Could 2016 be the year for Newport's Ovation?

There's a chance the long-stalled $1 billion Ovation project could break ground in 2016—10 years after the city and developer unveiled it.

Developer Corporex has said the extension of Ky. 9/AA Highway through Newport and the property is crucial.

The state could begin construction on that portion of the highway any day now.

But Corporex Chairman Bill Butler stopped short of a guarantee the new highway will jumpstart the dormant residential and commercial project. So far, only grass has thrived on the 13-acre Ovation site where a public housing complex was demolished in 2006.

"The chances are improved if they get that road built," Butler said. "Then potential developers can see how it is all going to be a very good commercial property."

The proposal for Ovation includes 108 town homes, 726 condos, 192 senior housing units, 1.2 million square feet of office space, 300,000 square feet of retail space, a 3,000-seat showroom, two hotels, and 6,200 parking spaces.

Butler earlier this year said he wants outside developers to build the different portions of the project. No one has taken him up on the offer, he said.

Retail would be the ideal first phase of the project, Butler said. Stores would generate enough tax revenue from the area's tax increment finance district to pour back into the project, he said.

"The revenues generated both in the payroll tax and sales tax are needed to justify the cost of the infrastructure for the garage and other common areas," Butler said.

Urban areas are a tough sale for retailers, Butler said. He hopes the new and improved highway will change that.

"It will generate a larger amount of traffic," Butler said. "The extension will completely change the face of the urban area."

The state began work this year extending the AA Highway into Newport from its current terminus in Wilder. The state this year started the first phase between 12th and Ninth streets along Lowell Street.

The second phase—the one the developer says is most crucial to Ovation—could begin any day, transportation officials said. It will take two years and will involve two roundabouts and a four lane highway between Fifth Street and the Taylor-Southgate Bridge. This will take the highway past Ovation. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet accepted a bid of $8.7 million from Cincinnati-based Prus Construction to build this portion.

When completed, a four-lane highway will stretch from the border with Wilder along Newport's western edge to through the Ovation project to the Taylor-Southgate Bridge. If all goes according to schedule, the middle phase along Lowell between Ninth and Fifth streets would go to bid next year, said Nancy Wood, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 in Northern Kentucky. The AA Highway extension could be done by 2019.

The highway will have a greater impact to Newport beyond Ovation. A developer has already expressed interest in property along other portions of the extension along Lowell Street for a commercial development, said Newport City Manager Tom Fromme. The city has also longed for the owner of the Newport Steel property to do something with the vacant steel mill.  This might make the land valuable enough to spur action, Fromme said.

"I believe it is a great area for mixed use," Fromme said. "I think that's what you'll see, a lot of complimenting uses and commercial office spaces."