A former gift shop in downtown Bowling Green is being converted into a state driver’s license office.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority, board members approved a lease agreement with the state government for a space in the Stadium Park Plaza development.

While the exact use is not spelled out in the lease, authority members have been told the space will be used for some services related to driver’s licenses. A call to the state office handling the lease arrangement was not returned as of press time.

The 1,726-square-foot space is adjacent to the Starbucks coffee shop on the ground floor of the authority-owned Stadium Park Plaza and was the former home of Topper Corner – a gift shop affiliated with Western Kentucky University. Topper Corner closed earlier this year.

The year-long lease is for a little more than $20 a square foot, which equates to almost $3,000 a month, according to authority attorney Scott Bachert.

He said the state will be doing some work to get the space ready with the expectation that the facility will open in a few months.

Also Thursday, board members got a brief update on 2017 Tax Increment Financing district revenues that will be returned to local entities.

The authority manages Bowling Green’s downtown TIF district, where entities that invest in projects get a portion of their taxes generated by the growth returned to them.

Last year, the entities received about $2.7 million from the state. While the state government is still calculating the exact amount to be returned locally, authority board Chairman Doug Gorman said preliminary indications are that the amount returned locally will be substantially larger than last year’s as the TIF district continues to see strong growth.

The state has returned more than $13.2 million to local entities since the local TIF district – formally known as Western Kentucky University Gateway to Downtown Bowling Green – was started in 2008.