HOK Releases Arena Design

The New Louisville Arena

Newsbrief: Phillip Morris Finally Coming Down

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?!?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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?