The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority on Thursday approved a new round of state incentives for law firm Bingham McCutchen, which plans to open an operations center in Lexington next year.

The office, which will employ 250, will bring together administrative support staff positions from a range of departments, including finance, human resources, information technology, marketing and operations. The company estimates the opening of the facility will cost $22.5 million.

The KEDFA board approved a $450,000 economic development bond for Lexington officials to give to the company for renovations and other facility needs at the former IBM building at the University of Kentucky's Coldstream Research Campus along Newtown Pike.

The company was also approved for a KEDFA loan of $450,000. While three-year KEDFA loans typically have an interest rate of 1 percent, the KEDFA board approved an exception to make it a no-interest loan "due to the significant impact of the new jobs," according to state documents.

The incentives come on top of $6.5 million previously approved by the KEDFA board, as well as an additional $200,000 under a different program.

The site is expected to open in spring 2013 with work being transferred to it through the following spring. The 250 jobs are expected to pay an average hourly wage of $37 including benefits.

The 250 employees will include some relocating from Bingham offices and others hired from the Lexington area. A company spokeswoman said it's too soon to know how many might be hired locally.

The company plans to hold a job fair Jan. 9 at the Embassy Suites at 1801 Newtown Pike. Learn more at Bingham.com/Careers/Global-Services-Center-Careers.

The law firm has about 1,000 lawyers and more than 900 support staff in 14 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Scott Sloan: (859) 231-1447. Twitter: @HeraldLeaderBiz