Details, renderings of Newport Ovation revealed

Newport leaders recently announced plans for a major development, originally planned over a decade ago.

Ovation, which sits on a 25-acre site along the Ohio and Licking Rivers in Newport, near the Covington Fourth Street Bridge and newly completed connector of Route-9, will house shops, restaurants, a riverfront park and a $40 million dollar concert venue managed by AEG Presents/PromoWest.

"Ovation, from the time we first envisioned it, was always intended to be a multi-use development that, as people say today, was work, live and play," said Tom Banta, managing director of Covington-based Corporex Companies, LLC.

Banta said that with 900 residences planned for the development, the concert venue helped tie in the vibrancy needed to keep the development inclusive and thriving.

The concert venue that is expected to draw up to 400,000 people a year to the development, hotels are part of the plan as well.

"There's probably going to be three hotels on the site," he said. "We're looking at a boutique kind of concept right now for the first one."

Corporex is still seeking approval from some Newport and Campbell County commissions and boards for the project, but Banta said thus far the project has garnered overwhelming support. The first project will involve the removal of existing parking lots and building deep foundations to make way for a two-story parking garage. The concert venue and other future buildings will be built on top of the garage.

When completely built in 8 to 10 years, the total investment for the project is expected to near $1 billion. However, concerts in the new music venue are expected by the end of 2020.

"I think it certainly has the opportunity to be the kind of development that draws national attention," Banta said. "It's exciting times in Northern Kentucky."

Via FTM Media Partner, WCPO.