Commercial development projects — one in Boone County and another in Campbell County — have received financial help from a Kentucky Economic Development Financial Authority grant program.
Gov. Andy Beshear visited the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on Tuesday to present a combined $5.5 million worth of funding for the North Cargo Village and Southern Campbell County Industrial Park projects.
The funding was part of the Kentucky Product Development Initiative — a program that financially supports upgrading infrastructure on industrial sites throughout the state in the hope that the improvements will help spur economic activity. The Cabinet for Economic Development oversees the initiative.
“What you’re seeing in Northern Kentucky — really across Kentucky — is a level of cooperation and regionalism that is really special,” Beshear said. “It’s pretty new, and it helps us compete not just against other states, but the rest of the world.”
North Cargo Village project
The North Cargo Village will be comprised of three cargo forwarding facilities, three freighter facilities and a sorting facility constructed on an unused, 15-acre rental car parking lot located north of CVG’s campus. In December, the Kentucky Economic Development Financial Authority approved a $3.6 million incentive for the project.
North Cargo Village would enable CVG to expand and diversify its cargo operation by allowing the airport to ship large parcels and high-value goods that don’t have time-sensitive delivery requirements. CVG outsources this type of cargo storage to larger airports in the Midwest like O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
Some of the villages features include six aircraft ramp positions, 24 truck docks, 76 parking stalls, an 80,000 square-feet facility , an 8,000 square feet mezzanine office, and a total of 237,300 square feet of space for ground storage equipment staging, storage or maintenance.
The North Cargo Village project coincides with CVG’s growth as a cargo airport. Over the past five years, the airport’s cargo operation experienced 70% growth, according to CVG’s website.
“There’s another piece of the cargo business that we are missing and that’s for your general air cargo freight,” CVG CEO Candace McGraw said. “It’s only right now about 5% of our business. We think about those large packages, those large goods that are shipped that are not necessarily as time sensitive — they don’t have to be on your front door tomorrow. Well, we need a place to accommodate that business.”
Freight forwarding facilities act as intermediaries between shipping companies and the final destination of the cargo. In essence, companies offload their cargo, then forwarders organize and coordinate the freight’s movement on behalf of the shipper.
Amazon and DHL, the two largest shipping companies operating out of CVG, focus on the express shipping of smaller packages. With the addition of the North Cargo Village, CVG would be able to store and reroute larger freight like cars.
CVG estimates the North Cargo Village will generate between $1.6 million to $2.4 million worth of economic impact, according to a fact sheet distributed by the airport. Additionally, CVG predicts the project could create between 40 and 60 full-time jobs.
Southern Campbell Industrial Park
The Southern Campbell Industrial Park sits directly next to the Tyson Foods — Claryville Plant located south of Alexandria.
The nearly $2 million worth of KPDI funding for the project will go toward supporting the site development. The Southern Campbell Industrial Park was the first site to receive approval during the second round of the KPDI grants.
The Campbell County Fiscal Court, along with the Campbell County Economic Progress Authority, will assist with the development of the speculative site.
In total, the site is over 40 acres and possesses onsite utilities and immediate access to US-27.
“We are in the business, with this check and our efforts, of providing a larger platform for their (Tyson Foods) expansion — if that’s the way things go — or attracting neighbor for them that they could be aligned with their purposes, their business purposes,” Campbell County Judge/Executive Steve Pendery said.
The post Beshear announces $5.5M in development projects in Boone, Campbell counties appeared first on LINK nky.
