51 KY 3100, I live between Clays Mill and Harrodsburg Road just north of New Circle. I work for the state as a facilities engineer. Our office oversees capital projects (design and construction) for many state agencies, including KHP.
The KHP arena has been in the long-term plans for some time but construction had not been funded. The design is essentially complete (design money was funded in a previous budget). I expect this project will have a high priority in the budget to be enacted this spring.
Where will the money come from? Last budget the legislature effectively maxed out the credit card (i.e. funded almost all of the construction projects from bond funds). Don't know how the budget will shape up this time... we don't see much advance information in our office. The agencies submit their project priority lists which eventually are distilled to the governor's proposed budget, which may or may not be what actually gets approved by the legislature.
But I highly suspect the KHP project will be funded.
I'm not sure if this facility is expected to pay for itself (don't laugh... some do) or will be subsidized.
