The Urban Louisvillian

2007 Census Estimates

2008-03-22T15:48:00.003-06:00

The US Census Bureau recently released it's estimates for county populations on July 1,2007. Looks like the Louisville area continues it's steady, stable growth pattern.

Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area
Indiana Counties
Clark - 105,035 +1,466
Floyd - 73,064 +494
Washington - 27,920 -142
Harrison - 36,810 -182

Kentucky Counties
Jefferson – 709,264 +7,764
Bullitt – 73,931 +1,080
Oldham - 55,935 +650
Shelby – 40,458 +741
Henry – 15,711 -314
Meade – 27,270 -722
Nelson - 42,517 +415
Spencer - 16,475 +362
Trimble – 8,983 -88
TOTAL: 1,233,373 +11,162

Elizabethtown Metropolitan Statistical Area:
Hardin - 97,949 +862
Larue - 13,661 +49
TOTAL: 111,610 +911

Scottsburg Micropolitan Area
Scott - 23,679 -25

Louisville Combined Statistical Area: 1,368,662

Recent Bad News

2007-11-28T16:52:00.001-06:00

Well, it can't be sunshine and rainbows everyday, now can it? Louisville has had two major announcements in past two weeks, and neither of them have been good.

Medco, the New Jersey-based pharmacy company, has decided that it will not locate a major 1,300 position facility in Louisville; the facility will instead be located in a suburban collar county of Indianapolis. The Medco project would have brought hundreds of very high paying jobs to the area, and would have been a major coup for a city that is branding itself as the next big logistics hub in America.

In choosing to locate in Indianapolis, Medco decided to forgo 30,000,000 dollars in tax incentives offered by the state of Kentucky. Indiana offered substantially less money to Medco at 18,000,000 dollars. It looks like that the key reason Medco picked Indiana over Kentucky was pretty simple: they currently couldn't operate in Louisville under current pharmacy laws. Indiana quickly changed their regulations, while Kentucky put it off at several meetings, until it was too late for Medco. The damage was done, and 1,300 jobs went 100 miles north.

The other major disappointment of the week is the sale of locally headquartered Genlyte to Netherlands-based Royal Phillips Electronics. Genlyte is Louisville's fifth largest publicly held company, and with strong growth, it was poised to break into the Fortune 1000 list. The sale is a serious blow to the local business community.

The silver-lining to this cloud is that Phillips has at least agreed to headquarter this new division of the company in Louisville. Current Genlyte management has all agreed to stay with the newly formed division of Phillips. Phillips has been on a buying spree, of sorts, in the field of light production, having acquired a Massachusetts and Canadian based company in recent months.

More Housing on Main Street

2007-10-29T23:31:00.000-06:00

Downtown continues to show strength as local developers have announced plans to renovate three buildings along West Main Street into housing and restaurants. The buildings, located at the corner of Main and Second, are adjacent to the proposed Iron Quarter retail and office development, as well as across the street from the planned Louisville Arena. Plans call for up to 32 condominium units as well as a locally owned Irish pub.

The structures feature cast iron facades and were constructed in the late 1800's. The facades will be refurbished and brought back to their original states. Bill Weyland, a local developer with tons of experience, has signed on as the principal architect and as a partner. He plans to have the buildings put onto the National Register of Historic Places so he can get federal tax credits for being involved in the project. Weyland has had several major projects in downtown Louisville where he used the federal tax credits to help finance his buildings.

The project will include an interior courtyard as well as maintain entrances on both Main Street and Washington Street in the rear. The buildings will each have a penthouse unit on the top floors, and will feature an industrial/modern look with exposed brick, hard woods, and stone.

After Todd Blue announced his plans for a major retail and office project in several of the buildings adjacent to this project, we knew it would only be a matter of time before the remaining few structures were snatched up for reuse.

Hillard Lyons Work to Begin in November

2007-10-10T15:37:00.000-06:00

A Florida developer with local roots has finally closed on a land deal that gives him control of the Hillard Lyons Center on Fourth Street in downtown. The Hillard Lyons Center, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will soon be seeing a 60 million dollar renovation that will turn the mostly vacant office building into a new Embassy Suites Hotel.

Plans currently call for floors two through six to be renovated into 300 rooms, while the seventh floor would become class A office space. The first floor and basement will see lots of new activity, too. On the first floor plans are calling for three new restaurants and a coffee shop. The restaurants will include a jazz club, a sports bar, as well as a possible nationally branded "upscale" steak or seafood concept. The lobby of the new hotel will retain many of the details from the buildings early years, while bringing in new amenities that today's traveler demand. The basement will include a fitness center with a pool and spa, as well as meeting space and another possible bar.

Earlier this year trouble had been brewing for this project as a current tenant was suing so it would not be forced to leave the building. The tenant is a web-hosting and service company that would have a very difficult time moving their equipment to a new location. However, the developer and the tenant have both said they are in negotiations and fully expect to reach an amicable resolution.

Much of the funding for the new hotel has already been secured through two New York financial-service firms and through the New Markets Tax Credit and several different historic preservation tax credits. The hotel should be up and running by December 2008.

In a second deal, the developer also is eyeballing an adjacent vacant property on Third Street to become a new parking garage and mixed use condo tower. Preliminary talks are being held with different city officials to come to an agreement on who would own and build the parking garage component. PARC has offered to build the structure with tax dollars collected from a TIF district that is being created for the new Cordish Center City proposal. The developer has alluded to the new condo tower being "much taller" than the seven floor Hillard Lyons Center.

Share Louisville

2007-09-21T00:49:00.000-06:00

Share Louisville - Ohio

Louisville recently embarked on a new campaign to brand itself around the country - My favorite of the spots being the Ohio ad. (Sorry Ohio, I like you, but I just think it's kinda humorous)

The point of the ads, I think, is to just get people outside of the region to just think about Louisville as a viable alternative to the booming places in the South, or large Midwestern and Northeastern cities. People aren't going to start packing their bags for Louisville tonight, but it may stick out in their heads if they ever want a new place to live.

What do you think of them? See the rest here at http://www.sharelouisville.org/

Major Work Now Begins at RiverPark Place

2007-09-10T22:40:00.000-06:00

RiverPark Place, the sprawling new mixed-use development along the Ohio River, is now moving into the heavy construction phase. The developer, Poe Companies of Louisville, plans to have the first unit available for occupancy in Summer 2008. Phase 1 of RiverPark Place includes two 16-floor condo towers, a large marina, and other low-rise residential and commercial structures.

Preliminary work at the site, which included the placement of utilities and work done for the foundations, was completed in August. The financial workings of the project have also been finalized. National City Bank has agreed to fund the 75 million dollar loan for the project because the developers have more than 50 percent of the condos reserved by buyers.

The project features more than 150 condos with a wide price range of 129,000 to 1.5 million.

Cordish Plans New “Center City”

2007-08-21T13:17:00.000-06:00

Cordish has done it again. And wow.

The Baltimore-based developer of Fourth Street Live has announced plans for a new 250 million dollar mixed-use development in the heart of downtown. It will encompass the entire Water Company block, and include a renovated Louisville Gardens, and other assorted properties on six separate city blocks. In a word, this is HUGE.

The old Water Company will be the main focus of this development. At the site, Cordish has preliminary plans for buildings equaling over 500,000 square feet of space with a mix of uses. The block will be transformed into a retail hub/entertainment area/neighborhood. The project will consist mainly of building flush with the street with retail and dining options along the first level and residential or office space above it. There will also be a residential mid-rise of at least 15 stories. Officials have declined to mention exactly how many residential units will be included, but did say there would be at least “several hundred”.

In the new development, currently called Center City, Cordish plans to bring in small and medium sized national tenants, including restaurants, retail stores, and a large multiplex theatre. The company has not yet signed any tenants for the project, but they did say that national chains were responding favorably in negotiations. Cordish has hinted, however, that a major department store might not be a part of the final mix.

The other main component of this sweeping project is the renovation of the aging Louisville Gardens. The company plans to revive the space as an arena for a new minor league hockey team, and as a venue for smaller concerts and shows. The Gardens were built in early 20th century, and the building hasn’t been extensively renovated in years.

The price tag for the entire project is estimated at 250 million dollars, which will be completely fronted by Cordish. However, there is a catch. For the project to be built the city has been asked to approve a TIF district covering the area of the new developments and rebating up to 80 percent of future tax growth for 30 years to improve public infrastructure. The TIF dollars would be rebated back to Cordish for their work in rebuilding public amenities, such as streets, alleys, new lighting and streetscapes, and new parking decks. The rebate would be 130 million dollars over the life of the TIF.

The Metro Council will receive the official request for the TIF district on Thursday, and it is expected to breeze through the council. It will also have to be approved by state officials in Frankfort, which have historically rubberstamped municipal decisions in this type of situation. If the TIF district is passed without a hitch construction will begin in 2008.

Center City, if completed, will cost nearly 4 times that of nearby Fourth Street Live, and will dwarf it in scope. Cordish has long tried build on to their wildly successful project in Louisville, only for things to usually fall through. In 2005 they planned a phase two to Fourth Street Live in the former JCPenney building, only for other building owners to refuse selling their properties. Earlier this year Cordish reached a deal with the owners of the Starks Building to expand their center, but it will only add a few thousand feet of space.

The project is especially exciting for Louisville because it is the culmination of years of renewal in the core. The city has longed for a major retail destination that can serve the burgeoning urban population and provide conventioneers and other out-of-town guest a place to drop their money and spend their time. It has not been a secret that city officials have been pushing and kneading developers to build this sort of showcase project – and that they would not consider the downtown rebirth successful until this was done.

I think downtown Louisville may have finally arrived.

More in Store for Downtown - Sunday, August 19

HOK Releases Arena Design

2007-08-20T11:18:00.000-06:00

The New Louisville Arena

Newsbrief: Phillip Morris Finally Coming Down

2007-08-13T09:29:00.001-06:00

Mayor Abramson and Representative Yarmuth were on hand this morning to mark the beginning of a major new development in West Louisville. The old Phillip Morris Cigarette plant at Broadway and 18th began demolition this morning at 10:30am. Fourteen buildings are being demolished at the site, which is slated for a major new retail and residential project.

Arena Rendering?!?

2007-08-10T09:57:00.001-06:00

MurphysLAw over at SkyscraperCity posted this "leaked" rendering of the Louisville Arena. I wonder if this is our final product...we'll have to wait for the official unveiling.

Haymarket Could See 300 Million Dollar Development

2007-08-10T09:26:00.000-06:00

The University of Louisville took two huge leaps forward last week in their bid to build a state of the art urban medical research park in downtown. Officials at UofL announced they were diving head first into plans to convert two blocks on the eastern fringe of downtown into a bustling research and business incubator with the help of Maryland based developer Wexford Science + Technology. Estimates put the full build-out of the project at 300 million dollars.

The Haymarket has been on hold for several years, and it has only been in the last few months that the university has revived the project. Current plans call for over 1 million square feet of space in several mid-rise buildings, but those numbers are not yet finalized. The center will offer research space to university scientists and space for small medical start-up companies that will collaborate with researchers.

UofL owns the majority of the land needed for the project, but is now entering into negotiations for the final few parcels that remain. All other land owners have expressed their willingness to sell their land quickly, and the James Graham Brown Foundations will be picking up the tab for the school.

Besides just making the plans, the university has also been working behind the scenes to get the needed funding mechanisms in place. On Monday city and state officials announced plans to create a TIF district in the Louisville Medical District to help fund 300 million dollars in public infrastructure. Several parking garages will be constructed, along with public green spaces and other improvements to the area. In addition to the TIF funding, the State of Kentucky has said it would spend 3 million dollars to help lure and retain businesses inside the new Haymarket medical park.

State officials estimate that the Haymarket project will generate up to 2.5 billion dollars in direct and spin-off investments and will lead to an increase of nearly 9,000 jobs, only 2,200 of which will be in the Haymarket site itself. State officials are expecting that UofL will make good on their plans to not only develop the Haymarket site, but to continue improving their offerings in the medical district.

The Louisville Metro Council is expected to approve the TIF funding this month making the Haymarket project the second “signature” project in Louisville that is capable of receiving the increased tax revenue under new Kentucky regulations.

Jeffersonville Approves Annexation

2007-08-07T13:14:00.000-06:00

The city of Jeffersonville, Indiana has approved a sweeping annexation plan that will bring in 9,000 new residents and increase its area by 7,800 acres. Jeffersonville officials have been studying and pushing for this annexation for well over a year, and last nights vote was the final needed top make it all official. City leaders said this annexation is in preparation of expected growth in eastern Clark County after the East End Bridge is completed.

After the annexation is complete on January 1, 2008, Jeffersonville will have a set time period to equalize services between the old city and the new lands. Police service will have to be beefed up, a new firehouse is being considered, and the new area will be subject to more intense zoning and drainage laws.

Annexation, though, has been quite controversial. With annexation, the new residents will be subject to city taxes, and some residents will be forced to pay up to 2,800 dollars to hook-up to the city sewers. Annexation could not be legally opposed, however, because of a cleverly written clause that nearly all the homeowners in the area signed when they purchased their homes and hooked up to the city sewers. By signing the contract they forfeited their rights to oppose a future annexation by Jeffersonville, giving the city ample opportunity to take the land when they wanted it.

The newly annexed area will increase the city’s tax base by over 40 percent, but it will be a short-term drag on city finances. City taxes will not be levied in the new area until 2009, but Jeffersonville has a legal obligation to provide services to the expanded area in 2008.

River City News Briefs

2007-08-03T08:46:00.000-06:00

PharMerica is Open for Business
The deal creating Louisville’s newest corporate citizen, PharMerica, closed earlier this week and the stock was traded on the NYSE for the first time. The new company was formed through the union of the pharmacy divisions of Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare and Florida-based Amerisource Bergen. The company is expected to have revenue is excess of 2 billion dollars, placing it on the Fortune 1000 list.

New Ice House Lofts?
The former Arctic Ice building on Main in downtown Louisville may finally be brought back to life. The developer of Byck’s Lofts on Fourth Street has announced plans for this newest conversion on his website, and the development is listed on the Downtown Housing Tour 2007 website. The building will feature heavy cork insulation, exposed brick, and a great location in the heart of the East Main residential corridor.

Arena Authority Sets Date for Design Unveiling
Jim Host expects to reveal the arena exterior design at a special meeting of the Arena Authority on August 20th. Representatives from HOK Sport will be on hand to show the authority and the public their plans for the new downtown centerpiece.

Louisville Housing Authority Plans 3.5 Million Dollar Project
The city plans to construct a 3 story retail and apartment development at the corner of Broadway and Shelby in Phoenix Hill to help fill a need for new subsidized housing units. The project will house people from several income brackets. A third of the project will be for subsidized housing, a third will be public housing, and a third will be market-rate. Funding for the project comes from money secured for the nearby Liberty Green renewal.

FBI Moving to the Suburbs
The FBI Headquarters in Louisville will soon be leaving the downtown core for a new building off Blankenbaker Parkway. The new building will provide the FBI will more room and better security. The FBI had been housed downtown since the 1930’s.

UofL Expanding Downtown

2007-07-27T08:44:00.002-06:00

Dean Charles Moyer of the University of Louisville College of Business is committed to moving his business graduate programs from the Belknap campus to downtown; the question is where will they land? Early this week the dean sent out requests for proposals to three downtown developers asking them to find the college 30,000 square feet of new space along Main Street.

The college is looking at Museum Plaza, Iron Quarter, and a yet to be announced mid rise tower on the East Main corridor. Dean Moyer wants the program to move into new space versus rehabilitated space for the ease of converting it into large open conference rooms and auditoriums.

The search for new dig in the CBD isn’t new. The college has been attempting to move the graduate programs to downtown for nearly two years. There were plans for the school to move into renovated space at the Hilliard Lyons building, but that development fell apart. They also looked into building a free standing structure at the Haymarket site, but the cost was simply too high. Dean Moyer now hopes this latest attempts proves to be the final one.

If they chose to move to Museum Plaza, they won’t be the only group of students. The Masters of Fine Arts program has already committed to locating in the soon-to-be-started project. Their space will be in the “Island” of Museum Plaza, while the business program would be housed closer to earth in the historic buildings fronting West Main Street. If the business school picked Iron Quarter, they would be the first major anchor tenant in the project.

Dean Moyer has long desired to move the graduate program to the heart of the city – explaining that is gives the school a better chance to connect with local business leaders. Hopefully this latest attempt will flesh out and the MBA program will continue to mature

Library SOS

2007-07-25T08:10:00.000-06:00

Louisville’s new Library Tax

My Position: In Favor

In November, the citizens of Louisville will be asked in the voting booth if they are in favor of a two tenths of one percent tax increase on income for the ailing Louisville Free Public Library system. My sincere hope is that they vote “YES”. The Louisville library system is in dire needs of repairs, computers, and books. The city budget cannot fully fund all these needs as well as other city priorities.

To meet the need of the library system in the 21st century, Louisville wants to create a library control district that would be an independent group to oversee the growth of the system. Jefferson County is one of only a handful of counties in Kentucky that does not currently have a system like this.

With the estimated 40 million dollar a year levy, the city will build three new “regional” libraries, it will renovate several small branches, and will completely overhaul and modernize the aging downtown main branch. To put this 40 million dollar into perspective: the average family earning 40,000 dollars a year will pay less 7 dollars a month. That wouldn’t even buy two Big Mac meals from McDonald’s.

The city currently spends about 16 million dollars on the library system – and that keeps everything pretty bare boned. If this levy passes, the city will then have 16 million dollars freed in the budget to pay for other, very pressing needs. Anyone who keeps up with the city’s financial situation knows that a crisis in health care costs and pensions is only a few years away. Healthcare costs are expected to grow as fast, if not faster, than revenue growth. Essentially speaking, even if Louisville gets more tax income, those increases will be eaten by ballooning entitlement costs. Because of this, Louisvillians need to strike while the fire is hot, and save the library system from reductions later.

Currently, Republicans on the Metro Council are opposed to this, and instead are offering a plan in which the city indebts itself with 175 million dollars in bonds issued over seven years. They claim the city will be able to absorb the added cost of the payments of these bonds with future projected revenue. Republicans on the council (Except Councilwomen Adams and Call) want to “borrow” this money, spend it to build new libraries, but not tell you that we’re looking at a fiscal crisis in only a few short years.

New taxes aren’t popular – and I fully appreciate and understand that fact. We all want an extra few bucks in our pockets. But this library expansion is a social good with a relatively low cost. It adds to the perception that Louisville is serious about increasing education – the key to reducing social ills such as poverty and crime. If you’re serious about the overall health of Louisville, please support this initiative!

Recent Arena News

2007-07-24T09:52:00.000-06:00

The past two weeks have had several updates on the current state of the downtown arena’s development. Work continues on all fronts including design, bond issuance, and construction.

The first announcement was that the design of the structure is nearing completion and will be revealed at a special meeting of the Arena Authority before September 1. The interior designs were released several months ago, but the exterior remains a mystery to the community. The designers took many suggestions from the public, such as locations for entrances and exits, size of a public plaza, and a desire for the design to take cues from the river – but we’ll see how it all works together soon enough.

Earlier this week, Arena Authority Chairman Jim Host said he believes that bonds can be issued for the arena by mid-November at the latest, and preferably by mid-October. The earlier the date, the better, as current interest rates are below original estimates, and that could lead to significant savings on the cost. Bond underwriter Goldman Sachs will be ready to proceed as soon as the arena authority finishes the needed agreements, which could all be signed as early as September 1. The arena authority stills need to finalize deals with a concession provider, the University of Louisville, the Parking Authority of River City, designer HOK Sport, and the Kentucky State Fair Board. Any savings from the earlier selling of bonds will be collected into a “Rainy Day” fund that will be used in the event of a revenue shortfall before the city is asked to shoulder more of the burden.

Last week arena officials traveled north to Indianapolis to pitch their case to the NCAA for the chance to host the 2010 women’s volleyball tournament, as well as other future events in wrestling and ice hockey. Louisville officials appeared confident after the meeting and will travel to Indianapolis again in August to discuss Louisville's chance of hosting the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments (Louisville can't host the Final Four, but it is could host earlier parts of the tournament). Officials were buoyed by the meeting and the fact that early discussions in the arena’s design included recommendation from the NCAA to give Louisville a leg up on the competition.

Work continues at the future site of the arena. Humana is expecting to fully vacate their building on the site by mid-Fall. They are currently moving over 1,500 employees next door to new space in the Waterfront Plaza towers. Work also continues at the large LG&E transformer site, and is expected to be mostly finished there this fall as well.

River City News Briefs

2007-07-11T21:37:00.000-06:00

AT&T Adding 350 Jobs Downtown
AT&T is planning to add 350 new workers to their facility downtown on Chestnut Street. The new customer service jobs stem from the companies continued expansion the the realm of high speed internet. The announcement indicates there will be a 1.5 million dollar investment in their building and an annual payroll of 10 million dollars a year. Not exactly the best pay possible, but it will help some people

Haymarket Development to Have a September Groundbreaking?
The University of Louisville announced today they "hope" to break ground on an expansion of their life sciences campus downtown by September. The development was first proposed in the early 2000's, but has seen little concrete action. With UofL assuming almost total control of the Louisville Medical Center Development Corporation, they expect to push the project forward despite having no anchor tenant. Plans calls for four to five buildings on the block bounded by Jefferson, Market, Floyd, and Preston.

Louisville Zoo Break Attendance Record
The Louisville Zoo reported the largest number of visitors ever in the year ending June 30. The zoo had 810,546 visitors. The last record was set in 2003 after the zoo had finished the Gorilla Forest exhibit. Plans call for continued expansion at the zoo, with the development of the Arctic Run exhibit, which will replace aging enclosures for polar bears and other cold weather creatures.

University of Louisville Tops off Newest Building.
UofL held a ceremony for the topping off of their newest building in the downtown medical district. The seven story structure, at he corner of Preston and Chestnut, will be nearly 200,000 square feet and will house the offices of physicians and dentists who are members of the schools faculty. The structure is one the first buildings in the schools new master plan for the medical campus.

Jeffersonville Ramada/Sheraton Moves Forward
The decrepit Jeffersonville Ramada is finally starting to see better days. Much of the interior has been demolished, and build out of the structure has begun in earnest. A new facade will replace the gaudy yellow cladding that was once such a point of derision. The hotel is being rebranded a Sheraton, and rates will increase to reflect the new name and the complete overhaul.

Newsbrief: Cordish Confirms Starks Development

2007-07-02T19:48:00.000-06:00

Cordish has finally signed the lease for the entire first floor of the Starks Building for the first expansion of the three year old Fourth Street Live complex. This expansion will take up 21,000 square feet of vacant retail space along Muhammad Ali that had formerly housed the Rodes store. Cordish expects to invest up to 6 million dollars in it's latest enterprise.

Cordish has also alluded to their plans to redevelop several properties south along Fourth Street.

Medical Towers North Comes Down

2007-06-18T16:57:00.000-06:00

The downtown medical campus in Louisville has been undergoing some pretty radical changes. The University of Louisville is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new research buildings and outpatient facilities, and Norton Healthcare has developed a plan to demolish and replace several of their aging office towers by 2010. Norton and UofL both plan to construct more green space and better pedestrian access to their buildings.

Phase 1 of the Norton plan is currently underway - the demolition of Medical Towers North. The building, which is nearly half a century old, was terribly outdated. Doctors were moved out of the building last November, and demolition started in late March. Due to the sensitive nature of the area the demolition has to be very carefully completed. There are no explosives or wrecking balls involved. Each floor has to be meticulously demolished and then hauled off for recycling. (Nearly 95% of the building scrap is being recycled) Once the land is cleared, it will give Norton the chance to expand Kosair Children's Hospital in the future.

Phase 2 of the project will be the addition of 10 floors to the parking deck that was immediately adjacent to Medical Towers North. There will be an addition of 4 parking levels and 6 office levels, making it a 14 floor midrise. Phase 3, to be completed in 2009, is the demolition of a small brick office building at the corner of Floyd and Chestnut. Phase 4 is the demolition of Medical Towers South in 2010.

These demolitions will give Norton Healthcare a cleaner canvas as it continues to expand in downtown.

FBI Crime Statistics from 2006 Released

2007-06-13T01:16:00.000-06:00

The Federal Bureau of Investigation last week released their annual numbers for crime in America. The report offered several different ways to splice the data, but in this case I just wanted to see how Louisville fared in 2006 when compared to 2005. Violent crime was essentially flat (down 1.6 percent), while property crime inched up by a little less than 6 percent.

Here are the raw numbers:

In 2005 the reported population was 623,735. There were a total of 3,896 violent crimes. The city had 55 murders, 209 forcible rapes, 1,822 robberies, and 1,810 aggravated assaults. There were a total of 27,727 property crimes. The city had 7,146 burglaries, 17,150 larceny/thefts, 3,150 car jackings, and 281 arson fires.

In 2006 the reported population was 626,018. There were a total of 3,836 violent crimes. The city had 50 murders, 175 forcible rapes, 1,738 robberies, and 1,873 aggravated assaults. There were a total of 29,431 property crimes. The city had 7,587 burglaries, 17,855 larceny/thefts, 3,694 car jackings, and 295 arson fires.

In 2005 there were 624.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents
In 2006 there were 612.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents

One thing that confuses me is how they're coming up with the city population. There was no explanation in the report, but my guess would have to be that because there are still several police departments in the county that have to report their own crime numbers (St. Matthews Police Department, for example) the FBI only uses the population of the county where the Louisville Police Department is the primary police force.

Louisville is obsessed with it's crime rate and the city is constantly worried that it is becoming some sort of crime haven - but when compared to some other regional cities, it doesn't look half bad for Louisville:

Indianapolis - 960.0 per 100,000
Nashville - 1,526.5 per 100,000
St. Louis - 2,480.6 per 100,000
Cincinnati - 1,218.4 per 100,000
Columbus - 810.5 per 100,000
Memphis - 1,988.2 per 100,000

Hopefully the mayors plan to fill 100 vacant police officer posts in the city can help bring the rate down even lower in the coming years.

Water Company Site Up For Grabs

2007-06-08T16:04:00.000-06:00

The old Louisville Water Company block, which has stood mostly vacant for years, may finally be edging ever closer to an actual development. Since 1998, when the Louisville Water Company moved to their "new" headquarters just a block away, there have been expectations of eventual construction. For many years the community planned to build the new arena on that site, there had even been rumors of hotel large enough to rival the 1000+ room Galt House there. Now, the hot words are "retail development".

In the mayors most recent budget proposal for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, he has proposed dropping 1 million dollars in city funds (as well as some bonds) to secure 3 parcels of the block, equaling 40 percent, and "banking" them for future use. The other 60 percent of the block is owned by Midtown Enterprises and is being used as Skip's Parking Lot.

Currently, the city expects to secure their 40 percent of the block while negotiating with Midtown to sell their property to another developer and develop the whole block in one piece. Midtown has confirmed negotiations for their land is currently underway, and have said that if things progress at the current rate, the land deal could be finished in as soon as 6 weeks.

The effort to secure the Water Company site by the city is the first project for a newly proposed initiative called IDEAL - Investing in Downtown for the Economic Advancement of Louisville. The mayor is hoping this will be the first of many acquisitions by the city of underutilised properties in the central core. The city will then negotiate with developers to fill in the "missing teeth" along some of downtown's streetscapes. This program will give the city much more say over how and when downtown properties are developed.

In the meantime, the city is concentrating it's efforts on this huge barren wasteland in the middle of the core. Mayor Abramson expects this project to be the retail spark the core has been waiting for since the revitalization began in the late 1990's. Negotiations are already underway with national and local tenants for the mystery retail project - but the mayor did recently visit Las Vegas to woo large national retailers to locate in Louisville, and you have to expect he talked to many of them about this downtown project.

Despite the secret nature of the negotiations between the city and developers, the Cordish Company has previously expressed interest in expanding to Water Company site and building a new retail development there. Their Fourth Street Live concept is a much more entertainment based venue, and this sort of project would give them another opportunity to showcase their talents and pull the strings with their many corporate relationships. Cordish has on multiple occasions said that Louisville has gone way beyond their expectations and they've been trying to assemble land along Fourth Street for a phase 2, but property owners have not been willing to sell at a reasonable price. Cordish in February of this year expressed interest in the Starks Building, and converting the first floor into restaurants and retail, but nothing has since been announced. The Starks is between Fourth Street Live and the Water Company block.

One can never be sure of a development until the steel is actually rising from the ground - so you have to sit back and see what happens with it all. However, this could be one of the crowning acheivements for downtown development. Here's to hoping they do it up right.

West End Makes Gains

2007-06-05T16:31:00.001-06:00

It is no secret that Louisville's West End is an economically distressed and segregated area. However, I'm sure it isn't common knowledge that since 2000 the West End has had the city's largest gains in property values.

Since 2000 the average increase in property values has been 32 percent city wide, but some urban neighborhoods in the West End, and near to downtown, have seen property values more than double in less than 6 years. The West End neighborhood of Russell has seen some of the highest gains - 113 percent - in the city. Much of it is thanks to a 17 year effort to redevelop the area into a healthy neighborhood for the black middle class. In that time period 500 new homes and apartments have been built on formerly vacant lots and replaced abandoned buildings.

The reemergence of Russell as a viable neighborhood is a testament to what good can be done through government and private projects. Early on, the city of Louisville offered developers tax credits to build new, affordable housing and sold parcels of land it owned for only a dollar to qualified builders. Now, several builders are no longer requesting city assistance as the community continues to "clean up" and they're able to rent or sell their properties for closer to actual market rate prices.

Russell is not the only neighborhood in the central city to see such huge increases in value - Phoenix Hill and Park DuValle also saw a doubling of their property values, and Old Louisville, Portland, California, and Shively all saw increases between 75 and 100 percent. Park DuValle, which saw a jump in property values of nearly 250 percent, now is near parity with the city's average property value. Only six years ago Park DuValle had a property valuation 25 percent of average.

The city is continuing to push for continued regrowth in the West End. In the latest budget set forth by the mayor, he would like to spend nearly 1.5 million dollars to redevelop brown fields in the Park Hill neighborhood. The city is also working with developers to transform the hulking Phillip Morris plant into a community and retail magnet for the entire western section of Louisville. Hopefully, the recent gains will continue for the central city.

On a side note, only 3 tracts in the city had a decrease in property value. Minor Lane Heights was the largest and their decrease was due to the expansion of the airport and because the whole Minor Lane Heights neighborhood is being bought out by the state due to airplane noise. The other two, which are located in the CBD, surprised me. I am not sure exactly how much property values went down in the CBD, but with the billions in recent development, it was a shock none the less.

Recent Sports Developments

2007-05-30T17:06:00.000-06:00

There has been a spate of recent sports related news and developments in Louisville in the past couple of days.

To me, the most exciting in the proposal by Mayor Abramson to create Champions Park along the riverfront from Frankfort Avenue to Zorn Avenue on the property that had once been a country club. This is yet another great park initiative that is being pushed by the mayors office. The new park would encompass 166 acres of land and would fill a need for more field space in which to have soccer, cricket, lacrosse, et cetera, matches.

The centerpiece of Champions Park will be 34 sports fields that will be able to host the city's own soccer leagues, or host regional and national tournaments. Other amenities include a cyclocross, a dog park, a cross-country track, basketball courts, large open fields not devoted to a certain sport, restrooms, parking lots, bike paths, and a large wetlands rehabilitation. River Road will be expanded to 4 lanes in 2009 by the state of Kentucky to accommodate this and other local developments. The mayor proposes to spend 5 million dollars on the project in his 2008 budget, and another 5 million between 2009 and 2012.

Projects like this, and the City of Parks, are huge boosts to local quality of life, help save precious green space in the county, and offers a huge return for the minimal investment. I am a proponent of the new Louisville Arena, but in many regards this small investment will give the average Louisvillian more to do than the huge investment we're making in the arena will. But again, these are both important pieces in the puzzle for quality of life in Louisville.

In similar news, the Clements family of Elizabethtown has announced plans for a sports center that is devoted to persons with special needs in Kentucky. The center, to be called The MVP Zone, will be in the Floyd's Fork corridor and will be a centerpiece of the City of Parks plan.

The center will have an Olympic sized pool specially crafted for handicapped persons, a golf course with synthetic turf to allow easy access for those in wheelchairs, a large community center will provide an exercise room and courts for volleyball, basketball, et cetera, a computer lab, and a small movie theatre. The Clements family has said they will donate 3 million dollars to the project and will coordinate fundraising efforts to raise another 8 million. Mayor Abramson will propose a 1 million dollar gift of land to the center in his 2008 budget, and the founder of Humana and his wife have promised another 2 million. Backers of the plan hope to not only provide new services for local handicapped residents, but to bring in national competitions. With a lack of such facilities around the country, Louisville will be on the forefront with such an ambitious facility.

Switching gears just a bit - Blue Equity has purchased the sports agency of Joel Segal. Jonathan Blue, the man behind Blue Equity, and his brother Todd Blue are two of Louisville's youngest and most influential leaders. Todd is still focusing his efforts on downtown housing and retail developments, and while Jonathon is still collaborating with his brother, he currently has is eye on creating a world class sports agency and bringing it all home to Louisville.

Segal will remain with Blue Equity as president of the football division, which has quite a repertoire of high-profile clients. Blue Equity plans to continue purchasing and growing the sports side of the business, and despite Louisville's lack of national prominence in pro sports, he hopes to bring in the money and light to Louisville by continuing to grow his business of televising national sports events, and diverting events to the city.

River City News Briefs

2007-05-23T13:41:00.000-06:00

Fletcher Beats Northup and will Meet Beshear in General Election
Governor Fletcher was able to dodge a bullet yesterday and nudged past Anne Northup in the Republican primary. He enjoyed broad support in nearly every county of the state, except Jefferson, the home of Northup. Northup, who ran a campaign extolling her ability as the only Republican to be able to beat the Democrats this year, conceded early last night and lauded the governor in his victory. It is unknown how active she will be in the Republican campaign to keep the governor’s mansion in Frankfort.

Museum Plaza expects OK from Downtown Overlay Board
Tonight the developers of Museum Plaza will face the first of several government agencies which must give their blessings before the building can begin construction on September 27. The Downtown Development Review Overlay Board is expected to give the building their positive recommendations, but would like the developers to provide a few more details on several points, such as signage, more explanation of their landscaping and public art, and attempts to better connect the structure to the riverfront. Despite these questions, the building already conforms to nearly all standards for new development, and it is expected to pass all hurdles without issue.

Changes Along Bardstown Road
Louisville’s belovedly eclectic Bardstown Road is getting a small facelift. Phase 2 of a project that started last year will repave broken sidewalks and curbs, add new landscaping and decorative pavers, replace several bus stops, and add more trash receptacles. The project is being funded out of Councilman Tom Owen’s neighborhood development fund. In other local happening, the long abandoned Dillard’s at Bashford Manor may finally be razed and replaced by a small retail development to compliment the new big box stores that had replaced the majority of the old mall.

Henry Clay Finishes Up
Bill Weyland is putting in the final details of his 20 million dollar redo of the old YWCA. The building, which contains a mix of rentals and condos, is almost completely occupied – only 1 condo is left to be sold. First floor retail space is completely leased, and a new theatre is being installed for a local acting troupe. As a companion project, Weyland is renovating an adjacent building on Fourth Street into a Japanese restaurant, and rumors persist of a mid-rise hotel on the lot he owns directly behind the YWCA.

Mayor in Vegas Bringing Home New Retailers
Mayor Abramson took a trip out to Las Vegas this week to convince national retailers that Louisville is a place they want to be. Abramson had several meetings lined up while there with McCormick & Schmick’s, Nordstrom, Trader Joe’s, Crate & Barrel, and several others. The mayor as joined by numerous Louisville businessmen, including Todd Blue who is trying to line up tenants for his planned upscale Iron Quarter development in downtown. Trader Joe’s has already expressed a desire for 3 Louisville locations, and McCormick and Schmick’s has displayed interest in the new Louisville arena.
Todd Blue's Sales Pitch for the Iron Quarter

Louisville Orchestra Passes Milestone

2007-05-22T07:07:00.000-06:00

The Louisville Orchestra yesterday announced that they had finally paid off its final 1.3 million dollars in bank debt. The orchestra, which has been in peril of collapsing under increasing debt and dropping revenues, has seen a recent reversal of fortunes.

At the end of fiscal year 2007, which will happen on May 31, the orchestra will actually has a surplus of nearly half a million dollars. Most of that extra cash is coming from supplemental revenue that was provided by the Louisville Fund for the Arts, and that extra income will actually continue for another year through fiscal 2008. This influx of cash will actually allow the orchestra to pay it’s 67 full time players a bonus weeks pay – and considering their recent decreases in pay, it is warranted.

Revenues in fiscal 2007 were up nearly 14 percent, and on June 15 the Orchestra’s administration office will move into the new ArtSpace on Broadway with the Kentucky Opera. New cost reductions and collaborations are expected from the move of the two art groups into the same offices.

This will be the first time in several years that the Orchestra has a somewhat promising short term outlook. Just a few years ago there were fears that the orchestra would be forced to fold it’s operations and the city might be left without a professional music group. At the time, players took a substantial cut in pay, banks stepped up with loans, and the city’s Fund for the Arts promised additional help. The Orchestra was also forced to reduce it’s schedule and play in smaller ensembles to reduce operating costs. Thankfully the future is looking much better at the moment, and it will be in the best interest of the community if they can continue their forward momentum.

Arena Hotel Plans Dropped

2007-05-21T18:42:00.000-06:00

In a turn of events that doesn't particularly shock me, the Louisville Arena Authority voted unanimously to drop plans for a 425 room hotel at the downtown arena site. In recent months, all photos of the planned arena have been devoid of the hotel tower that had originally been a part of the plans - today's vote simply removes the hotel officially.

The members of the authority stated they are dropping the plans for the tower for several reasons: to make the design more pedestrian-friendly, to give the arena a better aesthetic, and because other hoteliers fear a glut of luxury hotel rooms downtown in 2010.

Personally, I really hoped the arena would get this tower, not so much for the skyline enhancement, but it was my opinion that if you're going to build an arena like this, you should do it up right. The market would absorb the hotel rooms, other hoteliers are simply trying to protect their markets, which is not exactly surprising. If it really is for aesthetic and pedestrian reasons, I would think they're ridiculous, and simply it's a lazy design - but I think that is simply a cop out by Jim Host. Whatever.

At the same meeting where they voted to scrap the hotel, they also received an updated financial statement reflecting the new reality. And who knows if this arena will make a profit, let alone break even, but today's financial report forecasts an operating profit of around 100k in the first year. I am of the opinion that even with a modest operating loss, the benefits of the arena outweigh the cost in new entertainment options and quality of life improvements for the area. Hopefully I will be proven wrong, but I fully expect the arena to lose money year after year, but as long as the amount isn't millions upon millions of dollars, then the investment will benefit Louisville.

As a small aside in the arena story, upscale seafood restaurant McCormick and Schmick's has expressed "strong interest" in locating inside the new arena. That would be a great tenant for them to land, and would keep the arena lively everyday of the year.

Humane Metropolis - Humane Louisville?

2007-05-14T13:41:00.000-06:00

So recently I began hearing and reading about the concept of "The Humane Metropolis" as put forth in a new book with the same title, edited by Rutherford Platt and published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The title alone captured my attention. It was definitely an idea I wanted to explore and learn more about.

In discussing the book, The Washington Post recently wrote gave this concise blurb about the transformation of cities and what they were for: "Cities were once celebrated as ports of trade, railway hubs, seats of smoke-belching industries. Then they became known as office and banking centers. In the late 20th century, each big town had to have its own aquarium and stadiums. Recently there's been a new mantra -- cities as magnets for "young creatives'' in arts and entrepreneurship." Obviously, they are taking hundreds of years and condensing them into a few short sentences - but I generally agree with the sentiments. Now, a nascent movement is starting to push for cities to be more humane.

What values and developments would this new, humane metropolis embrace? Buzz words are "green, sociable, civic, and inclusive". The idealists in the movement have no single solution for cities to adopt - but a whole range of big and small ideas to make our urban environment more friendly for all inhabitants - and the environment.

Perhaps the easiest idea of their ideas to explain is the 'green movement' which is meant to better connect people in the city to the biodiversity that is right outside their doors - and to help cities expand while saving their natural diversity. Most urbanites think that nature is somewhere that starts where the city ends - but proponents of the humane metropolis want to change your mind. In their opinion, cities should be striving to build 'green-necklace' park systems, better cultivating urban gardens and green rooftops, and setting aside land for urban forests. Even things such as medians should be converted to 'linear parks' that promote walking and healthy activity in the dense urban environment.

Advocates of this philosophy would also argue for rethought street plans and suburban developments in the expectation that when a community interacts more, it will become more inclusive and sociable.

The Humane Metropolis not only strives to better balance human needs with the natural world, but it also seeks to make the lives of the citizens in the city healthier. It looks to reduce air pollution as a way to help to quell an avalanche of new asthma cases, and to reduce the American obesity epidemic by creating urban green spaces that are inviting and offer recreational activities to all citizens.

These ideas aren't rocket science - it's what we should all be demanding from our civic leaders!

After I had researched the Humane Metropolis somewhat, I wondered if Louisville was doing anything to make itself more humane for it's inhabitants - and while it's definitely a mixed bag, Louisville is doing *some* good.

The easiest project to point to is the City of Parks initiative, which I briefly over viewed in March. It's a huge ring of parks that will encircle Jefferson County in an 'emerald-necklace' and provide the suburbs with some much needed recreational space. Not only will there be parks, but there will be more than 100 miles in biking and riding trails, and an expanded Jefferson Memorial Forest, which is already the largest such municipal forest in the US. The Indiana suburbs are even in the midst of building a similar park and trail system called the Ohio River Greenway, which will link Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany together, and even connect to trails in Louisville via the new pedestrian bridge being constructed as part of Phase 3 of Waterfront Park.

In lesser ways, Louisville is also forging ahead. The city recently adopted the 'complete streets' model of construction for new road projects. Essentially, the city will try to build all new roads with bike lanes, sidewalks, landscaping, and design standards that reduce speeding and increase safety. The city's STAR initiative to reduce toxic emissions that are not currently regulated by the EPA in the economically depressed West End recently won a prestigious national award, and compliments well the Humane Metropolis' goal of environmental justice for all citizens.

Many city developments are also highlighting a new push for environmental sensitivity - A proposed Poe development called Irish Hill would redevelop a brownfield and rehabilitate a section of Beargrass Creek, and a development by the Legacy Company in downtown called, uniquely enough, The Legacy Lofts, looks to reduce it's use of fossil fuels to zero, and have green roofing.

Louisville, like most cities, has a long way to go before it is humane to all those who live in it's borders - but just maybe, these current initiatives, and others, will make it just a little more livable for everyone.

Reading:
Cities Not The Problem?

The Humane Metropolis: Are We Ready?

Louisville's Library Needs Your Money!

2007-05-09T17:02:00.000-06:00

The Louisville Free Public Library system is a point of extreme shame for the city of Louisville. It is underfunded, doesn't have enough books, the buildings themselves are old and in need of renovations, and it offers few of the progrs that many other cities of similar size are able to offer. To put it bluntly: it sucks.

Luckily there is a plan that is being pushed by the mayor that would essentially remedy many of these problems in a few short years - but sadly, it needs a new tax to do it. (And we all know how well people love to vote YES on a new tax!)

Under a current proposal from Mayor Abramson, the county would establish a library tax district - which is already allowed by Kentucky law, and is used successfully is a very large portion of the state's counties - to raise the money needed to build three new "super regional" libraries in the suburbs (On Dixie Highway, Outer Loop Road, and Hurstborne Parkway), and a major overhaul of the downtown main branch. Other smaller branches would be remodeled and upgraded; books would be added, programs would be expanded, and staff would be better paid.

The tax increase would amount to two tenths of one percent and would be collected via the occupational tax. It would amount to about 80 dollars a year for a person earning 40,000 dollars. The tax will bring in nearly 35 million dollars for the county and will free up the current amount of 16 million that the city spends annually on the library system for other uses.

Similar laws failed in the mid-80's and early-90's, so don't expect a smooth passage. It will be a difficult campaign. However, the plan had the backing of all 24 council members in 2004, and the community is markedly different than it was 20 years ago - we witnessed that when merger passed a few years ago after decades of trying.

An excellent library system that is accessible to all citizens is a hallmark of a lively and well-educated community. Louisville needs to strive to reach that goal.

Clarksville, IN Continues to Sprawl

2007-04-27T22:16:00.000-06:00

The Clark County, Indiana suburb of Clarksville continues to be an epicenter of god-awful new suburban schlock. The town, which already has a reputation as the shopping district for all of the Southern Indiana suburbs, has been going on a binge of new retail construction since the completion of Veterans Parkway in 2004.

The town, which originally had very unique plans for the Veterans corridor, completely let them fall by the wayside in search for new tax revenue. In the process they've created a road that is congested, ugly, and is nothing more than a copy of Lewis & Clark Parkway to the south. In the past 2 years developers have thrown up such amazing places as Target, Sam's Club, Olive Garden, Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond, and IHOP. Latest development plans include a Border's Books, the first free standing Starbucks in Southern Indiana, and no less than SIX hotels - Candlewood Suites, Holiday Inn Express, and ValuPlace are the currently known 3 of 6.

While the idea of these retail and lodging options is good (Everyone likes having decent shopping nearby) - the execution in Clarksville is incredibly poor. And worse yet is the sense of pride that town officials feel when they describe the new construction. It is almost as if they feel they've accomplished something unique, yet fail to notice that every single other town that is similar to Clarksville has the exact sames stores and look almost the exact same. (I liken Clarksville to Greenwood or Avon in Indianapolis in terms of general feel and retail options)

In spite of ordinances regulating the look of Veteran's Parkway, the road looks just about as cluttered and messy as Lewis & Clark. And traffic is pretty awful - unless it's 1 in the morning, then it's smooth sailing.

Unfortunately for Clarksville, it has fallen for what so many other similar communities in America have - that if you build these large auto-centric shopping plazas, then you will forever have a source of strong income and revenue. However, one only has to drive to Lewis & Clark Parkway to see that all the town is doing is cannibalizing it's other retail corridors, and it won't be but a few decades before yet another place is newer and nicer, and the residents of the town will be left with hulking, abandoned buildings. Greentree Mall on Lewis & Clark continues to decline, only while developers are planning a 1.2 million square lifestyle center less than a mile away.

Clarksville, instead of trying to implement a plan of development that would actually stand the test of time, has (and probably always will) chased after the easiest dollar and development.

I guess some places get what they deserve.

IUS Adding Residences

2007-04-25T20:30:00.000-06:00

Indiana University Southeast, the New Albany satellite campus of IU Bloomington, will take the huge step of adding on-campus student dorms. The dorms at IUS, which will comprise of seven apartment-style units, will have space for about 400 students and could be ready for occupancy by fall 2008. The dorms would be paid for through a $20 million bond issue from the state. The bond will be repaid by housing fees paid by students.

Officials at IUS have been trying for several years now to get the state of Indiana to approve and fund this project. It was only after a lengthy review by the state's higher education board that governor Daniels announced he would authorize their construction. This project will go a long way to giving the school a new reputation as one that is not just for local commuters, but that it is also open to people from all over the region. IUS also has plans for an expanded student union to give the new residents of campus a place to call their own.

The IUS plans are not the only exciting developments for Southern Indiana in regards to higher education - also in New Albany Purdue University has announced plans to construct a small campus and business incubator, with plenty of room to grow in the coming decades. These are the types of developments that help to continue to momentum of the whole area to get better educated.

River City News Briefs

2007-04-23T13:20:00.000-06:00

Museum Plaza Sets Date for Groundbreaking
The lead developers of Museum Plaza announced last week the date for the beginning of official construction - Thursday, September 27, 2007. The announcement finally puts to bed the speculation around that aspect of the process, as people thought construction could start as early June or as late as December. During the construction there will be more than 500 worker at the site daily for nearly 3 years. Retail shops will line the historic buildings fronting Main Street, and the connector between Main Street and the tower. Developers at Museum Plaza promise several major announcements through the summer regarding residential sales, office space, and retail shops.

HOK Sport Unveils Louisville Arena Interior
Kansas City-based HOK Sport revealed their plans for the interior of the new downtown Louisville arena. Plans call for 22,000 total seats, split equally between an upper and lower bowl. Other plans include a sports bar that will be open to the public year-round, a large lobby with a UofL store, Hall of Fame, and ticketcounter. A public food court will also operate year-round. All seats in the arena will be cushioned and backed. Construction begins in Summer 2008, after the Humana Riverside Building is demolished later this year and the LG&E transformer station is moved and hidden.

Jeffersonville Contemplates "Retail Incubator" for Downtown
Jeffersonville, Indiana officials are looking into creating a retail incubator for local and independent retailers on that city's Main Street. The plan is being studied by a Washington, DC firm and the report is expected to be available in May. In the most basic sense, it would be a stretch of buildings where the city would offer new local retailers reduced rents and other services, until their businesses could succeed without their help - hopefully no more than 3 years. Downtown Jeffersonville, which is experiencing a small renaissance, has several celebrated local establishment such as Schimpffs Confectionery and Horner Novelty; but city officials want to increase the offerings for new downtown residents.

Louisville's 21C Hotel Concept to be Expanded in the Southeast
Louisville's posh 21C Art+Hotel concept will soon find itself in other cities. According to the local developers (who also work on Museum Plaza) they are moving ahead with plans to build a similar hotel under the same name in a yet to be announced Southern US city. (Austin, Raleigh are rumored locales) The developers will also take the hotel's restaurant, Proof on Main, and recreate it's ambiance and menu in their new hotel.

Humana Completes Major Expansion of Headquarters
It's hard to imagine that only 2 years ago much of the 500 block of West Main Street in downtown was derelict. However, thanks to Humana, 516-526 W. Main have been given a new lease on life. The health care giant is wrapping up it's 20 million dollar renovation of the formerly abandoned properties into new space for it's employees. Renovations included a health club, several food options, and increased meeting space on the upper floors, while the first floor on all the buildings remained retail outlets.

Louisville's Underrated!

2007-04-11T16:08:00.000-06:00

It's always fun when media outlets put good press about your city out for others to read. Today MSNBC published a short puff-piece about the 10 Most Underrated Cities in America. Louisville made the list.

The author in his small blurb about the city lavished praise on the diverse arts scene in Louisville, our growing restaurant corridors, and of course, the Kentucky Derby. You look at lists like these and they're fun, but they're also pretty asinine and can't be quantified. While I agree with the majority of cities on the list, someone else could always disagree with them all - it's all a matter of personal taste, I think.

In similar new though, Louisville will be showcased in a 36 page spread in US Airways in-flight magazine. Reporters are currently canvassing the city for stories and pictures, and up to 5 million people will read it during their domestic and international flights. Good press is always appreciated!

A Discussion on Growth

2007-04-10T23:40:00.000-06:00

So a few weeks ago the US Census Bureau released their most current county population estimates. Armed with that information it only took about 5 minutes to tabulate the population growth of the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area between 2000 and July 1, 2006. Since 2000, the Louisville MSA has grown about 5.1% to around 1,222,000 people - or so they say. That is the addition of something like 60,000 people in 6 years. That ain't too bad I suppose, especially when you look at the absolute stagnation of the Louisville area just within my lifetime during the 1980's.

But when you look other regional cities, Louisville's growth looks pretty meager. Columbus grew by 7.0%, Indianapolis by 9.2%, Nashville grew by 10.9% , and Raleigh by an amazing 24.8%. Heck, the US grew by over 6% in the 6 year time period, and Louisville couldn't even match that!

So around this time of year is when the high growth cities all pound their chests about how great they're doing, while the slow growth cities hang their heads in shame and bemoan all their mistakes and lost opportunities. Nearly every major newspaper in the South and Midwest have carried stories about their cities growth - or lack thereof - and why they think it's happening.

There is a lot of self-congratulation by cities that are experiencing huge booms in population. I mean, if your city has grown by 25% in only 6 years, this must be an amazing place to live! One example of this is Raleigh. I had the pleasure of visiting Raleigh in summer 2005 - and the place was BOOMING. Every highway interchange had a new mall popping up complete with upscale chain restaurants and midrise condos. Raleigh has things that Louisville - a markedly larger city - doesn't even have. I went to Raleigh wanting to hate the place - I left not personally wanting to live there, but at least understanding the draw of the city. It is incredibly lush and green, it has amazing universities, tons of high paying job opportunities, and low crime and traffic. This perfect storm of ingredients has created a city as desirable and hot as Raleigh right now - and who knows when that will cool. But I look at a population gain of nearly 200,000 people in such a short time and I cannot help but wonder when Raleigh will hit the tipping point of being too big, crowded, et cetera, and will not be the "in vogue" city of the era. I always think that when you grow at such a fast pace you lose many of the qualities that drew people to you in the first place.

Raleigh is an extreme example of growth, so lets take a place that is a little bit more down to earth and that I know almost as well as I do my hometown - Indianapolis. I lived in Central Indiana for the better part of decade - and much of that time was spent working and playing in Indianapolis. (I lived in West Lafayette, Bloomington, and Franklin and I worked on East Washington Street in Indianapolis)

Indianapolis clocked in with an impressive growth rate of 9.2%. As is expected with those sorts of growth numbers, many residents of Indianapolis pointed to that as a badge of honor in showing how much better they're doing than the rest of the Midwestern US. And rightfully so. Indianapolis really is doing a heck of a better job in population growth and economic development than nearly all other Midwestern competitor cities. There is, however, a fallacy that nearly all high-growth cities fall prey to: and that is that they're genuinely better cities than the places around them that are growing at a more modest pace.

I have no quantifiable data to back up anything beyond this point, so you can take it with a grain of salt and I won't care in the least. After spending years of my life in Central Indiana I really saw a population of people that felt honestly superior to it's neighbors based largely on a growth rate. I saw and heard it continuously in nearly every form of media in Indianapolis, and in the people I would meet. If I wasn't in the car listening to radio stations that played, "world-class rock for a world-class city" I was watching WTHR do a story extolling the virtues of Hamilton County for passing a new benchmark in suburban growth or reading a Star story about how much better Indianapolis was than Columbus, Ohio - and population growth is always a central issue to that. It is as if Indianapolis, and other high growth metros, believe they are better simply because they're building more suburbs.

On the flip side, Louisville has as definite chip on it's shoulder about it's seeming lack of population growth in compared to others. Growth comes slow, and jobs don't seem as plentiful. Despite the size of Louisville, people don't hear much positive about the city's growth, and hence, they have less esteem in the direction of the city. To Americans today, the greatness of your city is measured in how far up the interstate you can get your suburbs to sprawl, and less in how solid you can build your central city. When you ask a Louisvillian which city is doing better, Louisville or Indianapolis, I would bet 4 out of 5 would pick the city 100 miles north on I-65. And their two reasons would be sports teams and a faster growth rate.

Personally, I would be that 1 in 5 person who would say Louisville is doing better than Indianapolis. And it is because I value reviving the central core more than building more suburbs. I would pick Louisville for things like Museum Plaza and RiverPark Place. Museum Plaza would never, not ever, get anywhere in Indianapolis. Louisville will build it starting this Fall. RiverPark Place is a whole master planned community of riverfront condo towers that is currently under construction. Add that to smaller projects like the Glassworks Tower, the Iron Quarter, and the soon to be announced expansion of Fourth Street Live into the parking lot behind the Marriott. In a few short years downtown Louisville will be a real rival to downtown Indianapolis.

Louisville is also continuing to stabilize the neighborhoods directly south and east of downtown. The neighborhoods of central Indianapolis seem to be either stagnant or regressing - with few exceptions, and all of which are very, very near to downtown. The dreaded "east side" isn't getting better, but only getting worse. Crime is escalating to record levels in many parts of the city, and the citizens of Marion County have to deal with a public school system that rivals the worst in the Midwest. Compare that to Louisville where the "west end" crime problem is definitely a drag on the city, but not near the levels of inner city Indianapolis. Jefferson County Public Schools are lauded for excellence in urban education, and affluent families choose public schools for the great magnet programs that are provided.

In terms of suburban growth, Indianapolis wins, hands down. And if that is what you want (which most Americans do) then Indianapolis will seems like a better fit. Personally, I find the urban developments in Louisville of higher quality, and hence, it is a better match for me.

I didn't mean for this to turn into a versus comparison, but to use the two cities as two examples on opposite sides of the growth coin - Indianapolis with a high growth rate, and huge booms in suburban development and a declining urban county and Louisville, with a slow growth rate, modest suburban growth, and a stabilizing urban county.

Many times perception is reality, so the fact that Indianapolis (or insert almost any city here) is growing faster than Louisville will make people think that place is inherently better, despite the fact that I would argue that Jefferson County is doing generally better than Marion County.

In a long, roundabout way, I wanted to simply make the point that higher growth rates do not imply a better city or standard of living. For some people, a high-growth city may seem more exciting and better for them, but give me an old, slow growth city like Louisville any day of the week.

River City News Briefs

2007-04-09T00:03:00.000-06:00

Downtown Holiday Inn Completes Renovations

The much maligned Holiday Inn Louisville-Downtown has finally completed a much needed 7.5 million dollar renovation project that includes newly refinished guest rooms, lobbies, meeting space, and restaurants. The new features include high speed Internet throughout the building, new fitness room and indoor jacuzzi, new contemporary lobby, new beds, and new fixtures in bathrooms. The hotel now also boasts an "upscale" eatery with patio seating on Broadway. The Holiday Inn is one of the last hotel properties in downtown to complete a major overhaul in recent years. Since the opening of the Louisville Marriott-Downtown, nearly all hotel properties in the CBD have completed major overhauls to compete in a tightening market. And with 1,300 rooms to be added by 2010, including an upscale Westin, downtown hotels will again need to reevaluate their conditions, and plan accordingly.

Developer Plans Class A Space for New Albany

The Charlestown Road corridor of New Albany continues to expand with the announcement of a 16,000 square foot building of Class A Office Space. The building is not large, yet it is significant for the Southern Indiana suburbs, because while they have been able to land plenty of new retail establishments and industrial users, they have nearly no white collar office jobs. In fact, Clark and Floyd counties combined have less than 350,000 square feet of Class A space. A local developer though hopes to help change that fact. He is building his new development near the entrance of the planned Purdue University business incubator and campus. He is banking that "if you build it, they will come." I hope so - Southern Indiana could certainly use some more high paying, quality jobs.

Local Groups Assess Needs of Fort Knox
Fort Knox is going through some growing pains. In 2005 the BRAC realignment meant that the local army installation will be seeing a net gain of 3,500 position - which will translate into around 12,000 new residents in area by mid 2010. Fort Knox and it's surrounding communities (such as Radcliff) are not yet fully prepared for the onslaught of new residents. So local groups are completing needed studies to identify areas of growth potential before the new residents get to town. In the report they're updating the local land-use study for county and municipal governments, they're looking at the local road needs, housing needs, retail and job needs. These new positions at Fort Knox will be one of the largest spurts of growth for the base in a very long time and local governments do not want to be caught unprepared as the local population swells.

New Albany Logistics Firm Adds 50 Employees
L&D Mail Masters, a local logistic firm, announced they will be adding almost 50 new employees to their workforce. The small, New Albany-grown business currently has 100 employees and 20 million dollars in revenue. Their expansion will mean an investment of 4.2 million dollars in buildings and equipment. Salaries will begin in the mid 30,000 dollar range.

Recent Announcements Promise 1000 Jobs

2007-04-04T21:46:00.000-06:00

The past week has seen several announcements that promise to bring up to 1000 new jobs to the area. While they're not white collar jobs, they're still not too bad:

Solectron, a California-based manufacturer and repairer of electronics, will soon add 700 positions to their new and expanded space off of I-65. The company, which recently doubled it's capacity, will add these new jobs by the end of the year. The pay will range from 10 to 18 dollars an hour, based on the level of experience. Company officials noted that Louisville was picked for the expansion due to the location ofthe UPS WorldHub and the flexibility that it provides them in shipping.

CafePress, an online provider of customizable bumper stickers, tshirts, and other products, will add 120 positions to their Riverport facility. Average salary will be 15 dollars an hour.

RalCorp, a producer of frozen bakery goods, will add a new product line ot their Louisville operations, and add 120 workers. The average salary will be 18 dollars an hour.

LEO Steel is yet again proposing a new facility for Riverport that would employ 130 people and pay an average of 19 dollars an hour. It would be an investment of 220 million dollars and would prouce steel slabs and coils for export. LEO has been eyeing Riverport for nearly a decade now, and this latest proposal is number 4 since 2000. Don't hold your breath.

New Life for a Corner on Fourth?

2007-04-03T21:12:00.000-06:00

After multiple proposals and rumors, it appears the Hilliard Lyons Building may finally get a new lease on life. The building, which is the former home of Stewart's Dry Good's Department Store, is being sold by PNC Financial Services to a Kentucky ex-pat who plans on renovating the majority of the building into a 250 room hotel.

The sale will close by July 1 with a sale price of nearly 10 million dollars. Renovations could cost as much as 30 million.

The building, with nearly 350,000 square feet of space, will not entirely be turned into a hotel. Office space, residential, and a substantial retail portion, are all also possible. The renovations will maintain the historic facades, and bring life to corner that is seen as a lynchpin of further Fourth Street redevelopment. The developer has stated Hilton may possibly manage the new hotel as an Embassy Suites, but nothing of yet is set in stone.

The Hilliard Lyons Building has had at least one other development plan in the last year, and was the topic of yet more speculation. There was a plan in 2006 to turn the building into office space, UofL Graduate Program space, and several clubs; that plan quickly died. There was also a proposal kicked around to turn it and the nearby Starks Building into a massive 1000+ room hotel, but that dissolved when the Starks Building was purchased by a California investment firm with plans to renovate that building into Class A office space with restaurants on the ground level.

This hotel is yet another addition to the 1000+ rooms that are currently under construction or planned in the CBD. There is also a rumored midrise hotel that is planned at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut, directly connected to the Henry Clay Building. Developers there already own the cleared lot and are just finishing up with their renovations of the Henry Clay.

2006 Census Estimates

2007-03-29T17:58:00.000-06:00

The Census Bureau reently released their annual county population estimates for 2006. Here is how the Louisville area shaped up.

Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area
Indiana Counties
Clark - 103,569 +1,944
Floyd - 72,570 +545
Washington - 28,062 +252
Harrison - 36,992 +263

Kentucky Counties
Jefferson - 701,500 +2,449
Bullitt - 72,851 +1,411
Oldham - 55,285 +1,826
Shelby - 39,717 +1,501
Henry - 16,025 +199
Meade - 27.992 -263
Nelson - 42,102 +1,036
Spencer - 16,475 +838
Trimble - 9,071 +38
TOTAL: 1,222,211 +12,039

Elizabethtown Metropolitan Statistical Area:
Hardin - 97,087 +262
Larue - 13,791 +128
TOTAL: 110,878 +390

Scottsburg Micropolitan Area
Scott - 23,704 -45

Louisville Combined Statistical Area: 1,356,793

The Iron Quarter

2007-03-20T20:29:00.000-06:00

Todd Blue announced today that he and his company will soon invest more than 50 million dollars to build a mixed use office and retail complex in downtown Louisville. The project, to be named The Iron Quarter, will occupy the block bounded by West Main to the south, Washington to the north, First to the east and Second to the west. This plan replaces an earlier redevelopment plan that had been hatched in 2000 by another local developer.

Blue sees huge changes for the property, including a 14 story office tower (that can be expanded to 23 floors if the need arises), a parking garage, retail space, restaurant space, and bar space. The project will be largely pedestrian oriented and will help bridge the new Louisville Arena to residential development in the West Main neighborhood.

The project will require the demolition of the interiors of the buildings, but all the historic facades will remain and be restored to their original lustre. Some people are critical of this practice, but I feel it is perfectly acceptable. Buildings have to constantly change to be usable - and these buildings simply do not have floor plans that still work for the uses of today. The main consideration is for the facades of the buildings - and those will be perfectly restored. You will never be able to tell that the buildings ever fell into disrepair and they will look as if they had been continually used for more than a century.

The most exciting aspect of the project is perhaps one of the smaller components - the retail. Retail has been lacking in downtown for decades, and this is the first project that promises at least some retailing options such as clothing, gaming, home decor, et cetera, in the CBD. Hopefully this portends of things to come.

This announcement is incredibly exciting for Louisville. This block was one of the very last major eyesores of downtown. And it has been a constant reminder of how much work downtown still has to do to revive itself.

News in Brief

2007-03-19T13:23:00.000-06:00

Kentucky Home Life Gets a Makeover
Business First of Louisville is reporting this week that the historic Kentucky Home Life Building will be seeing new owners and new investment. In their article, they are reporting that the 19 floor structure will change hand officially next week to a group of local investors. The investors are reportedly planning on investing upwards of 12 million dollars in the old structure. The building will be turned into a mixed-use structure, as the bottom floor will marketed at retail, the middles floors will turn into office condos, and the top 2 floors will be renovated into 8 penthouse units, selling for 500,000 dollars or more.

UofL Center for Predictive Medicine to Break Ground Next Month
The University of Louisville held one of the last public "Question and Answer" sessions relating to the new Center for Predictive Medicine that is being build on the Shelby Campus off of Shelbyville Road. The center, which will be in full operation in early 2009, will study many of the viral and bacterial agents that have been identified as possible bio terrorism threats. Residents of the area have been very concerned since UofL announced this project nearly 2 years ago. Despite the economic benefits and health breakthroughs this center could pioneer, locals are still vociferously opposing it. The center has already received all needed zoning clearances, and it will be a partner with the CDC, which helped UofL design the facility and it's safety checks. The site is 1 of 14 that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has helped to fund since September 11, 2001.

New Albany's Scribner Place Enters New Phase
New Albany, Indiana's new Scribner Place project has moved into the next phase of construction - much to the chagrin of downtown locals. Scribner Place is a local government initiative in downtown New Albany to build a new YMCA and help kick start the rebirth of the city's core. With support pilings finally installed, the incessant clanging of metal being beaten into the earth can stop. The foundation is being laid this month and the metal skeleton will begin to rise in April. Project leaders expect to have the building ready for swimming lessons and weight lifting in Fall of 2008. Other parcels of land around Scribner Place, which are owned by the city, will go on the market in the coming months, with the hopes that local developers will step forward with plans for more downtown retail and housing.

Fourth Street Live! Get 2 New Occupants
Fourth Street Live, the downtown retail and entertainment complex, announced last week that in addition to the new upscale Hotel Lounge they're adding to the complex's first level, they will also be adding two new bars to the upper level. Angel's Rock Bar and Tengo Sed Cantina will occupy space in the former Palm Bar and Parrot Beach Club. Those bars, along with Red Cheetah, were evicted last month after their parent company filed for bankruptcy. All 3 new bars will up and running before he crowds of Derby rush to town.

Also, be on the look for details of the pending Fourth Street Live expansion. It's already been announced they're close to inking a deal with the Starks Building for more space, and they're also in negotiations with the mayor about building a large addition on the former Water Company site. Stay tuned for that mega development.

Playing With Crime

2007-03-18T15:57:00.000-06:00

So, I've been pretty busy here of late and haven't been really able to post much - which is unfortunate because I really wanted to keep his more current, but that's the way it goes sometime I suppose.

Anyway, I have been thinking about national crime trends recently, and some of them are worrisome. For a whole slew of reasons, experts are thinking we're heading toward another violent crime surge. Hopefully this will be averted, but that is yet to be seen.

I have always felt very safe in Louisville. In very few parts of town have I ever felt uneasy or worried about violence against me - but I have found I am an anomaly. Most people seem to always be worried about the next mugger or murderer who is just around the corner. I usually disregard those people as too easily swayed by the sensationalism they find on WAVE 3 or WLKY. But to make sure I wasn't the foolish one, I wanted some facts and figures to see which way violent crime is moving in Louisville, and perhaps some comparison to other areas.

Violent Crime Numbers from 2005 for Louisville-Jefferson County:

Forcible Rape: 209
Robbery: 1,822
Murder: 55
Aggravated Assault: 1,810
TOTAL -

Violent Crime Numbers from 2006 for Louisville-Jefferson County:

Forcible Rape: 217
Robbery: 1,762
Murder: 51
Aggravated Assault: 1,867
TOTAL - 3,897

Based on violent crimes (the ones people are truly scared of) we can see that between 2005 and 2006, Louisville saw no significant changes in it's crime rate - for the better or the worse. (Which is surprising, considering last Fall there were a slew of stories saying how Louisville had fallen into the depths of a massive new crime wave, with robberies being on a major upswing. - that proved false, like so many stories related to crime from the local media)

With the above numbers, we find Louisville having a crime rate of 557.3 incidents of violent crime in 2005 for every 100,000 inhabitants. In 2006 the rate is 557.5 incidents per 100,000 inhabitants. Not a significant change. When compared to other peer cities, we see Louisville ain't doing half bad (2005):

Indianapolis: 989.7
Nashville: 1,602.5
Memphis: 1,857.2
Cincinnati: 1,184.5
Columbus: 837.6
Louisville: 557.3
UNITED STATES: 469.2

Again, keep in mind, these are VIOLENT CRIME RATES, not total crime rates. (I tried to pick cities that are near the same size as Louisville, and also encompass at least some suburbs)

The data helped to reinforce my general feelings about crime in Louisville versus other cities - It's not the absolute best place, but it is definitely a safer city than most other peer cities. Memphis particularly amazes me - that is just out of control! Their violent crime rate is obscene.

Besides comparing Louisville to other cities, I also was interested in seeing if the old stereotype is true that the West End is the WORST place in Louisville for violent crime. Surprisingly enough, it was not the worst according to 2006 numbers from Louisville Metro Police - but it was pretty close.

Louisville is divided into 8 Police Divisions, and they encompass the following areas:

The First Division includes the following neighborhoods: Butchertown, Downtown,
Phoenix Hill, Portland and Russell.

The Second Division includes: California, Chickasaw, Hallmark, Park Duvall, Park Hill, Parkland and Shawnee.

The Third Division includes: Auburndale, Iroquois, Iroquois Park, Kenwood Hill, Southland Park and Southside.

The Fourth Division includes: Fairgrounds, Germantown, Iroquois, Limerick, Merriwether, Old Louisville, Schnitzelburg, Shelby Park, South Louisville, University, Wilder Park and Wyandotte.

The Fifth Division include: Belknap, Bonnycastle, Bowman, Brownsboro Zorn, Cherokee Triangle, Clifton, Clifton Heights, Crescent Hill, Highlands, Highlands Douglass, Irish Hill, and Tyler Park.

The Sixth Division includes the following neighborhoods: Audubon, Bashford Manor,
Bon Air, Camp Taylor, Edgewood, Highland Park, Hikes Point, Klondike, Poplar
Level, Prestonia, Saint Joseph, and Standiford.

The Seventh Division includes the following neighborhoods: Fern Creek, Highview and Okolona.

The Eighth Division includes the following neighborhoods: Barbourmeade,
Bellemeade, Briarwood, Douglass Hills, Glenview, Goose Creek, Hurstbourne,
Lyndon, Middletown, Rolling Hills, Westwood, Wildwood, Woodland Hills and
Worthington Hills.

I was surprised to see that according to LMPD, it was the Fourth Division that had he highest number of incidents of violent crime. To me, the Fourth Division is the "South End" of town. With 1,879 incicents of violent crime, it stood well above the "West End" - Second Division - total of 1,302 incidents.

Another surprise to me was to see that the safest division was not some far-flung suburban division, but was the Fifth Division that serves the inner-city neighborhoods of the Highlands and Clifton. With only 407 reported crimes last year, it was "safer" than the Eighth Division which includes the stereotypically safest parts of town like Hurstborne and Middletown.

Overall, the data supported my generally notions of crime in Louisville, with some unexpected surprises. Crime is a social ill that the community must strive to reduce to the lowest levels possible by building a city that offers basic education to all citizens, a job that offers a full day of work for a fair wage, and bestows dignity and respect to all people, regardless of race, economic status, age, religion, or sexual preference. Louisville isn't going to ever be perfect, but these are ideals and things that we certainly can do -now- if we all just wanted to do it.

Museum Plaza Gets Government Nod

2007-03-12T21:56:00.000-06:00

In typical Kentucky style, the state legislature is down to the wire in passing major bills - and one of those major bills is the one supporting the Museum Plaza project in downtown Louisville. Amazingly enough it has now passed both chambers of the legislature is on it's way to the desk of the governor.

Thank God.

In recent days things seemed to not be going well for the Museum Plaza bill - it wasn't taken up by the Senate quickly, and the Senate President said initially he has some misgivings about the law. However, he ended up championing the bill and it passed his chamber with only 1 vote in opposition. House and Senate leaders patted themselves on the back and explained how this building is not going to only transform the skyline of Louisville, but will help the reputation of the entire state of Kentucky.

Governor Fletcher has already said he will sign the bill into law, and developers of Museum Plaza have commented that this project is a slam dunk with this law. Shovels will be turning dirt by late summer.

BUSY

2007-03-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

So. I've been pretty busy this week, and have not blogged in quite awhile.

And tonight I have no time either, but The Urbanophile has several interesting stories about Louisville in his blog this week - check it out.

UofL Health Campus' New Masterplan

2007-03-02T20:59:00.000-06:00

The University of Louisville health campus in downtown Louisville is one of the great economic engines of the region. Inside those buildings, researchers have pioneered such medical breakthroughs as the first hand transplants, are on the cutting edge of mechanical hearts, and are American leaders in the research of full face transplants. Researchers and doctors at the health campus are truly making a difference for the community and the field of medicine.

That is why it is important to give this complex of research and patient care buildings a new vision for growth in the future; and last week UofL did just that with a new strategic master plan for the downtown campus.

The original master plan was crafted nearly 15 years ago, and has been a good document from which to base the growth of the campus, but times have changed and the needs of today are different from the early 1990's. By the year 2027, the campus is expected to double in size, and to accommodate the growth, some changes are going to be made in the area.

One major new component of the campus will be a pedestrian-only corridor to replace a secluded alley and loading dock area. Along this new pedestrian corridor, you will find a small "urban forest" to give patients a secluded location to get away and meditate. There are also 10 new buildings that have been identified for the future, several of which are already under construction or in the planning process. Currently there are several large surface lots that are expected to become buildings in the future, and to replace those lost parking spots, two more parking structures are proposed. Along with those new strucures, the new VA Hospital is expected to be built in the UofL campus. A southern gateway is also to be built as to better differentiate the campus from the surrounding area.

Right now UofL has several new buildings under construction in the campus - including two research buildings and one patient care complex that will be used by doctors from University Hospital. The years to come, however, promise even larger changes.

Museum Plaza Passes Major Hurdle

2007-03-01T21:17:00.000-06:00

Museum Plaza, the 465 million dollar riverfront skyscraper, passed a major hurdle in the Kentucky House of Representatives today. The House passed a needed tax bill that will allow Museum Plaza to capture a percentage of hotel room taxes that would normally be funneled to programs to promote tourism in the city of Louisville.

Before the tax bill becomes law, it must pass the state Senate and be signed by the governor - but the House passed the bill overwhelmingly and the Senate is expected to simply rubber stamp the bill and Gov. Fletcher has already indicated he would do anything possible to get this building built. This vote came as somewhat of a surprise, as many people expected the vote to be closer, mainly due to the negative coverage that was provided in the Courier-Journal.

The bill faced stiff opposition from state hoteliers, who claimed this bill would set a precedent and allow state hotel tax dollars to be siphoned away from their organizations. However, in the case of this bill, the legislation was limited to a small portion of only Louisville, only affects city hotel taxes, NOT state hotel taxes, and only affects projects over 200 million dollars. Other hoteliers simply do not want to compete with a Westin and want no one taking even a single dollar to which they feel they're entitled.

With this vote, it appears all but certain that Museum Plaza will break ground in late summer or early fall...bring it on.

RiverPark Place Begins

2007-02-25T23:53:00.001-06:00

The long awaited RiverPark Place development along the banks of the Ohio River will finally have it's ground breaking this week. On Friday, March 2, city officials and project developers will meet to ceremoniously turn the dirt on this long awaited project. Site prep has been taking place for the last several months, but this will mark the beginning of "official" work.

Phase 1 of the project will run a cool 200 million dollars, and will include two 14 story towers, a river esplanade, as well as a collection of low-rise condos and apartments, office space, a marina, and restaurants. This will be one of the densest projects to be built in the urban core in many years - and it will combine many different uses to create a vibrant community.

This project has been in the making for nearly 20 years. The exact same site that is being built upon today once had a similar development planned for it in the early 1990's, but those plans fell apart in the late 90's when financial support couldn't be found.

Today, the project is full steam ahead - and if phase 1 is successful, multiple other phases have already been conceived that include six more 14 story towers along the river and could total 500 million more dollars in investment. This project is huge, and is a boon for the city of Louisville.

My one beef with this project is the "safe" architectural stylings they used. The design isn't offensive at all - it just seems, well, a little bland. I feel as if I could pick up RiverPark Place and put it in any Southern boom town, and it would look as if it completely belonged there. I realize there is a market for this type of architecture, and i am not saying the design is actually bad, I just think it is a bit boring and I wish we could have seen something that is a bit more original, or even revolutionary.

Despite my critique, i still think the project is going to be a huge boost or the city and for urban living in the core. It will be a huge draw for the unique waterfront setting and the new neighborhood it will anchor - here's to hoping they're wildly successful!

Louisville's City of Parks

2007-02-22T01:38:00.001-06:00

Louisville is a city that has long prided itself on the stunning system of parks and parkways that were designed for us by the landscape architect genius Frederick Law Olmsted. The father of landscape design molded the Louisville landscape into one of his largest and best pieces of work. His amazing labors have helped to form the Louisville psyche and our reverence for large, urban green spaces.

This is a love and passion that is alive and well in the Louisville of the 21st century, just as it was in the 19th century when our grand park system was planned and dreamed of. We can see our love of urban green space in the new Riverfront Park in downtown, which has won award after award for it's reclamation of industrial brown fields and it's innovative design. We see it in the preservation of our legacy in the Olmsted system that we have cherished for well over a century - and we see it in the renewed vision and invigoration of these magnificent public spaces. Beyond our renewed focus on our downtown park and Olmsted masterpieces, we find Louisville striving for the next great step in urban parks. This new focus has led to the creation of the "City of Parks" initiative.

The "City of Parks" initiative has been a dream of Louivillians for decades, however it was only recently that events have been set into motion that will create a new "emerald necklace" around the city's periphery. The master plan is still being created, however many of those documents are expected to released to the public in Fall 2007.

Still, before those master plans are released, we already know many of the large-scale efforts and expectations:

A new trail will link the "big 3" parks from the original Olmsted system, along with many improvements to the original city parks.
A trail of more than 100 miles will surround the city - linking downtown to all the suburbs in Jefferson County.
A "recreation corridor" along River Road just east of downtown.
The Jefferson Memorial Forest, already America's largest urban forest, will expand.
Floyd's Fork, a stream that cuts through eastern Jefferson County, will be the focus point of more than 30 miles of trails, and several new large parks - many of which will be larger than Cherokee Park in the Highlands of Louisville.
Protection of the watershed of Floyd's Fork.
Addition of new sports fields and recreation opportunities along the Floyd's Fork route.

This project is not some pie-in-the-sky dream that the city is going slowly about in completing - they're actually moving forward at a breakneck pace.

Sen. Mitch McConnell has already secured millions of dollars in federal funding in last year's budget, and local philanthropist and businessman David Jones has been kneading the local professional community for donations of land and money. Jones has been highly successful, raising in excess of 35 million dollars, and convincing local landholders to donate thousands of acres of land to the Jefferson Memorial Forest and donate the land needed to build the new parks along the Floyd's Fork.

Just last week Jones was able to buy 175 acres near the Bullitt County line that adjoins another 114 acres he secured in December. Jefferson Forest added 400 acres in December and hundreds of more acreage has been stockpiled for this project even before that. Other stories from just this last week chronicle the efforts that civic leaders are doing to make this project a reality.

The "City of Parks" project is the first large scale park building and renovation project in Louisville in more than 100 years. Based on what I've seen so far, it is my opinion that these parks in the suburban areas will be as beautiful and well used as the parks in the urban core. These parks are also going to sort of "make or break" our suburban areas.

These park projects are currently in rural Jefferson County, where residential and commercial development has not yet swallowed up all available land. Nearly all of the land currently expected to become parkland is farmland or horse pasture and is surrounded by very sparse residential homes. Yet, suburban development is quickly encroaching on the area - hence the need for speed in acquiring all the land for this project.

These parks - and the ensuing development around them - will become a defining feature of suburban Louisville and speak to our city's collective personality. The question is, what will it say about us? Will we work together and create a true enhancement to the original Olmsted system only to build typical vinyl-sided homes on cul-de-sacs in the surrounding neighborhoods? Will we build walls around the parks and only have a few automotive entrances? (Besides the "decorative" walking trail connectors?)

Or will we learn from the amazing examples we already have in the urban core. We already can see the great neighborhoods that can be created when we weave them together seamlessly with great public spaces - will we let that be our guide in a new format that is suitable for the suburbs? I can say that I hope so, but the public will have as much to say on that as does the city government.

Louisville really is a city of fantastic parks and this project will only solidify the city's commitment to that reputation - let's hope we're able to take these new public spaces and graft them onto our city's urban life equally as well as we have done with the parks of our past.

The King Expressway

2007-02-22T00:28:00.000-06:00

39 years after the death of Reverend Martin Luther King Junior, Louisville has decided to name a busy stretch of highway after him.

In August Interstate 65, from the Indiana border to the Bullitt County line, will be renamed the Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway. It will be a welcome change for some, and an awkward one for others.

The name change basically fell out of the blue late last year when a Louisville councilwoman proposed renaming a busy street in west Louisville in honor of King. The proposal was quickly abandoned after the residents of the Portland neighborhood expressed their feelings that King's name would not reflect their Irish-Catholic heritage. However, this did not kill the debate. There as a sudden push to rename a major thoroughfare after King, and there was no way to get in it's way.

Not long after this idea was shot down, the mayor and several council members proposed the renaming of Interstate 65. It was debated, and passed the city council before going to a vote in the Kentucky Legislature. There it won approval - by a vote of 99 to 0. The governor has said he will sign the bill and road signs will soon be placed on the highway advertising it's new name.

Any change to a roads name will be met with resistance at first - simply because it is seen a huge new change. But the name will quickly be absorbed by the city, and become as common as using "the Watterson" to describe Interstate 264, or "the Snyder" to describe Interstate 265. Eventually Interstate 65 will simply become "the King".

While I believe that it is imperative for the city of Louisville to honor the memory, legacy, and accomplishment of this great man, I can't help but think Louisville should have picked one of it's own unsung African-American civil rights heroes for this road. Louisville and Kentucky has no lack of great black leaders, and this could have been a great opportunity to honor one of our own leaders in a unique way. To me, this isn't a major point of contention, but maybe something that can be thought about in the future.

In the end, the renaming of Interstate 65 may be a small controversy for those citizens who do not value diversity (that's a nice way to put it, wouldn't you agree?) but will probably go unnoticed by most.

What I truly wish is that this community would not honor it's black leaders with sweet platitudes and interstate names, but that we would honor them by creating a society that is equal and just for all Kentuckians. A place where the "West End" isn't for the blacks and the "East End" isn't for the whites. A city where we try to live up to the American Dream of creating a more perfect union with all of our neighbors. Does that sound idealistic? Maybe. But sometimes it is nice to have a dream.

Zirmed's New Tower

2007-02-15T00:27:00.000-06:00

So the rumors were true.

Yet another parking lot in the city's core is going to be filled by a mixed-use project.

On Thursday afternoon the mayor is going to announce a new project for the western section of downtown Louisville - The Zirmed Gateway Towers. (unwieldy name if you ask me)

The project is being spearheaded by downtown Louisville developer Bill Weyland. Weyland, if you didn't already know, is one of the key figures in the renaissance of downtown Louisville in recent years. His company, City Properties, has rehabbed and built several major projects in downtown since 2000. His most current project, the YWCA conversion on Third Street, is now in the finishing stages. He owns a gravel lot fronting Fourth Street that is rumored to be the site of a new mid-rise hotel/residential project. He is also currently renovating a shuttered building on Fourth Street into a new upscale Japanese restaurant. Perhaps his most famous project is one of his older ones - the Glassworks Building on the west side of downtown.

When originally conceived, the Glassworks Building was supposed to be the first anchor in a new Glassworks District. The Glassworks District was envisioned in the early days of former mayor Armstrong's administration. Plans called for an expansive area of homes, offices, and glass-working artists. Phase 1 of the project was the wildly successful renovation of the Snead Manufacturing Building - now known as simply the Glassworks Building. Phase 2, which immediately followed phase 1, was the relatively small conversion of a day-work jail into space for artists. This was completed early in the decade. Since then, nothing has happened.

In fact, the Glassworks District concept had all but evaporated, and many Louisvillians forgot about the project altogether. That all changed today when it was revealed that phase 3 will be two new mid-rise towers on a gravel lot currently across the street from the original Glassworks Building.

The two new towers, at the corner of Market and Roy Wilkins, will rise 12 and 10 stories into the air. With that number of floors, the buildings will be well over 100 feet tall. They will help to form a new gateway for western downtown Louisville when exiting to Ninth Street from I-64.

The main tenant will be Zirmed, which in mid-2006 announced it had outgrown it's current space along West Main, and needed to consolidate operations in a bigger space. And they wanted a landmark building to showcase their epic growth. With his announcement, they will get both of their wishes. They will lease 45,000 square feet of space in the buildings, leaving another 35,000 feet for another tenant. There will be a new restaurant and catering business to be headed by Jeff Jarfi, and space for another large retail tenant. The buildings will also offer 15 to 20 condos, ranging in price from 300,000 dollars to 500,000 dollars. Several units have already been reserved.

Phase 3 will also include a 285 spot parking garage. A small parcel of land will be left undeveloped on the lot for an anticipated phase 4 - perhaps to be small hotel or another residential project.

Financing has been secured through several national banks, and construction is expected to begin in March. The city of Louisville offered the developers a 600,000 dollar low interest loan through a program started in the early 2000's and the city will spend around 180,000 dollars to bury power line, plant trees, and install other beautification elements.

Louisville: A Competitive City?

2007-02-11T01:54:00.000-06:00

On Friday the Greater Louisville Project (from henceforth to be known as GLP) issued it's 2007 Competitive City Report for Louisville. The stated goal of the GLP is to "accelerate the pace of change to redefine Louisville as a skilled and educated community that claims it's place in the top tier of American cities."

That is a lofty goal indeed. Especially for Louisville.

The report is a slick presentation of graphs, maps, and promotional messages. Much of the information was useful...and encouraging. Some of it was simple blubbering by a civic group - but what can ya say, they're all that way anyway.

The GLP report focuses on the central county - Jefferson County, Kentucky - unlike this recent report that focuses on the entire metropolitan statistical area. The GLP report is simply one piece of an overall puzzle that represents the trends and movements in the Louisville region. In some cities, a report that focuses on the central county would be less important than it is in Louisville - but this report holds a lot of weight for Louisville because 3 out of 5 residents of the MSA are residents of Louisville Metro - Jefferson County.

This report focused it's energy on three points of comparison - Educational Attainment, Professional Jobs, and Balanced Regional Growth. The report compared Louisville to 14 other competitor cities - Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Richmond, Nashville, Omaha, Cincinnati, Columbus, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Dayton. And at least on the education front, we're making real progress

By steadily increasing the number of people in the age group of 25-34 with Bachelors Degrees, we have moved from the near the bottom of the pack at 11th place, to the middle of the pack, at 8th place. In 2000, only Dayton, Memphis, and Jacksonville fared worse than us in this age group, but by 2005, Louisville had rushed past Greensboro, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Birmingham in this category. That is progress for Louisville.

In the performance of JCPS students on the Kentucky state CATS test, we've also seen marked improvement in only 4 years. In 2001 79% of JCPS students were proficient in reading, 70% in science, and 59% in math. By 2005 those numbers had increased to 87% in reading, 77% in science, and 72% in math. Those are big leaps in a district as large and diverse as JCPS, and in such a short period.

Louisville ranks near the top of cities in the category of citizens with *some* college experience. That highlights a huge opportunity for Louisville's institutions of higher education to develop new program to retain and graduate more students.

In 1990 nearly 1 in 5 Louisvillians hadn't even finished high school. In 2005 that number had essentially been cut in half, to 1 in 10.

Louisville's college and university have seen a swell in the number of college students in recent years, and an increased student population has led to a large increase in the number of degrees conferred in the area.

In regards to personal income Louisville has also seen some good growth. In 2000 Louisville was ranked 11th, only ahead of Memphis, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Dayton, when measuring Median Income. By 2005 Louisville was right in the middle of the pack, ranked 8th. In those 5 years Louisville had also surpassed Birmingham, Jacksonville, and Kansas City.

Another bright spot for Louisville is it's low crime rate when compared to competitor cities. Only two cities - Dayton and Raleigh - boasted a lower crime rate.

Of course, not everything can be good news.

One of the trouble spots for Louisville was the stagnation when it comes to creating and retaining high-paying professional jobs. In 2000 Louisville ranked near the bottom, at 11th place...and still occupies that position. Despite large leaps in educational attainment, we're still having trouble luring in professional opportunities.

Louisville's African-American community lost ground in home ownership rates.

In 2000 Louisville was next to last (a good thing in this case) in the percentage of families spending more than 30% of their income on housing. That number has increased, and Louisville has moved up several spots. This means working families are finding it increasingly difficult to afford good housing on their salaries in the central county.

Despite growth in home values in Louisville, it has been slower than many of our competitors, and Louisville has lost ground in this measure as well.

It is my opinion that this report, despite it's shortcomings, shows a stregthening city, and one full of opportunity for continued improvement. If you throw out all the comparisons to other cities, you find a region that seems to have fully awoken from it's doldrums of the 70's and 80's. We're growing larger, better educated, and have better oppotunities than any other time in our city's history. This is truly an exciting and great era for Louisville.

JCPS gets "Seal of Approval"

2007-02-09T18:42:00.000-06:00

Jefferson County School District was named a "Quality School District" by the Southern Association of College and Schools, an accreditation group.

In their report, they noted many of the districts greatest strengths, including "gains in achievement, valuing diversity, attendance gains, stable leadership and a solid level of teacher preparation (over 80 percent have advanced degrees.)" They also mentioned the strong ties between the business community and JCPS.

JCPS is one of only 100 districts in the US that was chosen far this designation. I will last for five years.

This designation reflects on the excellent quality of education for a school district as large and urban as JCPS. If progress continues, it only points to an even better future for the city.

Two High Schools Announce Downtown Plans

2007-02-07T00:12:00.000-06:00

Two local high schools that are located downtown released plans for expansion last week:

Presentation Academy released initial plans to build a new gymnasium and arts wing on a lot they purchased at Fourth and Breckenridge in the SoBro "neighborhood" adjoining downtown. Currant plans show a building on the southwest corner of their lot with a large structure that will contain a gymnasium, theatre, and class space for art. The building will cost over 5 million dollars, and a private campaign will commence soon to raise the money needed.

This plan, which will develop and bring some vitality to a relatively quiet block in the city's core, has one hitch: to build this new expansion, they will have to raze a building with some historic value for it's Art-Deco form. The 900 Building, which has been abandoned for years, will not be incorporated into the design. Some local preservationists have objected to this planned demolition, pointing out the historic value to the structure.

Despite the value of the current building, only a few people have openly assailed this project. And with the prospect of new investment at the site and some renewed energy, don't expect the city to block the plans.

The other announced expansion plan was by St. Francis High School at Third and Broadway. They recently purchased the former YMCA building and garage. Their announced intentions are to invest some money into the garage while the school completes a long term study of their needs for this new building. Eventually the property will house an expansion at St. Francis.

These school expansions are helping to solidify to foundation of downtown as a place for Louisvillians to congregate, live, work, and educate their children. Projects such as these bring in another element to a downtown - and a needed one. They make downtown useful to other demographics than just your 20-somethings who want to buy a condo and go to Fourth Street Live. These types of projects bring teenagers and families to the core more often, fostering a sense of safety and vitality, even on days when there are not huge events going on downtown.

Besides the "blockbuster" projects currently planned for downtown, these types of projects bring in your typical Louisvillians to the core on a consistent basis, not only for "high-minded" uses, such as museum, art galleries, and high-end restaurants. These types of uses are equally as important as others because they convince citizens that downtown is for everyone and all uses, not just out-of-towners and conventioneers.

Downtown needs to encourage uses such as this to keep the core relevant to the lives of typical citizens.

Louisville's New Airline (again)

2007-02-05T14:40:00.000-06:00

For the second time in less than a month, a new airline has picked Louisville for increased service. In mid-January, Denver-based Frontier Airlines announced new direct service flights from Denver to Louisville. Today, ExpressJet announced new direct service to Louisville from Kansas City, Mo and Raleigh/Durham, NC. Both cities are top 20 for business travelers from Louisville.

This new carrier promise to offer Louisvillian travelers all leather seating and XM satellite radio in flight. Dates of service and prices for tickets will be announced next week.

This announcement is yet another sign that outsiders are recognizing the solid and growing market that Louisville offers. Louisville's business community continues to expand at levels unheard of here in decades - and it shows. Flights such as these make Louisville more attractive of a destination for ease of use and connectivity. While flights will not spur a huge growth in business, they are a sign of renewed strength in the Louisville economy. And in turn, they can be a deciding factor on whether a company stays in your town, or flees to other, larger markets.

These new flights are a great win for Louisville...and the city seems to be on a roll.

PharMerica in the Suburbs and Louisville's Genlyte

2007-02-05T00:25:00.000-06:00

On Friday it was reported that Louisville's newest corporate citizen would by planting it's roots in suburban Jefferson County - off of Blankenbaker Parkway in Jeffersontown to be more precise.

The new 2 billion dollar company will fill the space that was vacated over a year ago when Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield built a new suburban building at Eastpoint Business Center and consolidated their operations. PharMerica is expected to lease nearly 100,000 square feet of space in the Blankenbaker Crossings building for their 300 to 350 new employees.

PharMerica looked at three locations in Louisville - 2 suburban and 1 downtown - before settling on Blankenbaker Crossing. Jeffersontown's mayor has commented that the city will bend over backwards to support the new company in any possible ways.

While I think it is a missed opportunity for the downtown core to score this fantastic, growing company...it is a win for the Louisville business community to have them settle roots here. The number of Fortune 1000 companies has been reduced in the last decade with RJ Reynolds being acquired and moved to North Carlina and the takeover of LG&E in the mid 90's by German electric conglomerate E.ON. Thankfully for the latter company, LG&E was basically left unchanged and E.ON made Louisville it's US Headquarters - although that still isn't quite as nice as having LG&E as our own Fortune 1000 company again.

Fortune 1000 companies are a point of pride for any community, and it is one indicator of a regions general economic strength and importance. Fortune 1000's are not the only indicators, o even the single most important one, but it is still great to have as many as possible.

It is because of this that I am excited about recent news from Louisville-based Genlyte. Genlyte is a homegrown company that has experienced explosive growth and is acquiring companies left and right, like last weeks announced acquisition of Pennsylvania-based lighting manufacturer, Hanover Lantern.

Genlyte's 2006 revenues were announced to be 1.48 billion dollars. Had Genlyte posted that number in 2005, they would have easily made Fortunes 1000 list. But last year they had sales of 1.2 billion - nearly 200 million dollars short of breaking into the top 1000 public companies. Revenue is up nearly 25 percent this year from last, and if they don't make the Fortune list for 2006, there is no doubt they will make the cut for 2007.

Louisville has a reputation of plodding along without much growth - and to a degree that has been very true. But times are changing, not just for Louisville, but for Kentucky. Kentucky is expected to ride the next wave of Southern expansion as people start looking for places that aren't yet saturated - such as Florida, Georgia, or Texas. This means we'll start seeing more economic diversity, more local companies, and greater opportunity.

Recent economic news from Louisville has been very bright, indeed. And I expect that momentum to continue. Not every week will bring with it a new company or large expansion, but Louisville will continue to do what it does best - nurture small groups and daring entrepreneurs. That's how Genlyte started. And Smoothstone. And Zirmed. And a whole slew of others.

Louisville has a lot of baggage to overcome...but slowly, we're turning the corner, and news like these recent developments, only embolden us more.

Crisis Averted

2007-02-02T18:48:00.000-06:00

Two days after the developers of Museum Plaza and the city's Convention and Visitor's Bureau appeared to be headed to battle, the crisis was averted.

At issue were the plans by Museum Plaza to use 80% of the Westin's room taxes on public infrastructure improvements instead of being handed over to tourism officials. In his hallmark fashion, the mayor quickly gathered both sides and sat them down to create a compromise - and it didn't even take 24 hours.

Under the plan crafted by both sides, Museum Plaza will keep the first 400,000 each year of the hotel taxes for public infrastructure upgrades. Every year that 400,000 dollars "cap" will grow by 4% for the 30 year life of the TIF district. All revenues above this will go to tourism officals.

This compromise still has to be approved by the State Legislature, but now tourism officials will give Museum Plaza their support, and the plans are expected to be rubberstamped by the state.

I'm just happy they got this resolved quickly. Now, let's get ground broken!

Could a Museum Plaza Battle be Brewing?

2007-01-31T23:37:00.000-06:00

Museum Plaza, the revolutionary skyscraper that is planned for the Louisville waterfront, got it's first dose of opposition today from an unlikely source - The Convention and Visitors Bureau and various hotel associations across the Commonwealth. At issue is a special funding break that will be granted to the developers of Museum Plaza by the State Legislature.

In a nutshell, this project will be massive. And to help the developers recoup much of their investments in public infrastructure the city crafted a plan to rebate certain taxes - one of them being the hotel room tax. This change must be approved by the state.

Hotel associations are against this change for several reasons - the most glaring reason is because this will divert funds away from their groups. (Hotel rooms taxes help pay for these types of associations) Their stated reason is because this type of action will lead to other developers wanting the same sorts of changes.

Their first reason to opposition is terribly short-sighted. A complex such as Museum Plaza will be a huge draw for the city of Louisville, and will only improve the city's tourist and cultural attractions. This will eventually spur more business for their members.

Their stated reason is also, well, silly in my opinion. If there ever has been a project in Kentucky that has ever needed tax rebates, this may be the best example in decades. This building is everything and more that a city like Louisville could ever wish for. It is multi-use, daring, and awe-inspiring. This is a building that will be noticed worldwide. Chances like this are once in a century.

If there are ever other hotel projects in Kentucky that are massive on a scale like this, I don't see what the problem would be to rebate those projects taxes too into the public infrastructure needs, instead of being diverted to these hotel associations and other uses. But to think that suddenly there is going to be a string of Motel 6's and Comfort Inn's clamoring and gaining tax rebates like this is absurd. Monumental projects deserve special consideration.

On the other end of the spectrum are the developers of this 465 million dollar project saying that if this doesn't pass as is currently planned, then all their dreams and hopes are dashed and they will cancel the project - that's hogwash. They're trying to get the absolute best deal possible for themselves. The Visitors Bureau threw down the gauntlet and the MP developers threw up the scare tactics.

When this little debate get to the State Legislature I would put my chips with Museum Plaza. You've got the Jefferson County members for it, the mayor, and the governor. Not to mention some of Kentucky's richest citizens. This will either pass to the benefit of MP or a quiet compromise will be reached and we'll be left scratching our heads as to why this even was an issue.

The Visitors Bureau does not want to see this project disappear and the developers are not going to make this issue the ball buster they want you to think it is. MP will get what it wants, or at the very least, a compromise they're willing to live with, and Louisville will get this landmark.

But for goodness sake, can you keep the squabbling to a minimum?

Shake-up on Fourth Street

2007-01-31T22:59:00.000-06:00

A legal battle has been brewing for the last several months at the popular downtown Fourth Street Live complex. Three clubs which are original to the project have been given notices of eviction by the Baltimore based Cordish Company for being behind in their rent to the tune of over 250,000 dollars.

The three clubs in question are located on the second level of the complex and due to an extra admission fee have said that they've lost over half of their business. They point to other establishments in the complex that are not forced to charge an admission fee and see this as a bias against them. In spite of order of eviction and the back rent, the clubs owners say they plan to fight it in court.

Cordish has already announced a replacement to take all of the space that these clubs are supposed to vacate. Besides this legal battle, Fourth Street Live recently endured the closing of the Fashion Shop retail store due to a company reorganization.

Fourth Street Live had over 4 million visitors last year and was one of the state's largest tourist draws. Cordish, which has long promised an expansion, also has dropped hints of them acquiring land at the nearby Water Company block. After they pulled out of the JCPenney Building last year, it seemed that their plans for expansion in Louisville had died. However, the mayor has been hinting for months now that major developers were interested in the Water Company site, and it appears Cordish is one of the suitors. If they do buy the land, lets hope they build something a little more unique...while Fourth Street Live is a great draw for downtown, it definitely could use a more unique and local flavor.

New Louisville Jobs

2007-01-29T21:14:00.000-06:00

Well, I myself have started a new job, and it has taken away much of my computer time - hence the delay since my last post and the short post tonight. Despite the short post today, there have been some good job releases recently in Louisville.

Geek Squad to add 350 more positions
Best Buys announced it was amending it's plans for the Geek Squad City facility in Bullitt County. Six months ago Geek Squad City opened with plans for 500 full time employees, but now Best Buy will add 350 more positions for a total of 850 computer "geek" repairmen. When the facility was originally announced, the state of Kentucky offered over 10 million dollars in tax rebates. Louisville was eventually chosen due to the proximity of UPS WorldHub and the their ability to get computers in and out several days faster due to UPS.

California Printer to add 20 more jobs to West End location
Print Fulfillment Services, formerly OvernightPrints.com, which opened up a large facility in the economically stagnant West End last year, is preparing to add 20 more positions and invest nearly 2 million more dollars in their facility. Last year when their facility was under construction they made it clear they wanted to get as many local West End residents as possible in their operation. They want to continue that commitment with this newest expansion.

West End Indoor Recycling Center brings 20 positions, perhaps more
Last week a group of local investors submitted plans for a 5 million dollar indoor recycling facility in the West End. The facility plans to hire for 20 positions initially, with growth plans of up to 80 more positions. The group has made it known they want to try and also provide the bulk of their positions to locals of the West End.

PharMerica to add 200 HQ jobs
Louisville scored a coup with the gain of PharMerica to the local corporate scene. The HQ will initially have up to 300 positions, with 100 positions already being filled by Louisvillians. With salaries of over 77,000$ a year, that's nothing to turn your nose up to in Louisville.

Top 100 for Young People

2007-01-26T03:19:00.000-06:00

Take it for what it's worth, but Louisville was again ranked as one of America's Best Communities for Young People. The ranking was largely based on the highly successful Every 1 Reads program which aims to brings all studetns to or above their grade reading level by 2008. And with over 6,000 volunteers, they're well on their way to acheieving that goal.

Another reason is GE's generous gift of 25 million dollars for the JCPS district to find ways to improve math and science scores.

Let's hope this programs continue to help Louisville students discover the values of education.

A Decade of Progress?

2007-01-25T14:42:00.000-06:00

KentuckianaWorks, the local workforce development group, released fresh educational attainment data for Louisville today from the year 2005. The group released data on key measures of the "educational activity" in the Louisville Metropolitan Area and gives us a ranking in comparison to 16 other regional cities.

VIEW REPORT HERE

In the year 2000 the city and KentuckianaWorks set out on a mission to markedly improve Louisville's standing in comparison to other regional cities by the year 2010. Since 2002 they have been providing a yearly scorecard of the results, and certain trends have certainly come to light.

The Good News:

Louisville is definitely not stagnant in the numbers of people who are being better educated. In fact, Jefferson County has now surpassed the national average of people holding at least a bachelors degree, at nearly 28%.

When compared to the other 16 metro areas, the incredibly important 25-34 age sub-group has the 5th highest High School graduation rate, the 2nd highest rate of college attendance and Associate Degrees, and ranked 12th in Bachelors Degrees. These are all improvements from 2000.

In 2005 Louisville institutions awarded nearly 4,000 bachelors degrees - a 32 percent increase in 10 years.

Louisville now ranks 7th in the total number of post-secondary degrees awarded (Bachelors, Masters, Professional degrees, Doctorates, Associates, and specialized certificates) - up from 12th only 5 years ago.

There are 9,500 more students in Louisville area colleges in 2005 than there were in 2000. To compare, in 1990 there were 50,642 students enrolled in Louisville colleges and in 2000 there were 51,462. In 2005 there were 60,998. In five years there was an 18 percent total increase, much of it thanks to UofL, Jefferson County Community Colleges, Spencerian College, and Sullivan University.

The Bad News

Despite the increases in educational attainment, it was still not enough to push Louisville ahead in all current rankings.

In the number of Bachelors degrees conferred - 3,900 - only two cities, Birmingham and Memphis, conferred fewer. (Jacksonville was only ahead of Louisville by fewer than 70)

In the overall ranking of the entire population, Louisville was dead last in percent of the population with a bachelors degree. The Louisville MSA percentage total was 23.3%. Our nearest competitor, which is the Memphis MSA at 23.7%, is now within the statistical margin of error.

This news, along with lots of other tidbits that one could glean from this report, and other like it, show a definite trend in Louisville. It is growing more educated, and a sightly faster rate than average. Louisville is gaining ground on its regional competitors.

Louisville has a very high number of people who have attended college, yet do not finish. This is a problem for area colleges that is slowly being corrected. University of Louisville is at critical point in it's history. The school's mandate is to become a top 20 urban university, and to achieve that goal they are implementing many new programs, including initiatives to retain and graduate more of it's students. It is slowly having an effect, and we can see those results in the numbers from our younger citizens achievement.

In regards to education, Louisville has had an elephant it has been trying to eat - but you know how to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And Louisville has finally started doing that.

Museum Plaza Updated

2007-01-23T17:44:00.000-06:00

On Monday, January 22, the developers, architects, and collaborators of the skyline-altering Museum Plaza unveiled some new details about the 465 million dollar project.

Here is your "Cliff Notes" version of the project:

-62 stories on the block bounded by 7th on the east, 8th on the west, Main to the south, and River to the north.

- 703 feet tall, 1.5 million square feet of total space

-Underground parking with 800 spots

-246 room Westin Hotel with a ballroom, spa, restaurant

-Public "Art Hall" for constantly changing art exhibits, UofL Master of Fine Arts Program, Several Art Galleries

-99 Condos, 117 Studio-Lofts

-New public space at ground level with connection to Muhammad Ali Center, recreation of Fort Nelson Park, demolition of electric tower, picnic spaces, sports playing fields

-Official groundbreaking is now expected to happen in May or June

The most recent update did not provide a whole lot of new details, but did give a more clear vision of how the building will be integrated into the surrounding environment. The public plaza at ground level is being designed by the Dutch firm West 8. They will create a seamless connection to the Ali Center to the east and complete the first step needed to start a west downtown renaissance with the complete "redo" of Fort Nelson Park and it's connection to the community.

This project is incredibly exciting, and is perhaps the boldest project to be proposed in the South/Midwest (outside Chicago) in decades. It is one of the largest urban projects in the US in recent history and I cannot say how proud I am to have this built in Louisville.

News from New Albany, Indiana

2007-01-22T23:06:00.000-06:00

There were 2 good stories today about development in New Albany.

First, Purdue University gave some updates as to their plans for a beefed up presence in Southern Indiana. Purdue will open in 2008 it's third large scale business incubator center off of Charlestown Road at I-265. The New Albany center will be a copy of the university's current centers in West Lafayette and Merrillville.

The West Lafayette center has been helping businesses for well over a decade, whereas the Merrillville center has only been open for 2 years. The Merrillville center currently has around 20 businesses, and another 20 have "graduated" and no longer need assistance from Purdue. The New Albany center will be a great way to nurture new high-tech industries in Floyd County - something the Southern Indiana suburbs need desperately.

Along with their new incubator they are also expanding their degree offerings at the Indiana Southeast campus. They will offer several new bachelors degrees in engineering programs and technology programs. They also are planning for a future in which the IUS campus will have a building devoted solely to Purdue programs. This is great news for a region that is in need of as many degree options as possible. This is yet another indicator of the growing emphasis of education in the region.

The other story was a simple update of the Scribner Place project in downtown New Albany. The project, which includes a YMCA and indoor aquatics center, is seen as the spark that downtown needs to finally turn the corner and begin to revitalize. Downtown New Albany was virtually deserted in the past decades, but business has slowly been coming back. The downtown theatre was renovated in 2005 and open air cafes are popping up. But there is still a lack of mass and activity downtown on most given days. Scribner Place will help push the downtown forward, give the community a new "jewel" for downtown which will be widely used on weekday and during the weekends.

Southern Indiana has not been seen as the viable suburb that it is. These projects will help the community project a new image and be seen as the great area it is beoming.

PharMerica chooses Louisville

2007-01-22T17:13:00.000-06:00

PharMerica, the new company formed by a merger between the Kindred Healthcare Pharmacy Division and a major Florida competitor, has picked Louisville over Tampa for it's new corporate headquarters. The headquarters, which will provide employment for upwards of 350 people, has yet to decide on a location within the city.

Currently, the pharmacy division of Kindred Healthcare has 100 employees in downtown Louisville, and to that total another 250 positions could be added in the new company. In October 2006, when Louisville offered the new company 8 million dollars in incentives, it was forecast that the company would need 75,000 square feet of new office space and they would have a payroll of 15.5 million dollars a year for 200 new employees. That would lead to a hefty 77,500 dollar average salary for each of those new jobs.

The company is expected to have revenues of around 1.9 billion dollars in it's first year of operation, making it the 825th largest public company in America according to the Fortune 1000 list.

This news is incredibly good for Louisville. These are the types of high-paying, office jobs that cities will often compete over. In their decision to locate in Louisville, several reasons were stated: good infrastructure, good incentives, and the nearby location of Kindred Healthcare, which will help PharMerica with technology and administrative support.

Rumors from last week said they had already picked Louisville and they were looking at space out in the suburbs, and had later backed out of a deal with a new suburban office building. Here is to hoping that the new PharMerica Corporation will join the growing list of companies that call downtown Louisville home. (And help drive the 9% vacancy rate even lower!)

Museum Plaza Updates TOMORROW

2007-01-21T14:45:00.000-06:00

Museum Plaza - the most exciting development in Lousville in the past half century - will be hosting a forum and update tomorrow morning at 1030 EST.

Until then, here is a rendering from REX Architects.

Louisville's Bridge Woes

2007-01-19T15:29:00.000-06:00

In the latest installment of the drama-mystery series, The Ohio River Bridges Project, it was announced that the total cost of the project will soar to a staggering 3.9 BILLION dollars. The 60 percent jump in the price tag come from new inflation corrections to the previous estimate of a modest 2.5 billion dollars.

This latest news, which was originally announced in December 2006, has caused many Kentucky lawmakers to recoil from their stated support of the multi-state, multi-decade project. In the most current 6 year road plan, Kentucky has promised nearly 800 million dollars to the project, but that could be slashed in the 2008 Legislative Session if compromise and different funding measures cannot be worked out.

Several new theories are being floated around for alternative funding - and one of the most basic ways would be to make the new bridge in the East End a toll bridge. However, that option was thrown out early on as studies indicated that a toll bridge would slow traffic greatly and toll proceeds would not meet outlays due to decreased numbers of people who would be willing to drive across a pay-per-use bridge. This option though is getting at least a temporary reprieve as analysts will look for new ways to squeeze a penny out of a dry sponge.

If tolls prove to be unsavory, then what about a TIF district? That is actually a new proposal that hadn't been widely discussed earlier in the project. But if that were an option, where would it go? Would the state be able to capture taxes from predominantly residential Prospect? Or would the TIF grow huge and also encompass nearby commercial districts? Who knows? No one right now, but at least the option is on the table.

What about a public-private partnership? I don't even know what this would entail. The only way I can see a private company making money from a venture like this is tolls, and we already know that leaders are quite averse to using that funding line. Unless we can name the bridge the McDO Bridge of DOOM!!! with plasma screens bedecking the whole thing advertising Big Macs and milkshakes, I dunno how a private partnership would work. Someone with more knowledge on this option should leave a comment.

In today's Courier-Journal, there was a mention of funding with the help of developers. The story said that, for example, let developers build hotels as a part of the project. I suppose they mean that the new taxes from these hotels could partially help the defray the cost of the bridges - but since when will these new bridges require new hotels to be built? This option also needs more explaining.

Now, the total cost of the project is right on the cusp of 4 billion dollars if, and only if, it is completed in 2023. We can still reduce the time needed, accelerate the process, and get it built at the original 2.5 billion dollar mark...or at least that is what we're being told. And I have to say that while I dunno if the project would cost only 2.5 billion dollars, I do bet it would cost less than 4 billion dollars if Kentucky would pull it's head out of it's behind and push forward.

Mitch Daniels(R), the governor of Indiana, promised to fully fund the Indiana portion of the project (approximately 1/3) with money he got from Indiana's Major Moves initiative. He even went to Kentucky to ask them to fully fund their portion of the bill and get this project built 10 years ahead of schedule. Daniels made the argument that waiting is only costing both states more money and costing both states jobs. Daniels has been very wise to extol the economic possibilities of Clark County, and the Indiana suburbs of Louisville, and sees the area as one of Indiana's brightest spots for development. The Indiana suburbs, with a population of over 265,000, are comparable to other Indiana cities such as Lafayette, Evansville, and South Bend. The area is even larger than Terre Haute or Kokomo...and most Hoosiers don't realize so many people live in the Southern Indiana suburbs...but Mitch Daniels does.

Now, some people may wonder how Daniels found his needed 900 million dollars, or so, for the Indiana side of these new bridges. He made a bold and daring gamble - he sold the Indiana Toll Road in Northern Indiana to a private firm and raked in BILLIONS of dollars for other state projects. With his money he will fund I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville, building the bridges to Louisville, completely overhaul US 31 from Carmel to South Bend, and complete the Hoosier Heartland Highway from Lafayette to Fort Wayne...along with hundreds of smaller state needs.

Now, I look at that and wonder, how can Kentucky do the same thing? The problem is, that while Kentucky has several toll highways, none of them a very highly used, and the current trend in the Fletcher administration has been to turn toll roads into freeways. Sadly, all of Kentucky's major highways are freeways, and you can't simple sell a freeway to a private company to make it into a tollway. So a Mitch Daniels-style selling of Kentucky roads looks slim-to-none.

:Sigh:

While this is currently a big brouhaha in political circles, it is my feeling that these bridges will be completed. John Yamuth, while an idealistic supporter of 8664, also knows the realities that it won't happen. He also wants to get this project done sooner than later. The costs will escalate as time goes by, and the political will also continue to ebb away from all those involved. I think that prior to the 2008 Legislative session, you'll see a slew of new funding sources, and a faster timetable proposed. While I certainly have doubts about this project being completed, I also know that there will be lots of very important people behind the scenes finding the cash needed.

Let's hope they do. Louisville needs these new bridges and Spaghetti Junction redo.

B&W Tower's new Tenant

2007-01-17T17:03:00.000-06:00

Wednesday it was announced that Smoothstone, one of Louisville's fastest growing private companies, will abandon it's corporate headquarters along West Main Street for larger digs in the Brown & Williamson Tower. They will take the first two floors of the tower as well as space located in Fourth Street Live which was originally slated for a fitness club. That club later declared bankruptcy and was never opened. The space in Fourth Street Live has been vacant ever since the opening in 2004.

The B&W Tower, which was largely vacated by the tobacco giant in 2004 after a merger with North Carolina based R J Reynolds Tobacco Company, has seen it's floor fill up this past year. In fact, nearly 65% of the space that was ;eft by B&W has now been absorbed. In 2006 Atria Senior Living also committed to taking the top five floors, or nearly 75,000 square feet of space, after leaving the Hilliard Lyons Centre. Hilliard Lyons moved to the PNC Plaza in late 2006, and now the building bearing their name is seen as a residential/retail rehab opportunity.

Smoothstone, a communications company, reportedly also scouted for space in Atlanta and Chicago before being offered tax incentives to stay and expand in Louisville. Under their current plan they will increase their number of employees from the current 50 to 125. Pay will be in the range of 75,000 to 150,000 dollars per year.

In a fairly mediocre economy, it is good to see a local company expand and create dozens of good paying jobs - which is something Louisville needs desperately.

Louisville's New Airline

2007-01-17T14:52:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday it was announced that Frontier Airlines would soon begin non-stop service from Louisville to Denver, Colorado. This announcemen was the culmination of several years of work on the part of Mayor Abramson and SDF officials. This will be the flight non-stop flight to Denver from Louisville and represents yet another win for the local business community. Flight will begin in April and will run at very competative rates.

Now if only we could non-stop service to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

No I-64 Widening

2007-01-15T14:48:00.000-06:00

The Cochran Tunnel, which was recently named an "exceptionally significant" feature of the United State interstate system, could put any future plans to expand I-64 on ice. The designation, one of only three for the entire state of Kentucky, makes it close to impossible to alter the tunnels for an expansion project. I-64 is currently being studied for just such an expansion.

The Louisville interstate system is somewhat strange when it passes through the East End. I-64 and I-71 are still both only 2 lanes in each direction. This alignment creates a pastoral setting for both interstates, but more notably, on I-64. I-64 passes through Cherokee Park and the road is shielded from neighboring buildings by a thick layer of trees, shrubs, and tall natural rock walls. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful stretches of urban interstate in the US, as there are only a handful of places with similar settings. (Another road that comes to mind is the parkway between Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. I do wish I could remember it's designation!)

Due to an increasing population in Eastern Jefferson County and beyond, the state has been trying to identify ways to expand capacity for the future. The state has been studying both I-71 and I-64 for expansions, but has not yet come with any firm plans. Currently, congestion along I-64 is restricted to west of the Cochran Tunnels, and that congestion is only exacerbated by a poorly designed set of interchanges leading to Spaghetti Junction.

To me, the most sensible solution is to expand I-71, for several reasons. First, I-71 leads directly into Oldham County, which is where most of the new suburban growth is taking place. It also has a much smaller interchange with the Watterson and Snyder, which could, and need to be, expanded. Second, I-71 has no interchanges between the Watterson and the Snyder. During an expansion project the state could add new interchanges to I-71, making it easier for residents to use the interstate. Third, the logistics of an I-71 expansion are much more simple - There are no tunnels to work around and the settings, while nice, could have an expanded road without changing the character.

However, due to NIMBY'ism, these projects are slow to take shape and have a lot of political hurdles to cross. Eventually, SOMETHING will have to be expanded, or light rail built, or express bus lines....something! But for now, the traffic is still pretty light, and the East Enders will fight the project until the bitter end.

Fourth Street to pick up new Condos

2007-01-13T23:41:00.000-06:00

For the last few weeks in downtown Louisville we have seen a banner at the old Byck's retail building next to the Seelbach stating the building will soon be home to condos. In today's Courier-Journal there was an update/official story about the developers plans.

The basics of the projects were announced as follows:

The units will be located in two historic buildings along South Fourth - The Byck's Building and the adjoining "Tiff's Music" Building; both buildings have been abandoned for over two decades.

There are a total of 15 units in the 2 buildings, ranging in price from 105,000 to 600,000 dollars. 8 units have been pre-sold and secured.

While the main developer has a record of unfulfilled promises in other developments, work has already begun on Byck's Lofts and private bank financing has also been secured. This project is an important development in the rebirth of the Fourth Street corridor. Until this date, we have only had small boutique style retail and lunch restaurants return to Fourth Street. While this is a huge improvement from only 5 years ago, it still hasn't been enough. Especially at night Fourth Street is a kind of creepy road. There are too many "missing teeth" along the building wall and not enough people on the street. This project rehabs two major problem buildings for the road, as well as brings a permanent population to the street.

After Fourth Street Live was completed two years ago we expected to see Fourth Street blossom back to life - but it hasn't really happened yet. The promised expansion of Fourth Street Live by Cordish fell through, Walgreen's vacated their corner building at Fourth and Chestnut, and the road needs a complete street scape makeover. (The trees have to go! They're too big and ruin your views of the buildings) We expected residential projects to immediately follow and the the empty lot next to the Seelbach to be filled in and the empty lot at Fourth and Chestnut to get a hotel. (Still rumored)

The news for Fourth Street in the last twelve months however has been encouraging. A new Japanese restaurant has been announced near the Palace Theatre which will rehab another boarded up building, there have been a few new lunch places open, retail establishment keep being opened, and now a residential project is underway. While the rebirth has been slower than we had all expected, at least it has started.

West Main Anchor to Expand

2007-01-11T23:56:00.000-06:00

One of the "pioneers" of the West Main renaissance is getting a little bigger thanks to the City of Louisville. It was announced today that a deal had been struck to add a 37,000 square foot building along historic West Main to the Louisville Science Center.

The city has agreed to buy the historic Alexander building at 745 West Main for a cool 2 million dollars from a local holding company. The building currently houses city offices and the city has been paying nearly 250,000 dollars a year in rent. But with this acquisition, the Louisville Science Center will finally have more space to grow.

Preliminary plans call for a 1 million dollar renovation of the first floor into student classrooms. This will give the center, which hosts thousands of students each year, the ability to build state of art facilities and replace rooms where they had been using folding chairs and tables for labs. The remaining parts of the building do not yet have plans, however the Science Center will soon begin brainstorming the possible uses and how to raise the money needed to further along more renovations.

The Science Center was the first major attraction to be placed along West Main in the 1970's. In that time period, West Main was nothing more than a street of deserted and boarded up buildings. The Science Center, which then was called The Museum of Natural History, truly was the beginning of the rebirth of this amazingly architecturally rich section of town. Without knowing what their investment would mean to future generations of Louisvillians, the leaders of that time took a chance on a desolate swath of the city. The gamble certainly paid off.

An Institution Closes

2007-01-10T22:19:00.000-06:00

It was announced today that Kunz's Restaurant at Fourth and Market has closed it's door for the last time. A restaurant bearing that name was first opened well over a century ago, and the restaurant had been run for four generations of Kunz family members. The restaurant has experienced several years of declining sales and has been in bankruptcy court since last year.

Kunz's is definitely a name that is surprising to lose downtown - it has been an institution for longer than any Louisvillian has been alive. Sadly though, that tradition and their reputation are the only things that has kept the restaurant afloat for the last several years. The restaurant is a dark enclave and 20 years behind in decor. The food has lost much of its quality and the service standards have also been low.

Downtown in the past several years has picked up several new upscale restaurants - All of which have better food and service than Kunz's. The new competition reacted to the new market and Kunz's simply has not. Kunz's has hoped that it's name and history would carry it through, and it hasn't. Sad, but time marches on.

I just hope their corner is remodeled and something better takes its place!

Kentucky has a surplus?

2007-01-09T16:23:00.000-06:00

It was recently reported that the state government in Frankfort has a 270 million dollar surplus this fiscal season. And having an extra 270 million dollars lying (or is it laying? O, the grammar!) around the capitol building ain't half bad. The trouble is, when your coffers are suddenly full of extra cash, state legislators have a hard time not immediately spending the dough (Often times on pet projects and waste).

Rewind to April 2006 when Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects from the Kentucky budget so that he could save the states precarious bond rating. In cutting these projects the governor wanted to show the people who control the money in New York that Kentucky could get serious about cutting out the BS. And to be honest, he cut mostly uesless projects - Dorm renovations at the University of Louisville, a new indoor practice facility for Coach Petino (Can they not just use their soon to be built 450 million dollar downtown facilty?), extra cash for the Louisville Zoo's new Glacier Run project, delayed money for a new dental research building in downtown Louisville, plus other generally pointless projects in other regions of Kentucky.

We now find ourselves in January 2007 and all of these projects are about to be refunded in this legislative session. Does Kentucky have any sense of what is important and what isn't? The Louisville Zoo already stated that even without the extra 6 million from the state their project would go forward, the University of Louisville bonded for themselves the money for several of their vetoed projects, and the University of Kentucky in Lexington also is moving ahead with their few projects that the state vetoed in April.

Kentucky is currently sitting on several huge time bombs. One of which is the Louisville infrastructure needs of Spagetti Junction and the bridges; Northern Kentucky is also in dire need of new span to Cincinnati. Besides even those huge liabilities, the state has an underfunded public pension system, underfunded education, and underfunded healthcare systems. We're talking BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars! Instead we've got places like Campellsville that is crying out for a new golf course and lodge at Green River Lake, or western Kentucky wanting yet another highway to nowhere.

This 270 million dollars is already gone, being used to refund all the pet projects from the last legislative cycle. But when will Kentucky wake up and see that we are wasting our money year after year and never getting a return on our investments?

Louisville's Artspace

2007-01-08T15:41:00.000-06:00

A group of leading downtown Louisville businessmen announced today that they will be donating a 10 story office building along Broadway to Louisville's Fund for the Arts. The Fund, which has been in negotiations with these business leaders for several months, will use the building to house several local arts groups, as well as create an incubator setting for emerging artists and groups in the city.

The project will eventually cost upwards of 7 million dollars and will rehab an underused building at 321 W Broadway, directly adjoining the W. L. Lyons Brown Theatre. The building will immediately become the home of Louisville's troubled orchestra and the Kentucky Opera. Other groups are expected to join them at later dates. By housing several arts group in a single location, many administrative functions will be shared, saving the groups several hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Also being added to this ambitious arts project is a residential component. The ninth and tenth floors are going to be rehabbed and sold as market rate housing. It will include 10 condominiums that range in price from 180,000 dollars to 300,000 dollars and will range from 1000 square feet to 1400 square feet. The projects will be known as the Lofts at Artspace. This is yet another example of how downtown is adding more and more "mixed-use" projects. What is exciting about this is how this project is being developed in a part of downtown that is not currently considered "hot" like the East Main corridor. It shows the slow expansion of the downtown resurgence.

In conjunction with this project, the Brown Theatre which is directly connected to the Artspace Building is also undergoing a huge renovation in which a new 3 story lobby, pedestrian walkways to the Brown Hotel, improved acoustics, and several other smaller additions are being completed.

Northup for Governor?

2007-01-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

Anne Northup is reportedly mulling over a bid to unseat Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher in the next gubernatorial election. Northup, a Louisville republican, was recently unseated as the representative of the Democratic leaning 3rd district of Kentucky in the US House of Representatives. Northup had occupied the seat for a decade, first winning election in November 1996. However, her political career has spanned 3 separate decades, as she started her political involvement in 1980 as a volunteer for Ronald Reagan's campaign and was a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997.

Before Anne can even be put on the general ballot come November, she must outmaneuver the politically vulnerable Ernie Fletcher (and others) in the Republican primary. Fletcher has been at the center of several scandals since taking the oath of office. Fletcher made a promise to clean up Frankfort after the disastrous tenure of Democratic governor Paul Patton, however, Frankfort seems as dirty as ever. Fletcher is accused of undermining the merit job system in which state jobs are awarded based on "merit" not political affiliation.

It is my personal opinion that Ernie Fletcher is not a bad man or even a stupid man; he simply surrounded himself with bad people. Many of the allegations around Governor Fletcher include several of his "right hand men" and much of their unbecoming behavior. Fletcher, however, magnified the scrutiny of his office when he gave a blanket pardon of all offenders in his administration. Currently, the head of Kentucky Republican politics, Mitch McConnell, won't even endorse the governor for a second term; things are that bad for Ernie.

In swoops Anne Northup, fresh off a major defeat, but as strong willed as ever. This is a woman who is tough as nails, but also a very classy individual. Anne had a tough 2006, to say the very least, as she lost a son in the summer to a heart defect and lost an election in November. I would have thought she would have gone into private life, if even only for a short while, to reflect on the year that was 2006. I was however surprised to see her face plastered across national television debate programs this week and now she is considering the governorship: I say do it. I didn't vote in Kentucky's 3rd District in November, (I was registered in Indiana's 9th, go Baron Hill!) however if I had been there, I would have pulled the lever for Democrat John Yamuth. Even with that disclosure, I had respect for Anne Northup and her many contributions to Louisville. She is bright, hard nosed, and hard hitting for Louisville. But in this election, things were really stacked against her, especially since she had too strongly allied herself with neoconservative national politics.

I have to say I am biased toward Anne Northup becoming governor because what she could do for Louisville, but also because I feel she is woman who could possibly give Frankfort an atmosphere of respect and accountability. Scandal after scandal have fallen on the laps of the people of Kentucky, and it really is time for the people to get someone who will uphold the basic ideals of the Commonwealth.

The Democratic party in Kentucky is in shambles. The only two viable options are Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson, and Lexington's US Representative, Ben Chandler. Both men have made it known they will not be seeking the governorship. Dan Mongiardo , the Democratic doctor from Eastern Kentucky who was narrowly defeated for US Senate in 2004, has thrown his hat in the gubernatioral ring. However, how long will it be before his impending marriage to a 21 year old college student when he is pushing 50, becomes politcal? Lets be honest...while age may not matter to him and his fiance, it looks questionable to the majority of Kentuckians (me included). The last thing Kentuckians want to do is vote for a man who is seen as a letcher, even if he has good politcal ideas.

So to close, I hope to see Anne Northup take a swing at the governorship. And even if she doesn't bite this time around, I think you'll be seeing her name again someday in the future.

Best of luck, Anne.

Few Random Stories from the River City

2007-01-06T14:43:00.000-06:00

Today, like all this week, has been an incredibly slow news day in Louisville. But in spite of that, there were a few small stories that caught my attention.

Firstly, the city of Jeffersonville, Indiana is yet again contemplating selling land at the corner of 10th and Spring Streets directly off of Interstate 65. For those of you who don't know, this piece of land is a "gateway" into Jeffersonville and for many years has been in legal limbo. Several years ago Jeffersonville tried to sell the land to retail developers; that fell through. Then they had an AmeriSuites hotel prepared to build on the site; this time they were sued by a private citizen and that deal never came to being. Now, for a third time the city has two developers on the line, one of whom wants to build a Starbucks.

Now, the reason this story even caught my attention was because I once lived in Clark County and the piece of land in question has been an eyesore for as long as I can remember. That area is also a hodge podge of uses: industrial, retail, even some historic structures such as the newly renovated Quartermaster Depot and an older inner ring suburban neighborhood.

What really confuses me is the way Jeffersonville has, all these years, only tried to get the easiest types of developments possible for an important property in the city. To be incredibly honest, Starbucks can be built almost anywhere in Southern Indiana and do perfectly well...there are Starbucks in towns much smaller than Jeffersonville. But Hoosiers have a fascination with saying, "Look! We have ___________ too! We're just as good as Louisville!" Instead of promoting a project to compliment and enhance the urban nature of 10th and Spring, they're simply going to fill it with Starbucks and McDo. Jeffersonville surely has arrived!

Secondly, Baptist Hospital East will ban smoking on all of their property in St. Matthews. Sometimes I think that only in a place like Kentucky could it still be possible in 2007 to smoke around a hospital. Smoking has been banned inside the hospital for quite some time, but I do expect hospitals to show more leadership on health issues such as this. It is how I think having a McDonald's in Kosair Children's Hospital downtown is a bad choice. I don't think that McDo or smoking should be outlawed...but hospitals shouldn't be the place where these things are eaten or inhaled.

Third and last story is the slow way in which MetroSafe is being completed. MetroSafe is one of the mayors major initiatives from his first term in office when he was concentrating on finalizing all merger problems. MetroSafe, when completed, will finally give all first responders, from paramedics to firefights to police officers to disaster workers, all the same radios and the ability to speak to each other all across the county. This will be in the first time in the history of Jefferson County that there will be a seamless communications systems for all agencies in charge of public safety. To say the least, this is an important project for the community!

You can't blame the mayor for this latest setback, but Louisville was dropped from a federal program that grants money to urban areas for terrorism response. Granted, Louisville is not a huge target for terrorists, but this system could one day prove lifesaving to many of the 700,000 people who call Jefferson County home.

This initiative has been fermenting for four years now. As a total cost, it is 70 million dollars...which is about how much the city is prepared to give the developers of Museum Plaza or how much they spent to have the Marriott hotel built. The city simply needs to get this project completed for the good of all Louisvillians.

Fairgrounds Renovations on target

2007-01-05T15:44:00.000-06:00

So, for the first time in half a century, the South Wing of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center is getting a facelift. And quite a massive one. The entire 215,000 square foot structure was razed last year to make way for a new and improved South Wing with 27 foot high ceilings and only 9 interior columns. And for a city that depends on the business this massive facilty brings in, it's not a moment too soon.

Because of this massive new retrofit, and an addition of nearly 200,000 square feet of new space that came online last Fall, several shows that were looking to leave Louisville are now renewing their agreements. We've even already picked up a massive new show from Nashville, The Pumper and Cleaner Expo International. While it certainly isn't a glitzy affair (they do sell septic products after all!) it will draw 75,000 visitors to Louisville with an impact of over 15 million dollars. Good news for a center that isn't even finished until late Fall 2007.

After this expansion is completed the Fair Board still has several projects on the docket to be completed before the decade rolls over; a new 600 room full service hotel is in the works as well as a new outdoor amphitheatre to lure in new concerts to the city. The hotel is expected to cost upwards of 100 million dollars, most of which will be paid for through bonds issued by the Fairgrounds Authority and backed by the state of Kentucky. The amphitheatre proposal will need 20 million dollars and to be approved by the General Assembly in the 2008 session.