The Kentucky General Assembly will allocate $125 million in one-time funds to Northern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky for a new collaborative campus in Covington to house Chase College of Law and the NKU branch of the UK College of Medicine, President Cady Short-Thompson announced Monday in an email. 

The appropriation for the campus, which will be named the Commonwealth Center for Biomedical Excellence, is part of House Bill 1. The legislation doles out more than $2.7 billion from the state’s $3.7 billion budget reserve trust fund for infrastructure projects over the next two years, according to LINK nky.

The campus is set to be located on Covington’s 23-acre Central Riverfront site. It’s just one piece of the puzzle for the plot of land, which the city plans to make significant moves to develop, according to a press release.

“The new Chase Law location will be within two miles of Greater Cincinnati’s 25 largest law firms and five federal and state courthouses. It will give Chase Law immediate access to unmatched training and career development resources, and its location in the urban core will enhance student recruiting,” Short-Thompson wrote in her email.

The campus is expected to host about 600 graduate students, faculty and staff.

The president highlighted other funds NKU received in this year’s biennial budget, as well. Those include: 

• $52 million to renovate Landrum Academic Center.
• $220 million over the next two years for the performance-funding model pool, which represents a $25 million increase over the last biennium’s allotment. NKU will compete for a portion of these funds. 
• $20 million to improve online programs.
• $21 million to renovate and expand the Civic Center to be leased to the NKY Medical Examiner and Crime Lab.
• $36 million to renovate and expand Scudamore Stadium.
• $2.6 million in funds for the Kentucky Center for Mathematics.