a river,” he said.
Another factor that hindered the growth of Northern Kentucky’s urban core, specifically Covington, was the construction of Interstate 75 throughout the 1950s.
“Our urban core suffered greatly from the period prior to the flood protection and has suffered much since that time from a lack of cohesive leadership, especially over the past 45 to 50 years as the interstate system systematically and negatively impacted our urban centers,” he said.
The development of the interstate highway system created ring roads which, in Butler’s opinion, made it unnecessary to go downtown. As suburbanization increased from the 1950s onward, retail businesses like department stores moved out of Covington in favor of bustling suburban towns like Florence. In turn, this hollowed out Northern Kentucky’s urban core.
Today, Butler said that the trend is reversing, in large part thanks to concerted investments from public and private entities in categories such as housing, education and public health.
Butler predicted a bright future for Northern Kentucky, although it will not come without its challenges. For starters, Butler emphasized the need for improvement in the region’s urban school districts. Northern Kentucky’s urban communities have a higher proportion of economically disadvantaged students. For example, 89.8% of Newport students are considered “economically disadvantaged,” according to the Kentucky Department of Education,
On the housing front, Butler encouraged developers to continue investing back into Covington and Newport, even predicting that the cities will see different types of housing spring up over the coming decades.
“I predict many, many mid-rise residential multi-family, as well as single-family homes and townhomes will be constructed in Covington and Newport using the private monies,” Butler said.
Currently, Northern Kentucky is experiencing a housing shortage as economic and population growth has outpaced available housing supply. Moreover, home and rent prices have risen considerably since the pandemic.
A 2023 housing study commissioned by the Northern Kentucky Area Development District found that the region’s largest need is to build more “workforce housing.” This refers to households whose wages range from $15 to $25 and whose monthly housing costs range between $500 and $1,500.
Lastly, Butler touted the need for regional governments and companies to work together to promote regional unity. Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Brent Cooper echoed Butler’s sentiment, advocating for “cooperation and collaboration.”
“We are part of one region, not just one individual city,” Cooper said. “Cooperation and collaboration is a must.”
