Jeffersonville's Beef'o'Bradys now open

Jeffersonville Town Center's first merchant is now open for business. The Beef'O'Brady's restaurant chain opened its doors for the first time last Monday. After years and years of planning, and trying to rent out a completed building, this marks a milestone in the history for the town center. As you can see in the picture, the L&N Federal Credit Union also has their "Coming Soon" sign up, so they are well on their way to being the second tenant in the shopping center.

De Hart Paint Building - Still Nothing

Over at the De Hart Paint building in the 900 block of east Main Street, there is still no movement whatsoever. I wonder if City Properties has abandoned the idea of renovating that structure altogether. It was announced at least two years ago that they wanted to turn that building into 7 condos as well as 11 rental units. All we can see so far is a faded poster of the renderings. I am afraid that City might have shifted focus towards more lucrative projects like Whiskey Row near the arena and their under-construction Zirmed Gateway Tower. Back in 2006, it sure did sound like renovation efforts were imminent.

Sons of the American Revolution HQ on West Market Street

As announced in February, the Sons of the American Revolution will turn the Fulton Conway Building on West Main Street (across the street from the Louisville Slugger Museum) into their national headquarters. When I last checked, they put some of their interior renderings into the windows for you to see what it'll look like once the building is complete. They have even more renderings on their website. The lower one is courtesy of that site (http://www.sar.org/news/building.html). In the photo I took, you can see their future library.

Cyclocross Grandprix in Louisville

This is already the second year for the Cyclocross Grandprix to come to Louisville. It is being held this weekend at Champions Park at Zorn and River Road. The event is one of the most important cyclocross events in the US attracting bike riders from all over the country and world. If you have never seen a cyclocross event, you should come and check it out. Riders go on a cross- country course zig zagging through the park. At certain intervals of the course, riders have to dismount their bikes to cross obstacles. It is really fun to watch, and it also proves that Louisville is a sports city that can host major events like this after all. For results of the race go to http://www.usgpcyclocross.com/.

Clarksville's Buffalo Wild Wings is a Stand Alone

Clarksville's as well as southern Indiana's first Buffalo Wild Wings is the last building to be completed at the newly built Coyle Commons shopping center. The new Buffalo Wild Wings is a stand- alone restaurant which might be another first for the area since I can't think of another one in Kentuckiana. Most of the restaurant's locations in Louisville are in strip malls, except the one on Bardstown Road. The southern Indiana location will have 6,030-square-feet and a nice little patio area. By the time it's all built, the company will have spent almost two and a half million dollars on the project. It's located right next to Coyle's car dealership near the west end of Veteran's Parkway. You can't really see it from the road though, since it's kind of hidden by a new Rite-Aid pharmacy.

UPDATE (11/13): The store now has a sign outside telling us it will open its doors on 11/29!

Republic Plaza Signage

Here's a look at the new signage on the side of the parking garage at Republic Plaza. There's also a smaller version of it on the side of the building on the top floor. We can probably expect the same kind of signage to go up on the front of the building.

One unit of Republic Bank employees has already moved into their new facility. One more set of employees has yet to move.

Stoplite Liquors Making Room

It looks like Stoplite liquors on River Road near the Tumbleweed is about to leave its current location. They will move across the street into a brand new strip mall. I am wondering what they are making room for, since I have not heard much about River Park Place expanding that way. Nor did River Park Place start building anything on the land they already own.

Maybe Stoplite Liquors just got a good deal on the land. Maybe the Waterfront development people will take over that land as well.

Zirmed Gateway Towers Construction Update

It looks like the north tower of Zirmed Gateway Towers is almost topped off. Construction has reached the 10th floor over there. Workers are currently working on the eleventh floor of the south tower. So they are still one floor shy of topping off the whole building. They are also currently putting in window frames on the third floor, after they've completed the first and the second.

From the looks of it, the tenth floor of the north tower might be a penthouse with a huge deck area. I am actually quite excited about seeing this project slowly being completed. It's going to be a very nice mid-rise.

Transformation Almost Complete at Republic Plaza

The transformation of the legal arts building into a more modern office building is almost complete. The paint job is done, and some of the new signage is up on the side of the building as well as the parking garage. What is still missing is the signage on the front as well as a nice entrance overhang.

I guess the beauty of the building is in the eye of the beholder. I really don't know why the window frames are not matching each other. As you can see in the picture, there are white framed windows on the left and right side of the top floor as well as the bottom two floors. There are invisible frames on floor 3,4, and 5 as well as the center section from top to bottom. To me that looks messy, but what do I know.

Say Goodbye to the Substation at the Louisville Arena Site

This morning at 9 you can see a little part of the former LG&E substation still standing. By the time I went by there again around 5, that part was gone too. So say goodbye to the substation, and let's hope we will soon see some real "concrete" construction starting at the arena site. I have never seen the arena site from this angle, but on the picture it actually looks like there is enough room to built an arena. I had my doubt at first, but with all the buildings gone, you can actually see how much room there really is.

Kentuckiana Medical Center Exterior Done

Workers at the Kentuckiana Medical Center off of Veterans Parkway in Clarksville seems to have finally completed the exterior. But if you look through the windows you'll notice that the inside is far from being ready to welcome its first patients. The center was supposed to open late summer 2008, but that date has passed, so now we are just going to have to see when it opens. Once completed the center will have 40 to 60 beds as well as a level 1 and 2 ER. There was also some medical offices in a different building planned on the site, but work on those has, as far as I can tell, not started.

Due to the fact that the center is being constructed by Koetter Construction, they hope some of the medical business will spill over into their Jeffersonville Town Center development close by. They already adjusted their plans for the northern part of that development to include medical offices.

Southeast Christian Church Jeffersonville Atrium Construction

Workers are putting together the atrium at Southeast Christian Church's Jeffersonville satellite campus. It seems like all the exterior brick work has been completed. The church's website tells us that construction is a little behind. The official opening date was pushed back from fall 2008 to winter 2008. The church will serve Southeast's 1200 or so southern Indiana members, hoping to attract even more Indianians. Once completed the 85,000 square foot facility can seat almost 1400 people. This expansion might just be the beginning for Southeast as they are planning three or four more churches in the greater Louisville area.

New Building at Eastpoint Business Center

There's a new building ready to be populated at the Eastpoint Business Center. It is a nice but average looking three story building. It only took just over a year to complete, since the ground breaking was held June of 2007. Back then it was a speculative business project, and I am not sure if there are any tennants yet. The building is located on Eastpoint Parkway.

Jewish Medical Center Northeast in Summer 09

As I have told you a couple of days ago, Baptist is building an outpatient hospital just west of I-265 near the Old Henry Rd. exit. Now I am pleased to tell you that Jewish is building an outpatient center at the same exit as well. Theirs is located just east of the exit. From the rendering I can tell that it's going to be called Jewish Medical Center Northeast. It's projected opening date will be the Summer of 2009. The center does not appear to be as big as the Baptist Eastpoint. It only has four stories.

Jewish is the last piece of the puzzle. Now you have the big three Louisville hospital care providers opening up a presence in the East End, since Norton's latest large development is loacted at Brownsboro crossing in the East End as well.

Baptist Eastpoint Hospital Getting Ready To Open

From the outside it looks like Baptist Healthcare System will be able to meet its Fall deadline for its new outpatient surgery hospital. The new Baptist Eastpoint, on Easpoint Pkwy, will feature physicians offices, a women's imaging center, cardiovascular imaging, as well as a physical therapy component. Most pleasing about the center is the architecture. It is a really neat looking 5-6 story building. You can see it from I-265 near the Old Henry Rd. Exit. In the next couple of days I'll show yet another outpatient center in the East End. The healthcare coverage out there is really growing.

Louisville Arena Pre Construction Started

With construction money in hand, and the old substation almost gone, pre-construction of the arena has started. Workers are digging holes and putting steel beams in them. I am not a construction guy, so I do not know the exact term for the work they are doing, but it looks like real construction to me.

I'd say with less than 5 percent of the substation still left, the arena authority will have a clean slate to work on within the next couple of weeks.