Changes In The Works for 500W Jefferson

Last December it was announced that the former PNC Plaza building in downtown Louisville has a new owner. The tower in 500 block of West Jefferson Street in downtown Louisville was aptly renamed 500W. But there are more changes afoot. According to their website ( http://www.500wjefferson.com ), the new owner wants to completely update the lobby, modernize the elevators, add a state-of-the-art fitness center as well as a conference room and a private tenant lounge. If you look at their renderings they show a complete overhaul of the first three floors. It looks like they are preparing to replace all concrete outside walls on the third floor with floor to ceiling windows on the third floor. The rendering also shows a new entrance on the Jefferson Street side of the building. The company says, they are looking to complete the work in 2019.

Jeffersonville Canal District Rendering

The team in charge for planning the Jeffersonville Canal released a nice looking rendering of what the project might look like during their last meeting. In the rendering you can see the proposed convention center right next to Court Street. It also shows the Indiana approach to the Big Four Bridge. Once completed the Canal District in Jeff will feature 1,100 housing units, a 225-room hotel, 30,000 square feet of office space and 165,000 square feet of retail space. According to Jeffersonville's "One Great Community" magazine, going to the International Council of Shopping Centers trade show generated lots of interest in the retailing community.

Comfy Cow on Frankfort Rendering

As you have probably heard the Frickle Pickle at Genny's Diner on Frankfort Avenue will soon close it's doors. The restaurant and the adjacent historic home were bought by the Comfy Cow Ice Cream parlor owners a few weeks ago. They have plans to turn the Frickle Pickle into a modern 1950's Diner. There are not that many of those around. The closest one I can think of is the Denny's at the first E-Town Exit. I found a rendering of the future diner.  

Louisville Rowing's new Building taking shape.

 The University of Louisville's athletic department is improving yet another facility. This time it's the rowing teams turn. Their current facility is located on the river front just east of the Tumbleweed restaurant. It also houses several high school rowing teams. Last the June the university broke ground on a 14,000 square feet, two story addition right next to the old facility. According to the university, the new building will cost 2.65 million dollars and is funded through donations. Currently crews are working on the second floor of the building.

The Edge at Liberty Greens Groundbreaking

The folks at Liberty Greens held another groundbreaking today. Today's ceremony was to commemorate the start of the so called home-ownership portion of the housing development. The new part of the project is called "The Edge at Liberty Greens." It is being developed by Bill Weyland of City Properties. Even though it is the home ownership portion it will also feature several apartments for nearby students of the University of Louisville medical campus. They actually played a major part in the decision process. The project itself has been completely redesigned from earlier renderings. I remember seeing renderings and models that made this future property look like the "Cosby neighborhood." All the homes had steps and looked very New York urban. The renderings that were released today make it look very modern. They seem to incorporate lots of glass and metal.  

Jeffersonville Canal District First Proposal

Matthews Southwest of Texas was the first developer that presented its proposal for the Jeffersonville Canal District today. The 52 million Dollar canal is supposed to wind itself through Jeffersonville. It is supposed to help alleviate sewer overflow. It is also expected to spur development in the area. The rendering shows two hotels separate from a convention center.

Clarksville's Colgate Plant's Future as a Rendering

Last week the city of Clarksville released their plan of what is going to happen with the Colgate Plant. Eventually the site will become a mixed use development consisting of condominiums, shops, anchor tenants and a conference center plus hotel. The tentative name for the development is Clark's Landing. It will stretch from the Colgate site almost all the way to the river. Don't plan on seeing anything going up soon though. Planning is still underway and it could take up 15 years to develop it all. Yesterday the city released a couple of renderings of what it could look like. Here are some of the designs, don't count on it looking like that though. Oh yeah, I counted the floors on the hotel behind the clock. I counted 18.

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.

JCC Louisville Science Building Rendering

I knew Jefferson Community College was building their Nursing and Allied Health Building on Second and Chestnut. What I didn't know was what it's going to look like. Just a short trip to the building site solved that mystery. They have a rendering of the 25.6 Million dollar project on their construction sign. It looks like a nice little building. It will be a great filler for the downtown area. The 100,000 square foot facility will be the first new construction for JCC in over 30 years.