City staff identifies 4.17-acre Coldstream site for police training academy; explains funding split with UK

Commissioner Ford told the council that staff have identified a 4.17-acre tract in the Coldstream Research Campus as a prospective site for a new police training academy and that the city intends to move quickly into design over the next 12 months to have a shovel-ready project when construction funding is available.

Ford said the acreage is valued at $210,000 per acre based on comparable offers worked out with University of Kentucky partners. He described the standard arrangement with UK: 50 percent of proceeds from a land sale are reinvested by UK into Coldstream, while the city retains the remaining 50 percent for local development. In the memorandum reviewed with council, Ford said the split equates to $437,850 for UK and $437,850 for the city. Staff also noted that the city engaged a brokerage firm to market the properties and that the broker fee is 6 percent of the land cost, contributing to a total transaction activity the staff estimated at $928,242.

Council members asked about the rationale for the 6 percent brokerage fee and the source of acquisition funds. Ford replied the 6 percent is part of the sales and marketing contract the city used for property disposition and that site-acquisition funding would come from FY25 budgeted amounts set aside for site acquisition (approximately $4.5 million budgeted in FY25 for site acquisition activity, per staff comments).

Ford said the site would accommodate the planned 40,000-square-foot facility and associated parking and that the city expects to proceed to design within 12 months.

No formal action or vote on acquiring the Coldstream site was recorded in the work session.