Louisville: Developments and News

[necromantical 0]

$75 million officially in place for an arena

 

04:46 PM EDT on Wednesday, April 12, 2006

 

 

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- You could say it's go time for a new Louisville arena. A lot of action's been set into motion with $75 million of state money -- no longer in question.

 

 

“I think it's successful… It's going on the waterfront and that's it.” Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher says essentially the play book is set now that lawmakers have approved $75 million for a new Louisville arena.

 

 

Next, Louisville Metro Council will vote on issuing the bonds. Council President Kevin Kramer says that could happen as early as July.

 

 

Jim Host, chairman of the Louisville Arena Authority, says the cost will be split three ways: 29 percent will come from the state, 29 percent from Metro government and 42 percent from the private sector -- millions of dollars from the sale of suites, signage and naming rights.

 

 

Next Wednesday, the Louisville Arena Authority will meet. Chairman Host says the board could vote to officially choose the site.

 

 

That same day, the board will also make a presentation to Metro Council's budget committee to get the ball rolling there.

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/WHAS11_TOP_ArenaAuthority.2ba7cf6e.html

 

[ink 61]

Very nice, this really fits the skyline.

[Brutus_buckeye 107]

looks much better and more appropriate than that hideous museum square project

[UncleRando 1]

Only $75 million for an arena??????  That sounds like a bargain, I could be wrong...I dont do a lot of investigation on average arena price tags.  But $75 million just sounds awfly cheap.  I think it is cool except I just dont know about the usage it will get.  I have the same problems with sports venues anywhere, but this one especially. 

 

Unless Louisville attempts to attract and NBA or NHL team I just dont see the justification in a new arena.  The NBA has made it clear that it has higher priorities for new team locations/relocations than Louisville, and I dont imagine the NHL will expand/relocate anytime soon either.  The Cardinals could use it but then what to Freedom Hall demolition??  And is all that really neccessary just for a new arena for a college Bball team?

 

I say good luck though.  Hopefully you could attract one of the miserable teams in the NBA out of their current situation (i say try Atlanta).

[UncleRando 1]

shouldnt this thread be under projects/construction....not architecture?  Just a thought, but then again it is not an Ohio or Nky development so who knows.

[ink 61]

I would love to see the Colisium (or whatever they call it now - Crown or Star Bank or something?) cladded similarily to this. Next to the theather at NOTL, its the ugliest thing in the skyline.

 

^BTW, Rando, I think you answered your own question. P&C is Ohio and NK projects.

[UncleRando 1]

^yes but does Louisville constitute as Nky...I think of the three counties just south of Cincy as Nky not the entire northern border.....correct me if my view is wrong...and should be changed.

[ink 61]

^Maybe it does, but my theory is that UO only deals with NK thats part of Greater Cincy.

[ColDayMan 581]

^yup.

[David 0]

75 Million is really cheap for an arena. The actual cost will probably run way over that. Most arenas are 100-200 million.  That thing looks pretty elaborate too compared to most.

[ink 61]

Um...guys, if I am reading the article right, the $75M is only 29% of the cost. This is going to cost something like $250M.

[David 0]

They make it sound like 75 Million total...regardless it will for sure end up being a hell of a lot more than that. Louisville is changing pretty rapidly.

[ink 61]

Googling reveals an article from October that gives the price of $299M and even the speculation of costs coming to $400M.

 

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/NEWS01/510010367

[3231 18]

Haven't we learned not to put our sports arenas right on the waterfront?  Save the land for housing and put the arena a few blocks south. 

[UncleRando 1]

I couldnt agree more...only midwestern cities seem to waste their most valuable land on sports venues.  Other cities (Chicago, NYC, Seattle, etc) seem to get it right and create districts around the venues...instead of isolating them.

[David 0]

That's because these huge projects are a loss unless the surrounding businesses profit a lot from the events being brought in so when you have something like the arena district in Columbus with bars/clubs/restaurants all close by, people will spend their money there instead of running back to the suburbs like they do in Cinci after riverfront events. I sure wish they'd hurry up and build The Banks.

[necromantical 0]

Arena Authority officially backs LG&E site

 

03:40 PM EDT on Wednesday, April 19, 2006

 

 

 

It’s back to work today for the Louisville Arena Authority, and the major task ahead of it is to select the site location.  Despite all the talk and the debate, that still has yet to be been done.

 

The Arena Authority has been in limbo for the past couple months.  They haven’t been holding any meetings because of the controversy over where to put the arena and the controversy over whether it should be funded down in Frankfort.  Now that its been settled in Frankfort, they met at the Convention Center this morning and the Arena Authority voted fourteen to one to put the new arena at the LG&E waterfront site.  The group, which will oversee the construction of the $350 million dollar arena, talked about some of the potential problems with that site, but there was no full-blown debate between the two sites, the Water Company and the LG&E site.  Authority members agree that the more expensive and dynamic LG&E site on the river is the only logical choice for the arena.  Has the site debate finally ended?

 

“It’s over from the point of view from the Arena Authority…The legislature through Mr. [Larry] Clark was very key in saying the decision was the Authority’s and we made the decision today.  So from my perspective it’s over,” says Jim Host, the Arena Authority Chairman.

 

However, it was baseball great Yogi Berra who once said, “It ain’t over til it’s over.” That holds true because the Metro Council still has to approve the bonds for the arena sale.  There has been some discussion from members on the Council that perhaps they need to take a closer look at the Water Company site in the heart of downtown.  That talk could take place this afternoon at a Metro Council committee meeting at 5:00.

 

Web story produced by K. Alison Brotzge

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/WHAS11_local_arenavote.4f500918.html

 

[necromantical 0]

Units in Riverpark Place now on the market

 

Developers have started selling units in the new $200 million Riverpark Place.

 

The new development is near downtown Louisville.

 

Riverpark Place includes 621 housing units, apartments and condos. By a way of comparison, there were just 900 housing units in downtown Louisville in 1985; today that number has jumped to 1800.

 

Also Online

View this story

 

The total is also expected to double within the next three years.

 

Poe investments said in the first few days sales for the new development have been brisk with over $20 million in unit sales and $500,000 in marina slips sold.

 

 

 

Riverpark Place includes 621 housing units, apartments and condos.

 

Buyers have reportedly been both young and old, local and out-of-towners.

 

Since the development is along the Ohio, adjustments have been made for rising water.

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/st...k.bb3d7d88.html

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[Brewmaster 0]

Nice looking development.  Is it strictly residential, or is there commercial/retail integrated into it???

 

Also, I'm not sure how these units could be counted towards the "downtown" housing numbers.  They look like they're several miles outside of downtown.

[Jeff 0]

lso, I'm not sure how these units could be counted towards the "downtown" housing numbers.  They look like they're several miles outside of downtown.

 

They are close-in, but they aren't downtown.

 

This is sort of a no-mans-land area along the Ohio, with low density industrial stuff and vacant land (including an island in the river, Towhead Island).  Part of this is being developed as parkland, and I think this developement will abut the park (not sure about that though).

 

The area used to be called "The Point", as it was a point of land between Beargrass Creek (Louisville's "urban stream") and the Ohio, where the creek ran parallell to the river. Beargrass was eventually relocated and the dry creekbed became a city dump, later the route of I-71 and "Spaghetti Junction".

 

The Point was once a real neighborhood, with houses & river-related industry...sort of a river rat neighborhood like Shippingport Island...., but it flooded out so much that all that was eventually either washed away or was torn down, leaving but one remnant, the old Heigold House front, which was  patriotic display by a German immigrant.

 

 

 

 

This house front will have to be relocated to make room for this complex.

 

[mrnyc 407]

^thats cute, why on earth does it have to moved??

 

well as i said in the previous thread the architecture in those renderings leaves a lot to be desired as there is none, it looks like anything going up anywhere these days.

 

but more important and worrisome than appearances, now you are saying the area was previously occupied, but abandoned due to flooding? well if that project ever does get built please do tell us the names of the banks/insurance companies that put up the loot to build and back it so we can all be sure to check and pull our money out of their hands.

[necromantical 0]

 

as you can see by the rails (see the people walking down?), the development will be elevated from the river

[mrnyc 407]

sorry i don't see any people all i see is a simcity cartoon. get back to to us with the real people pics.

[necromantical 0]

i see people, animated obviously.

[necromantical 0]

Business First of Louisville - June 30, 2006

by Sarah Jeffords, Business First Staff Writer

 

Eric Luckl, 46, said he loves his current home off of Zorn Avenue.  But as a self-employed risk analysis professional who travels frequently, he simply doesn't have time to handle the regular upkeep that it requires.  Instead, he prefers maintenance-free condominium living, and he was drawn to RiverPark Place by the unusual setting the development offers.

 

Located off River Road near downtown Louisville, the mixed-use project allows residents to live in a park setting.  Yet there is an urban feel to the development, with its proximity to downtown and blend of on-site restaurants, shops and businesses.  So although construction will not start until the fall, Luckl forked over $2,500 to reserve a $419,000, two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit.

 

MORE: http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/

 

---

 

RiverPark Place

Description: A mixed-use development that will include about 30,000 square feet of commercial space as well as 65 loft apartments and more than 600 condos in the first phase

 

Location: 1600 River Road, across from Towhead Island

 

Developer: Poe Cos. LLC

 

Project cost: About $200 million

 

Amenities include: A park setting; pool; downtown and river views; marina; biking and walking trails; on-site fitness center, restaurants and shopping; secure parking

 

Web site:www.riverparkplace.net

 

[gold42 0]

^ I have to give you credit.  Despite all the crap people give you on here you are still determined enough to post development information and display your pride in Louisville.  My hat is off to you sir  :clap:

[UncleRando 1]

Also, I'm not sure how these units could be counted towards the "downtown" housing numbers.  They look like they're several miles outside of downtown.

 

Oh why not.....its not like Louisville numbers are already inflated/false!  I mean Louisville really is a city of 560,000 to 700,000 people compared to Cincy's 320,000.  RIIIGHT....I'm sure; its a load of BS and I'm tired of this crap happening......unless Louisville's downtown is the size of Manhattan then this development should not count towards its downtown population.  That would be like counting Delhi Twp projects towards the population of downtown Cincy.

 

THIS/LOUISVILLE/KENTUCKY IS A DAMN JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jeff 0]

^thats cute, why on earth does it have to moved??

 

It is in the way of the developement.  The history behind this facade is somewhat tragic, as this patriotic display was in reaction to some fairly violent anti-immigrant/sectarian violence.

 

Interestingly enough The Point gets its own wikipedia entry!

 

The Point was a thriving 19th century neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, east of Downtown Louisville and opposite Towhead Island along the Ohio River. It was also located north of the present day Butchertown area.

 

Starting in the 1840s it was home to many upper income residents who had moved from New Orleans, giving the area on Fulton Street the nickname "the Frenchmen's Row". They built many mansion houses in the area, the best known of which was the Heigold House (completed in 1853), which featured a very detailed facade with the faces of early American leaders engraved on it. It was built by immigrant stonemason Christopher Heigold.

 

In 1854 many houses where demolished when Beargrass Creek was rerouted from Downtown Louisville through the area. Many more houses where torn down after the great Ohio River flood of 1937. Comtemporary Louisville leaders wanted the entire area depopulated and replaced with a park called Point Park Project, which was done to the extreme northern part of the area, now called Thruston Park, although those plans never came to fruitition for the rest of the area. However, many residents gradually did leave and by the 1970s the entire area was vacant.

 

Today the only remaining structures are the decorated front facade of the Heigold house and the adjacent Padgett house, both of which were moved to their present location from the area of Frankfort Ave and I-71. There are currently plans to build 400 unit high rise condominum complex called River Park Place at the site [1], where the facade would be moved to the project's Frankfort Ave entrance, while the fate of the historic Padgett house remains uncertain. There have also been talks of converting Bandman Park into a wetlands bird sanctuary, pending the movement of the soccer fields there.

 

...well, I never knew about that French connection, as I thought the New Orleans settlers and trade connections where more at Portland and Shippingport.

 

 

well as i said in the previous thread the architecture in those renderings leaves a lot to be desired as there is none, it looks like anything going up anywhere these days.

 

LOL..really? Maybe in New York.  The towers and plaza look like a lot of fun, but the low rises are pretty bland.

 

 

 

but more important and worrisome than appearances, now you are saying the area was previously occupied, but abandoned due to flooding? 

 

It looks like the thing is raised above grade (perhaps there is a big parking garage at grade, with the earth mounds screening it somehow?  In any case I dont see how this could be built at grade do the flooding issue..surely the COE would never permit this. 

 

^ I have to give you credit.  Despite all the crap people give you on here you are still determined enough to post development information and display your pride in Louisville.  My hat is off to you sir

 

Not only that, he remains fairly civil, too. 

[Jeff 0]

Here are some flood pix of the vicinity of this proposed complex...put out by some opponents of the scheme

 

Photos page, Floods

 

"Your new condo is straight down this road about a half mile or so. You should be able to get home sometime in the next couple of weeks..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[necromantical 0]

why didnt they say that about the outback?

[Jeff 0]

Gee, I dont know.  What outback?

 

 

[buildingcincinnati 1]

And what did they say?

[necromantical 0]

Gee, I dont know.  What outback?

 

 

 

Tumbleweed

[mrnyc 407]

^thats cute, why on earth does it have to moved??

 

It is in the way of the developement. 

 

thats prob the truth and that is so pathetic. this is partly why i am calling bs bland on this. why not incorporate it if it's so historic? i'll tell you why, because it would take some originality to do that and those plans came out of a cereal box.

 

well as i said in the previous thread the architecture in those renderings leaves a lot to be desired as there is none, it looks like anything going up anywhere these days.

 

LOL..really? Maybe in New York.   The towers and plaza look like a lot of fun, but the low rises are pretty bland.

 

maybe everywhere. surely you have been following architecture trends lately? this is generic lifestyle mall-catecture. you even called most of it bland yourself - that's because it is. goes with the dullsville name eh?

 

ok ok call me picky, i plead guilty. besides looks, i just do not like the atmosphere of these sterile places when they do get built.

 

but more important and worrisome than appearances, now you are saying the area was previously occupied, but abandoned due to flooding? 

 

It looks like the thing is raised above grade (perhaps there is a big parking garage at grade, with the earth mounds screening it somehow?  In any case I dont see how this could be built at grade do the flooding issue..surely the COE would never permit this. 

 

i would hope so jeff. good luck to them with that if it gets built, but if it's a real project here's hoping they lively it up. 

 

 

[Jeff 0]

Tumbleweed looks like it has a pretty good view of Jeffboat.  And I see they are still mooring barges off Towhead Island.

 

why not incorporate it if it's so historic? i'll tell you why, because it would take some originality to do that and those plans came out of a cereal box.

 

According to that wiki entry it looks like they are going to incorporate it into the design as some sort of enry feature.  Another interesting thing is that the facade had been moved once before, relocated from an interestate ROW.

 

Architecturally this is somewhat new for Louisville, though perhaps commonplace elsewhere.  Louisville usually is pretty conservative/traditional when it comes to spec architecture. 

 

 

 

[necromantical 0]

Uof L, LG&E see no obstacles to arena

Both are finalizing agreements with the Louisville Arena Authority.

By Marcus Green

magreen@courier-journal.com

The Courier-Journal

 

A day after city lawmakers approved a downtown arena financing plan, officials for those representing the next hurdles — the University of Louisville and Louisville Gas & Electric — say the way seems clear for the project to advance.

 

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060726/NEWS01/60726032

[seicer 9]

As a frequent guest at Louisville (I live in Lexington), this development is very close to the downtown and would be on TARC's bus route. IIRC, from the renderings posed, this is southwest of Zorn Avenue towards the Big Four Bridge and the riverfront park. With the Big Four under extensive development for conversion into a rail-trail crossing (and a park extension east as Phase III), and with numerous lofts and condo construction projects going on just past the bridge, this is a convenient place to host a large development such as this.

 

It is easily accessible by the Zorn Avenue interchange along Interstate 71, however, residents would not need to rely on this. It is within walking distance of the east Louisville district and the stadium, and its close proximity to the park system would be an added bonus.

 

I'm suprised I haven't heard about this yet.

[necromantical 0]

this is cool.....still doesn't come close to the ole' buckeye stadium

 

before

 

after

 

 

An expanded Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium with 63,600 seats should be ready to open for the 2009 University of Louisville football season.  The school’s athletic association board of directors on Wednesday unanimously approved plans to go ahead with the $65 million expansion project.  The school will send out requests for proposals to architecture firms by the end of this week with a goal of beginning construction by January 2008.

 

In October, U of L athletic director Tom Jurich revealed artists’ renderings of the expanded stadium, which currently holds about 42,000 fans.  But he said at the time he needed to gauge the interest of the fan base before proceeding.

 

The school hopes to raise $30 million in donations and pay for the other $35 million by issuing bonds.  The bonds would then be paid for by the revenue generated by the extra seating, particularly in the additional 2,000 loge seats on the stadium’s east side.

 

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061129/SPORTS02/61129045

[UncleRando 1]

That's very cool.....good news for the Big East Conference!  I think that the Big East is very glad it added Louisville to its roster (UofL's athletics are solid across the board)!

[3231 18]

I love UrbanKentucky.com!