Kentuckiana Medical Center Parking Lot Work

Over at the construction site of the Kentuckiana Medical Center in Clarksville the heavy equipment has moved to the adjoining lot. It looks like things are wrapping up at the main building. From the looks of it we should expect some sort of final opening date to appear on the horizon here shortly. As for the construction equipment, they are currently working on another access road from the highway. They have already poured the gravel base for it.

It also looks like they are getting ready to add another parking lot next to the building. Since they were also talking about an additional medical building, it also could be the prep work for getting that started.

Einstein Bagel now Open

Downtown Louisville's latest eatery is now in business. Einstein Bros Bagel's location at the Hyatt opened its door last week to welcome its first customers. Obviously people will flock to new places, but it looked like they seemed to be doing great business over the weekend. As you can see in the picture, almost all the seats are taken. But then on the other hand, how can you go wrong with opening a bagel shop outside a large hotel.

Giant Countdown Clock at Louisville Arena Site

The University of Louisville has installed a giant countdown clock towards the opening of the downtown arena. The so called Cardinal Countdown is located right their at Main and Second Street. As of Saturday the countdown had not been initiated. The sign also features an arena rendering. There are also several other banners posted around the construction site listing its financial supporters and construction teams.

Holiday Inn Fern Valley Update

Here's a little construction update on the new Holiday Inn being built near the Ford plant across the Interstate near Fern Valley Road.

It looks like most of the windows are in. The exterior is probably 90 percent done. Last time I visited the site I was hoping for an interesting architectural feature at the top of the building. It turned out to be a quite standard cosmetic addition to the roof line. Other than that it's not a bad looking building when it comes to chain architecture. Since it's one of the first larger buildings you'll see coming into Louisville from the south, it's not bad, not awesome, but not bad.

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.

Shively Center's Total Makeover

If you have driven by the Shively Center on Dixie Hwy and the Shawnee Exp lately you can see that it has gotten a total makeover. After Dillard's department store closed in 2007 the center was in desperate need for an anchor tenant. The city really wanted to locate a Kohl's store down here, but that never came to fruition. Eventually they found one in a Norton's Primary care facility. It will also include a obstetric and gynecologic practice. The city estimates daily visits to be about 21,000. It is scheduled to open sometime in the winter of 08/09.

The buildings next to the former Dillard's part are also getting a major overhaul. As you can see in the picture it will look very different from what it used to look. It currently houses Weightwatcher's and Kort Physical Therapy. All the other stores that used to be here have moved out. That is also true for the Mexican restaurant at the end of the old strip mall.

Grand Opening for New Albany's new YMCA

Saturday was the grand opening of New Albany's new YMCA. This marks the end of an eighty year history of not having a Y in New Albany since the previous one closed in the 1920's. The new facility boast three pools (a family fun pool, a therapy pool as well as an all purpose/competition pool), a three story climbing wall, an indoor track, an interactive play area and all the other givens you'd find at a Y. The gym is supposed to work as a catalyst for downtown development in New Albany. Architecture wise it's a very pleasing design, with lots of glass and natural light in the three story 2,000 sq ft lobby.

Interior work at first Louisville Einstein Bros. Bagels

The first Louisville Einstein Bros. Bagel store is nearing completion of the interior work. The new store is located street side at the Hyatt hotel on 4th Street. The bagel shop will serve breakfast all day. It also has a lunch menu containing open face deli melts, wraps, pizza bagels, bagel dogs (sounds interesting) and other stuff. It'll be the second bagel place (if you count Panera as a bagel place) that will open up shop on 4th street within the last couple of weeks.

Green Building Neighbor to become Green?

With the Green buildings inaugural show on its way (see previous entry) its time to look at what might be in the future for that part of eastern downtown. Plans still call for a farmers market next to building, which would be a pleasant addition to downtown grocery offerings. It might replace the food stands that were lost at the Haymarket property.

Then there's always 720 E. Market St which is currently leasing. The building is also owned by the same people (Nulu partnership) that just bought the Wayside property. The 720 building would make a great green building as well.

Green Building Louisville holds inaugural show

The Green Building on 732 E. Market in Louisville opened its doors for an art show for the first time last Saturday. The inaugural exhibition features work of Louisville artist Cynthia Reynolds. The Green building itself is one of the latest renovations completed on Market Street. Started in spring 2007, the mixed-use building will be the first commercial building in Louisville that will have earned a LEED platinum certification for its sustainability and environmental friendliness. Early next year a street side cafe called 732 Social will welcome patrons.

Louisville's Legacy Lofts Project Stalled

For the last couple of weeks, I've been wondering why nobody is working on the site of the Legacy Lofts project on East Main Street. I went ahead and took a picture, but waited to see whether work resumed. Tonight, I saw on the Business First preview on Fox41 that the project is officially stalled. Apparently, the developer cannot pay his contractors and has accrued half a million dollars worth of liens against him.

New Chili's at Audubon

The Villages of Audubon (near Audubon Hospital and St.X) are are on the verge of welcoming a new stand-alone tenant. Louisville's newest Chili's restaurant is about to open its doors at the shopping center. The building is complete and the chain is hiring. Yet another restaurant about to start interior construction in the Villages is a J.Gumbo. So far, there's only a sign in the window.

Louisville's Joe's Crab Shack White Out

Louisville's Joe's Crab Shack is getting a new coat of paint. Painters have been covering the riverside restaurant in white paint for the past couple of weeks. I don't really think it was necessary, since it looked kind of shackish beforehand, but they probably had a good reason. I hope they finish what they started, because this one spot under their logo on the side has been left unpainted for a couple of days now.

Crowne Plaza Louisville Renovation Update

The conversion of the Executive West to a Crowne Plaza is in full swing. They are currently working on the entrance. As you can see in the picture, they are adding a new roof structure above the entrance. From the looks of it, this will be just a cosmetic addition to the hotel. They are also currently working on the porte-cocheres on all sides of the hotel. Once finished, the hotel with its 588 rooms will be one of the largest Crowne Plazas around. After spending over 26 million dollars, Al J. Schneider Company hopes to finish the renovation in December.

Scaffolding at O'Sheas' Main Street Building

Recently, scaffolding was put up at one of the to-be-renovated buildings over on the 100 block of West Main Street. The building bound to be renovated is the one in between the earlier announced City Properties "Whiskey Row" development and the proposed "Iron Quarter" project. Once completed, the former warehouse will be the downtown location of some sort of restaurant/bar development by the people behind O’Shea’s Traditional Irish Pub and Flanagan’s Ale House in the Highlands. This would mark the first actual renovation on the site. The Whiskey Row project is said to start in 2009. A time table for the Iron Quarter project has not yet been announced.