Bank of Kentucky Invests $1 Million in Gateway Urban Campus

The Bank of Kentucky, Inc., has committed $1 million to the Gateway Community & Technical College Foundation for use in developing Gateway's Urban Campus in downtown Covington. The gift is the first investment of $1 million or more ever received by the college or the foundation. It is the latest in series of major announcements related to the campus in recent weeks.

The Bank of Kentucky is pleased to make this investment to assist the college in its goal to make higher education more accessible to the residents of the urban core, said Robert W. Zapp, president of The Bank of Kentucky. We believe strongly in the concept of the Urban Campus and the positive influence it will have on the revitalization and future growth of the city and the region, as well as the opportunities it will provide for students.

In recognition of the banks investment, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System board of regents, at its Dec. 7 meeting, approved Gateway's request to name an existing facility at the Boone Campus The Bank of Kentucky Classroom and Training Center.

The colleges board of directors and the Gateway Foundation supported the KCTCS boards action. The center is the first building in the history of the college to be named in recognition of a significant contribution by a donor or in honor an individual. As the Urban Campus takes shape over the next few years, Gateway also will name a significant interior space for The Bank of Kentucky.

We are deeply grateful for The Bank of Kentucky's strong endorsement of the Urban Campus through this generous gift, said Ed Hughes, Gateway president and CEO. Gateway and The Bank of Kentucky are both regional institutions with stakeholders across the depth and breadth of the area. We are pleased to recognize this gift now by putting The Bank of Kentucky name on a building at the Boone Campus and later on an appropriate interior space at the Urban Campus.

The Bank of Kentucky Classroom and Training Center at the Boone Campus is a 30,000-square-foot building that houses Gateway's Workforce Solutions Division, general classrooms, industrial labs and meeting rooms often used by a variety of Northern Kentucky organizations and employers. Workforce Solutions collaborates extensively with local business and industry to provide workforce preparation and customized training for businesses and incumbent workers.

The building opened in 2005 and was the first constructed specifically for Gateway. The facility has become a hub for our business and industry partners across the Northern Kentucky region, Hughes said. He said the college will conduct a rededication ceremony at the Boone building in the spring.

Gateway Community & Technical College is a linchpin of economic development in the Northern Kentucky region, and we are particularly pleased to have our name associated with the classroom and training facility, Zapp said.

Gateway announced Nov. 14 the details of a Master Plan for an $82 million Urban Campus in downtown Covington to replace an aging facility on Amsterdam Road on the city's western edge. The new downtown campus will complement Gateway's existing locations in Edgewood and Florence.

The Urban Campus plan features the adaptive re-use of nine existing properties Gateway is purchasing in Covington. Those properties, along with new construction, provide an overall framework that will transform the regions urban core into a vibrant college community with opportunities for economic development as well as educational improvement, Hughes said.

Lee Flischel, chairman of the Gateway Foundation board, and Zapp are leading the Campaign for Gateway, which is seeking to raise at least $5 million to begin the early stages of the Urban Campus and additional private funding during the next three to five years.

The Bank of Kentucky investment adds significant momentum to the foundations ongoing effort to raise the funds necessary to make the Urban Campus a reality, Flischel said. We appreciate the generosity of one of our regions leading corporate citizens and the example it sets for others who will benefit from the dramatic difference the Urban Campus will make on the economic vitality of Covington.

The banks board of directors and I hope that our investment will indeed be a catalyst for others in the region to invest in the college, Zapp said.