Plans coming together for old Drawbridge Inn site

• Concept includes 2 medical buildings%2C restaurant and retail space%2C multi-family residential units and a hotel%2C but developers haven%27t released details.
• Plans show the project could create 700 full-time jobs and provide new state and local taxes of more than %2499.5 million over a 20-year period.

FORT MITCHELL – Plans for the former Drawbridge Inn site are taking shape about a month after The Christ Hospital closed on a deal to buy 15 acres.

Kentucky economic development officials granted preliminary approval this week of a plan for how the Fort Mitchell site could be developed.

The $135 million, mixed-use development plan filed with the state calls for building:

• Two medical office buildings totaling 200,000 square feet.

• Restaurant and retail space totaling 11,000 square feet.

• Additional retail space totaling 20,000 square feet.

• Multifamily units totaling 150,000 square feet.

• A hotel totaling 60,000 square feet.

Project details have not been released by developers Brandicorp LLC of Bellevue and The Christ Hospital Health Network, other than the hospital system's announcement of plans to build a 75,000-square-foot medical office building with the ability to expand at the site.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority's preliminary approval of the project means it's eligible for possible state revenue incentives, said Jim Parsons, the attorney presenting the project on behalf of the city of Fort Mitchell.

The level of state incentives is undetermined, but that's a step that's coming, with an independent consultant next reviewing the project.

The project could create 700 full-time jobs and provide new state and local taxes of more than $99.5 million over a 20-year period, according to the report filed with the Kentucky Economic Development Financing Authority.

The city of Fort Mitchell plan includes public infrastructure improvements estimated at $40 million, which includes land preparation, parking, road, curb and sidewalk improvements.

The Christ Hospital Health Network announced in early February its purchase of 15 acres that it had been leasing at the former Drawbridge site for the past year. The purchase price was $8.7 million.