The University of Kentucky has been approved by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, and has received preliminary approval from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA), to establish a mixed-use tax increment financing (TIF) district within Coldstream Research Campus.
Office, laboratory, residential, and hospitality developments are planned at Coldstream to meet the eligibility requirements for the district. UK is seeking a private developer to build a new multifamily residential complex and has already negotiated with a separate developer to build a new hotel. Developers for new office and laboratory buildings, including a high-tech incubator, are also being sought.
Coldstream’s development plan in the TIF district calls for $33 million in infrastructure needs, including roads, sidewalks, expansion of utility lines, and shared public areas, including meeting spaces, pedestrian trails and parks. Final state approval from the KEDFA board will determine how much of this public infrastructure can be funded with incremental tax proceeds.
In recent months, Coldstream has worked with Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) to change the zoning definition for the its P-2 zoning, including a name change to the University Research Campus Zone. The new zone definition allows for an increase to the size of buildings and the removal of the former minimum 5-acre lots. Buildings no longer need to be set back 50 feet from interior Coldstream roads, a change which is aimed to make Coldstream more pedestrian friendly. In addition, large green spaces are no longer required around every building but can be aggregated into larger, usable public park areas. The new definition also allows for development of multifamily housing.
UK has also been in talks with LFUCG on a land swap to convey approximately 250 acres to LFUCG, land which would be available for sale to spur local economic development. Two hundred of these acres are farmland adjacent to Coldstream, and the remainder of the acreage is “shovel ready” within the boundaries of the research campus. A memorandum of understanding is in its final form and will go through the LFUCG council in the coming weeks for approval. State and UK Board of Trustees approval has already been received.
“Everything we’ve been doing, from the zoning changes to the land swap and now the TIF district is to accelerate the growth of Coldstream,” said George Ward, executive director of the research park, in announcing the TIF district approval. “These recent changes will provide the social and physical infrastructure needed to attract and grow more businesses in Lexington.”
“The TIF provides the university with the ability to give a developer a shovel-ready site with built-in amenities, as well as ensuring that the cost of infrastructure is kept at a minimum. That enables a developer to build a more dense project than they would have otherwise,” Ward said. “It’s all for job growth.”