http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/georgebglass/woodland_lofts1.jpg

I found this posted on EOPA.com as one of their works in progress. It must have just been posted because I check their site all the time. They did not give a lot of details as to where the project was located. If you assume it is on Woodland and use the number on the building in the picture, you will see that would put this in between Columbia and Euclid near UK's library. I guess something will have to come down if this is where it's going to be.

I found out that this project will be on the corner of Woodland and High across from Ramsey's. It seems the church now there will be coming down. The website is www.marklofts.com.

Great location! Any idea of how many units?

I think it's great that Lexington is preserving its farmland (thats why it's famous) , it will be interesting to see how dense it will be in the next 20 years. I think it would be kinda cool if Lexington had a bit of a European feel in it's core with streets lined with mid-rises and so on.

Great location! Any idea of how many units?

36 units between the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors. The ground will be parking and office/ retail I believe. I don't know the timetable, but I get the impression that it will be underway fairly soon as long as no opposition arises from neighbors. On one hand, I'm sure the neighbors want a project like this, but the church may have historical significance...it's an attractive church anyway. It's too bad there can't be both of them.

36 units between the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors. The ground will be parking and office/ retail I believe. I don't know the timetable, but I get the impression that it will be underway fairly soon as long as no opposition arises from neighbors. On one hand, I'm sure the neighbors want a project like this, but the church may have historical significance...it's an attractive church anyway. It's too bad there can't be both of them.


Agreed. It is a nice church.

I think it's great that Lexington is preserving its farmland (thats why it's famous) , it will be interesting to see how dense it will be in the next 20 years. I think it would be kinda cool if Lexington had a bit of a European feel in it's core with streets lined with mid-rises and so on.

Amen to that...as long as we cont. to focus on the CBD and fill-in and encourge folks to move back to downtown....as we are now doing...Lexington's urban core will cont. to improve...it will be exciting!

I have a feeling that if we dont expand the urban service area we'll see our notorious sprawl developers either re-tool for urban development or move most of their work to the surrounding towns. If they move out I think some more progressive developers will take their place. Either way is fine with me. I also hope it extends past downtown and we start seeing some eciting urban style projects along the major commuter routes.

Lexington needs a staple condo tower downtown for young, affluent professionals. Kinda like what we are getting here in Nashville with Viridian, Signature Tower and many others downtown. I realize that Park Place is an apartment tower, but it just isn't the same.

I love the infill that Lexington is getting, but you need numbers too. And to get them, you need to fit as many people into a building as you can. And five and six story blocks just isn't going to get you the density you need. If you had a tower or two, plus the mid-rises...that would achieve maximum density for a full service grocery store and all that would follow it.

Lexington needs a staple condo tower downtown for young, affluent professionals. Kinda like what we are getting here in Nashville with Viridian, Signature Tower and many others downtown. I realize that Park Place is an apartment tower, but it just isn't the same.

I love the infill that Lexington is getting, but you need numbers too. And to get them, you need to fit as many people into a building as you can. And five and six story blocks just isn't going to get you the density you need. If you had a tower or two, plus the mid-rises...that would achieve maximum density for a full service grocery store and all that would follow it.

I agree, Lexington is in a prime position because you have the state University located in your backyard. Its certainly a livable place and some infill would work wonders in helping with lexington's future. By future I mean keeping and attracting young professionals. I think Lexington is super conservative when it comes to doing something "big", don't get me wrong I"m not saying make Lexington something its not, but when I read whats going on in places like Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Tallahasee, Durham, Greensboro they are doing things that Lexington has the potential to do. Lexington just needs to maxmize on its strengths, but I'm with Lexy and would love to see a "true" condo tower somewhere near downtown. Why wouldn't they, UK is on the edge of downtown, I'm sure grad students and young professionals alike would line up to stay in condo right downtown near campus with walkablity to alot of places. I would like to see the lexington leaders get more aggressive and the private developers get some of these things rolling. When I went to grad at UK I had to stay away from where everything is. I will say that I do like what they are doing now and building some apartments and town houses near campus. I wish all that was there when I was in grad school. I'm telling you build a condo tower downtown with some height to add some spice and young folks will flock.

I just came back from the greensboro area in North Carolina, and I was impressed with the whole triad area. There were so many companies there for bio-medical research and other kinds of technological facilities. The first thing that came to my mind was this should be Lexington. I was impressed with how many young people lived in that area. I was there for Humana and the average age range in that city had to be from 25-35 easily. Jobs like that would greatly increase the tax base in Lexington and would explode growth. The reason why I thought of lexington was because its pretty much the same size as Greensboro. If Lexington had the same infrastructure that they have in places like the triad or the Raliegh Durham area in Carolina it would make Lexington one of the best places to live in period. Lexington has much to more to offer than Greensboro but, the only thing that Greensboro had on Lexington was jobs. I really think the city needs to work with UK and develop lex into a technology hub. Thats just my two cents, but in my opinion the lexington leaders are way to conservative because Lexington could really be on the map as a technology center in the south. This is why alot of jobs are relocating to carolina, they are moving to places that have huge colleges near by. If you visit that part of the country you would be impressed but mad because you would ask yourself "why is this not in Kentucky".

I agree, Lexington is in a prime position because you have the state University located in your backyard. Its certainly a livable place and some infill would work wonders in helping with lexington's future. By future I mean keeping and attracting young professionals. I think Lexington is super conservative when it comes to doing something "big", don't get me wrong I"m not saying make Lexington something its not, but when I read whats going on in places like Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Tallahasee, Durham, Greensboro they are doing things that Lexington has the potential to do. Lexington just needs to maxmize on its strengths, but I'm with Lexy and would love to see a "true" condo tower somewhere near downtown. Why wouldn't they, UK is on the edge of downtown, I'm sure grad students and young professionals alike would line up to stay in condo right downtown near campus with walkablity to alot of places. I would like to see the lexington leaders get more aggressive and the private developers get some of these things rolling. When I went to grad at UK I had to stay away from where everything is. I will say that I do like what they are doing now and building some apartments and town houses near campus. I wish all that was there when I was in grad school. I'm telling you build a condo tower downtown with some height to add some spice and young folks will flock.

I just came back from the greensboro area in North Carolina, and I was impressed with the whole triad area. There were so many companies there for bio-medical research and other kinds of technological facilities. The first thing that came to my mind was this should be Lexington. I was impressed with how many young people lived in that area. I was there for Humana and the average age range in that city had to be from 25-35 easily. Jobs like that would greatly increase the tax base in Lexington and would explode growth. The reason why I thought of lexington was because its pretty much the same size as Greensboro. If Lexington had the same infrastructure that they have in places like the triad or the Raliegh Durham area in Carolina it would make Lexington one of the best places to live in period. Lexington has much to more to offer than Greensboro but, the only thing that Greensboro had on Lexington was jobs. I really think the city needs to work with UK and develop lex into a technology hub. Thats just my two cents, but in my opinion the lexington leaders are way to conservative because Lexington could really be on the map as a technology center in the south. This is why alot of jobs are relocating to carolina, they are moving to places that have huge colleges near by. If you visit that part of the country you would be impressed but mad because you would ask yourself "why is this not in Kentucky".


You're right.

The problem is there is a fifteen story maximum in the downtown master plan (the idea is to force developers to use all the property and create a streetwall.) That's why I would support a new "downtown(ish)" area just south of downtown and near campus bordered by Waller/Virginia Avenues and S. Broadway/S. Limestone where those height restrictions wouldn't apply.

If we aren't going to expand outward, we need to reconsider our height.

High Tech jobs are starting to work their way into town. Belcan just moved into the WTC downtown, the new Lexhold buildings in Coldstream have broken ground, and UK is working hard to bring more to town. It's just going to take time. The research triangle has a reputation they've been developing for years. We have to start working now and the success (if any) we see will mostly likely be down the road a little ways.

You're right.

The problem is there is a fifteen story maximum in the downtown master plan (the idea is to force developers to use all the property and create a streetwall.) That's why I would support a new "downtown(ish)" area just south of downtown and near campus bordered by Waller/Virginia Avenues and S. Broadway/S. Limestone where those height restrictions wouldn't apply.

If we aren't going to expand outward, we need to reconsider our height.

High Tech jobs are starting to work their way into town. Belcan just moved into the WTC downtown, the new Lexhold buildings in Coldstream have broken ground, and UK is working hard to bring more to town. It's just going to take time. The research triangle has a reputation they've been developing for years. We have to start working now and the success (if any) we see will mostly likely be down the road a little ways.

Thats awesome news Ian, I actually forgot about Belcan and I forgot about the height limit downtown. Its other cities that have built seperate downtowns, I kinda wish UK didn't have downtown gridlocked, but I also like the campus where it is. Belcan is just a start, if Lexington goes out and markets the university and the city i'm certain these companies will follow. Its not a knock against Durham, NC or Greensboro, but Lexington has much more potential than those cities. Regardless I'm just happy with the infill they are now doing in lex, and the apartments and townhouses around campus were much over due. I always thought the area around campus was underused and had the most potential in the city. Do you know why the heigh limit is in place? I wouldn't think the airport would have anything to do with it. Anyways i'm just impressed on the condo's that are being proposed or under-construction. Now I think its time for Lexington to become a regional technology hub.

According to Harold Tate (Downtown Development Authority) The height limit is in place to encourage developers to use all of their property and create a fluid street wall. I'd like to think that if developers used 100% of the propeerty and still wanted to go higher that would be permissable.

I honestly think Lexington has more potential than most other cities in the region. No offense to the Louisville people but we're still small enough that we can choose to go one direction and make it work much easier than Louisville could because it's much larger and would take much more work. (That makes sense in my head but not sure if it does written out like that. I'll try and elaborate later.)

Northern Kentucky has the seperate municipalities and that slows down any sweeping regional decisions that need to be made.

I think our leaders are starting to come around (at least I hope so) because Lexingtonians are very protective of the farmland around the city. I think we've finally reached the point where we'll be growing denser instead of sprawling.

2 blurbs about projects downtown.

Belcan and the Kimball House.

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=533

An OpEd I wrote for a business journal in town.

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=502

I can understand the height limit thing, but it really is pointless to have in the first place. Most developments that are high-rises take up the entire lot, or at least 3/4's of it. Setbacks are placed on some towers that are being built here in Nashville to help create a more pedsetrian friendly streetscape. A couple of those said towers are in a district known as SoBro, or South Broadway, where there is a 20 floor limilt on towers. The 'detached' downtown thing is cool, but look at the other cities that have done a similar thing and see what it has done for them. Lexington's downtown is one of the best for a city its size. I think it should encourage taller buildings, while preserving the streetscapes there first, then move outward. It CAN happen if the government wants to make it happen. The developments will spill out of the core when it begins to densify. Thus bringing the university together with downtown. Just like the good 'ol college town proposal. Taller residential towers just sporadically placed throughout Lexington is fine, but it could eventually put a starin on the transit system and local streets. There needs to be a plan in place for some of these types of developments. A certain 'district' set aside for these types of things.

OT:I have GOT to get back up there and take some pics again. I have lost most of the ones I used to have from when I lived up there in 2000-2003.

Lexy, I have some good pictures of Kincaid Tower at night. If I'm not mistaken didn't you used to work there.

Lexy, I have some good pictures of Kincaid Tower at night. If I'm not mistaken didn't you used to work there.


Yes I did. 3rd floor as a matter of fact.

When I looked at the internet edition of Business Lexington today I almost peed. Most of the news sections is about downtown. Here are several articles. Also an article on redeveloping Southlanbd Drive into an entertainment district.

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=558 An overview of projects underway and proposed.

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=557 A new arts district, including a luxury hotel by designed by the same group doing the 500s on Main.

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=555 An article on the McGoodwin Comapny. Developers of South Hill Station and University Lofts.

www.Bizlex.com


Enjoy

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=556 About the 500's

What do you guys think it will take to turn a completely autocentric city like Lexington to one that supports it's public transit system.

LexTran is undergoing a huge boost in funding and many improvements along with new routes are slated or in the planning stages.

Aside from improving service what has to happen in people's minds so they'll say... "Hmmm...maybe I'll take the bus."

Preparing the way for the 2010 Equestrian Games
By Michelle Ku And John Stamper
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS
Federal, state and local leaders all agree that a top priority in preparing for the 2010 World Equestrian Games should be upgrading Lexington's roads, especially the Newtown Pike corridor that will funnel thousands to the games.
But a Newtown Pike upgrade is stuck in a political traffic jam marked by bickering and finger pointing across all levels of government.
Lexington's civic and business leaders yesterday called for Gov. Ernie Fletcher and state legislators to restore $12.75 million in state-controlled funding that was removed from the state's six-year road plan for an extension of Newtown Pike around downtown.
Congressman Ben Chandler, D-Lexington, also stepped into the fray, accusing Fletcher of breaking a personal promise by reducing the state's financial commitment to the project.
Meanwhile, Fletcher has gone after House Democrats for making changes to the state road plan that could jeopardize the 2010 completion date of a project to widen another section of Newtown Pike between New Circle Road and the interstate.
The various parties all say they are committed to improving Newtown Pike by 2010. But the details of those improvements are tangled in politics -- and the complexities of the state's road budgeting process.
"We've got the world coming to our doorstep and we need to do whatever it takes to get the infrastructure in place," said Bob Quick, president and CEO of Commerce Lexington.
Most of the barking yesterday centered on the long-discussed, 1.5-mile extension of Newtown Pike that will run from West Main Street, where Newtown now ends, to Patterson Street before branching into a pair of two-lane spurs close to the University of Kentucky's main entrance. Along the way, the extension would run through lower Davistown, one of Lexington's poorest neighborhoods.
At a news conference yesterday, Commerce Lexington officials and other business leaders complained that the extension is now $12.75 million short in the state highway plan.
But even if that money were included in the road plan, it's unlikely that the massive extension project would be completed by 2010, said Andrew Grunwald, the city engineer in charge of the Newtown Pike extension.
The first phase of the extension, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2008, won't be completed until 2010, Grunwald said. That phase will focus on preparing land for construction and relocating residents in the path of the extension.
Grunwald said that if all $75 million needed to complete the entire four-phase extension project is available when it's needed, construction still wouldn't be completed until 2014.
Despite that projected construction schedule, the extension and the other two Newtown Pike projects must be done by 2010, Quick said. "There's got to be a way."
Lexington will not be projecting its best image if the direct link to the Horse Park and Ironworks Pike is under construction when the world comes, Quick said.
The state's proposed road plan, which was introduced last month, should have allocated $50 million for the extension project, but the plan only shows $38 million, Quick said.
It's unclear who removed the money, why it was removed or where the money went, but "we're short $12 million and we want the money put back in," Quick said.
Commerce Lexington officials also complained that $16.1 million in state-controlled money isn't even scheduled to be spent until 2010, delaying the project further.
Jay Whitehead, the city's public works commissioner, said he has met with state Highway Commissioner Marc Williams and his staff two or three times over the past few months to discuss preparation work for 2010.
Whitehead said they discussed ways of moving the Newtown Pike extension up on the schedule and fast-tracking it for a possible 2010 competition.
"It would have been very difficult to have completed the project by 2010, but by taking these actions (of removing the money), now they've made it impossible," Whitehead said.
State officials acknowledge that $12.75 million in state-controlled money originally intended for the extension is not part of the six-year plan. But shifting the funds isn't an indication that the state isn't committed to the project, they said.
The overall financial commitment to the extension in the proposed six-year road plan is $38 million, $5 million more than the previous plan, they said.
"We have provided a strong and adequate commitment of funds to this project, but one that is reasonable," Williams said.
Chandler, who earmarked $18 million in federal funds for the extension last year, questioned why the state shifted money away from the project. Chandler contends that when he earmarked the federal money, he did it with the understanding that the state would maintain its level of financial commitment.
"The $18 million was clearly believed to be in addition to the state money," Chandler said. "I got a promise from Gov. Fletcher to that account."
Instead, Chandler said, "They have essentially taken the federal money that I've gotten and substituted it in for the state money they had promised and moved the state money somewhere else. I don't know where it's being transferred. I do know they've been looking for money for these bridges in Louisville."
Fletcher denied accusations that he has reduced the state's commitment to the project. And Williams said the Louisville bridge projects played no role in the Newtown Pike decision.
"The governor at no time has done anything other than what he said he would do," said Brett Hall, Fletcher's spokesman. "He has been fully supportive of this project."
Hall said Chandler's effort to "score political points" is not productive. "Everybody has the same goal and there is adequate funding," he said.
Williams said Fletcher has set a goal to complete as much of the project as possible by 2010. But realities suggest the project will take much longer, Williams said.
The project's environmental impact study is still ongoing and may not be completed until year's end, he said.
If the project suddenly lurches forward faster than expected, Williams said the Transportation Cabinet has the ability to accelerate the appropriation of funds.

Kentucky politicians bickering back and forth instead of getting shit done...big surprise. I love how Chandler (obviously still bitter over loosing to Fletcher) tries to bring the funding of the bridges up, out of nowhere as a suggestion of were the money went.

City seeks site developer
By Beverly FortuneHERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/transitcenter.jpg

With downtown revitalization beginning to take off, the city is getting serious about selecting a developer to construct a housing and retail complex on top of the Transit Center on Vine Street.
Yesterday, Harold Tate, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, presented a request for qualifications that developers must follow in doing a project.
This represents a new approach for the city, which has tried at least three times to develop the site.
In the past, the city first put out a request for proposals on a specific project. When the proposals were narrowed down to one, the bid collapsed either because funding fell through or the city wasn't happy with the idea, Tate said.
This time the process is being flipped. Developers first must submit their qualifications, method of financing the project, key personnel involved and descriptions of previous projects and how they were financed. In addition, the city wants a general description of the proposed project and a statement showing that developers understand the design guidelines.
Among the design stipulations is that structures should blend in architecturally with the traditional buildings nearby.
The project would be constructed on top of the 770-space parking garage and transit terminal at 129-151 East High Street.
The transit center, built 13 years ago, was designed to support buildings as tall as 15 stories, Tate said.
The prospects for the site have improved because of "all the momentum going on downtown," Tate said. "The city wants to keep that momentum going, and this is a crucial piece of property."
To date, 200 new residential units have been completed downtown. Six hundred others are under construction, or are on the drawing board. Three other projects are in the conceptual stage.
In recent months, Tate said, he has received 12 inquiries, "half local, half out of town," about the Transit Center property. Proposals have included a movie theater complex, bowling alley, high-end hotel and residential units.
With the World Equestrian Games expected to attract 300,000 spectators to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010, "developers want to get started as quickly as possible," he said.
Yesterday, the full Urban County Council gave Tate the tentative go-ahead to put out the requests for qualifications. Two council readings will be required for final approval, which could come April 6.
Tate will advertise the site in local and national publications for 60 or 90 days. A 10-member committee will take the requests for qualifications and select one developer. He anticipates the finalist could be selected by year's end.
Any project must be "on a human scale" and pedestrian-friendly at street level with storefronts, windows, public art and landscaping, Tate said. The Downtown Development Authority wants it to include a "high-end entertainment venue with residential units."
The authority prefers that a significant number of apartments and condos be mid-range in cost ($150,000 to $500,000) and that at least the first floor be devoted to retail and entertainment. The existing parking garage and Transit Center would remain public facilities.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Public Parking Corp. owns the air rights above the transit center.
Rob McGoodwin, who developed the University Lofts on Bolivar Street and unsuccessfully proposed a Transit Center project several years ago, suggested the city would have to give away the air rights above the center to make the project financially feasible.
"Last time we looked, we couldn't make it work unless the air rights were conveyed," he said.
Tate said giving away air rights "is not up to me. ... "We're open to all options."
The Transit Center "could be the thing to really jump start downtown. it could be a real economic engine," McGoodwin said. "It's got the parking structure, and all you have to do is go on up. It could be a majestic presence."

^^ I was about to post this and you beat me to it.

Do you think it will actually happen this time?

I think it will. Simple as that. It either happens now, or it never will and I think the city knows that.

What do you guys think it will take to turn a completely autocentric city like Lexington to one that supports it's public transit system.

LexTran is undergoing a huge boost in funding and many improvements along with new routes are slated or in the planning stages.

Aside from improving service what has to happen in people's minds so they'll say... "Hmmm...maybe I'll take the bus."

I don't think it's possible here in Lexington. Lexington isn't pedestrian friendly, bicycle friendly or public transportation friendy. It's a big town, not a small city. People like to drive big sport utes from the burbs to the mall.

I don't think it's possible here in Lexington. Lexington isn't pedestrian friendly, bicycle friendly or public transportation friendy. It's a big town, not a small city. People like to drive big sport utes from the burbs to the mall.

I partially agree with your point here.

It is possible. However, very unlikely in the near future. The city needs to densify first and get more foot traffic. It also needs to embrace urbanity and the lifestyle it brings. When this happens, things could change. Only time will tell though. At some point, people will get sick and tired of sitting in traffic on Richmaond Road and over on Nicholasville Road. God knows that Hamburg Pavillion and all that development on the east side of 75 will help traffic, NOT! LOL!!!

I don't think it's possible here in Lexington. Lexington isn't pedestrian friendly, bicycle friendly or public transportation friendy. It's a big town, not a small city. People like to drive big sport utes from the burbs to the mall.

^^I do believe in time our transport system (bus/highways/etc) will improve for Lexington....we are a small city (not a big town) I disagree with you on that one.

Church going; housing coming
DEVELOPMENT WILL BE AT CORNER OF EAST HIGH, WOODLAND
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

(This is the rendering that George posted not too long ago.)

Tribbeca Development is developing the $8 million project called The Mark with office space on the first floor and three floors of apartments. Units will sell from $227,000 to $500,000. The one, two and three bedroom units will be from 1,000 to 1,900 square feet.

Faith Covenant Church now stands on the site, across the street from Ramsey's restaurant.

Rob Parker with Tribbeca said he hoped to break ground sometime in May.

The development has led to a dispute with some neighbors in the Aylesford Historic neighborhood.

"My original plan was to save the church, turn it into loft apartments," Parker said. "That's what they're doing in the Northeast, like Boston. That's what we had in mind."

But he would have had to build an apartment building next door to the church. Both structures would have included 30 units total. "Neighbors objected to that density," he said.

Parker said he offered neighbors a chance to work with the architect on designing the new building. "But they wouldn't guarantee they wouldn't fight the project." So he came up with the new design and decided to raze the church.

Aylesford resident John Michler said one concern was not having enough parking for people living in the units, "so they would be parking up and down Woodland Avenue." Michler said he didn't know that Tribbeca's plan now calls for 36 units.

Parker could have saved the church if he chose, Michler said. "It was in his power. It didn't matter what the neighborhood association wanted. We have opposed things before that went through."

The Aylesford neighborhood was zoned historic about 8 years ago. "The church, at its request, was excluded in the H1 overlay," said resident Lisa Johnson.

"That is when we lost the building," Michler said.

On December 14, Tribbeca bought the church for $1.3 million. The property is already zoned P1, which allows residential use above the first floor, but the ground floor must be offices.

The Rev. Ernie Sacra, pastor of Faith Covenant Church for 28 years, said he did not have sentimental attachments to the building. "Several guys in the church and myself have worked nonstop on that building. Heating and air conditioning don't work properly; they're inefficient. Buildings that old don't operate cost effectively."

The church was built in 1920 and originally housed Immanuel Baptist Church, Sacra said. About 1960, the congregation split, with the majority of members forming a new congregation, buying land and building Immanuel Baptist Church on Tates Creek Road.

Seven families stayed behind to form Woodland Avenue Baptist Church. Ten years ago, congregants changed the name to Faith Covenant, "to better reflect the identity we felt," Sacra said.

Sacra said his church with 80 members is renting temporary space on Fortune Drive. Future plans are unclear. "I'm praying over it. We're going where God leads us," he said.

The church's large stained glass windows will be removed and sold. "We sold the pews as one lot on the Internet," he said.

Nearby business owners will be sorry to see the church go, said Jimmy Martha, owner of Charlie's Foreign Cars, a repair shop that's been across the street for 28 years.

"Not having the church is going to take away the neighborhood atmosphere," Martha said.

Rob Ramsey, owner of Ramsey's restaurant, said he doubted his restaurant would have survived, much less been successful, without "the neighborliness of Faith Covenant Church. I'm going to miss them, miss the parking, miss just the beauty of the building," he said.

The church has long allowed parking for Ramsey's customers in its lot. Ramsey said he will have six designated parking spaces behind The Mark available all the time, plus six to 16 additional spaces in the evenings and on weekends.

Tribbeca also acquired a large brick house behind the church that is being renovated into sales offices for The Mark.

'B'coming gates
By Jennifer Hewlett
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/203491778885.jpg
Steve Sharp, 17, of Richmond, watched construction from a gate-level window at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/203491793150.jpg
The renovated Concourse C has flat-screen monitors, new carpet and seating, and larger restrooms. Concourse B will be similarly decorated.

More photosPassengers at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport can now get a peek at the progress being made on a $15.5 million airport expansion project.

A window was recently installed at the end of the airport's existing Concourse B just for that purpose.

So far, the expansion project, a six-gate addition to Concourse B, is going as planned, said airport spokeswoman Amy Caudill. Besides the new gates, all of which will have covered jet bridges, the expansion is to include a new retail shop and restroom facilities.

"At this point we're working on the first phase of construction and are focusing on the construction of the shell of the gate addition," Caudill said.

Work on the two-phased project began in July and is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.

Besides the shell of the gate addition, the first phase includes work on the aircraft ramp and a drainage system around the addition.

The first phase is expected to be finished by the end of this year; then the second phase, which will focus on the interior of the addition, will begin, Caudill said.

Meanwhile, finishing touches are being put on the airport's newly renovated Concourse C. The $650,000 renovation, which began several months ago, includes new seating, flooring, ceilings, lighting, wall coverings and larger restroom facilities.

"We really want to make sure that passengers know what renovations are being made at their hometown airport," Caudill said.

Information about the Concourse B addition has been posted near the new viewing window.

To interest young airport visitors in the construction work, airport officials have started a contest for children 14 and under.

Each month through the end of the year, the youngster who comes closest to guessing how many jumbo marshmallows, each about 1.25 inches tall, it takes to make a straight line from the end of the existing Concourse B to the end of the new Concourse B will receive a Blue Grass Airport TravelPak. The packages will include items such as travel games, coloring books and crayons and small pillows and blankets, Caudill said. Entry forms are available in Concourse B.

I partially agree with your point here.

It is possible. However, very unlikely in the near future. The city needs to densify first and get more foot traffic. It also needs to embrace urbanity and the lifestyle it brings. When this happens, things could change. Only time will tell though. At some point, people will get sick and tired of sitting in traffic on Richmaond Road and over on Nicholasville Road. God knows that Hamburg Pavillion and all that development on the east side of 75 will help traffic, NOT! LOL!!!

The sprawl is completely out of control. People in McMansions don't use public transportation, they use Camrys.

Hell, I live 2 blocks from UK's campus, students here still drive from class to class. I see them fighting for parking spots when they could easily bike or even walk. It's just the mentality that the city has, not saying it's bad but that's how it is.

And in reply to krosejr, we may be a small city in poulation #'s, but we are a big town in the sense of local gov. and the feel of the place. They don't want urban growth. The urban core here is tiny, and if it wasn't for UK it would be nonexistent.

The sprawl is completely out of control. People in McMansions don't use public transportation, they use Camrys.

Hell, I live 2 blocks from UK's campus, students here still drive from class to class. I see them fighting for parking spots when they could easily bike or even walk. It's just the mentality that the city has, not saying it's bad but that's how it is.

And in reply to krosejr, we may be a small city in poulation #'s, but we are a big town in the sense of local gov. and the feel of the place. They don't want urban growth. The urban core here is tiny, and if it wasn't for UK it would be nonexistent.

I disagree.

I dont think the issue is that people dont want urban growth. It's just that they're unaware of their options. Most people in suburban Lexington see growth as shopping malls and subdivisions, nothing else. They aren't educated on the alternatives. Now that some of those alternatives are being constructed I have a feeling this town will embrace them.

I also disagree about the urban core.

It's small in land area but name another city our size that isn't part of a bigger metro with a 30+ story building (5/3 building/LFC) and five 20+ story buildings (Kirwin/Blanding/Park Plaza/Raddison/Kincaid Tower). I can only think of a couple. I think our urban core is great for our size city. With a little work and a little bit of an attitude change it can be spectacular.

Lexington has built taller buildings outside the core than you'll find in Chicago.
There's nothing outside of their core or the lakefront that's more than five stories (barring hospitals).

We have Continental Towers on Nicholasville, the building (I dont know it's name) in Corporate Plaza with the Bank of Lexington sign. I think Lexington will support more density in the future.

^^I agree completely with you Ian604. We have a wonderful opp. with our city and some outline areas...I think we want "urban growth" not "suburban growth" as a city..look at the measures and talk about wanting "smart growth" to build up our city core and not take anymore land for the burbs and lose the item that makes Lexington what it its...the land around her.

I disagree.

I dont think the issue is that people dont want urban growth. It's just that they're unaware of their options. Most people in suburban Lexington see growth as shopping malls and subdivisions, nothing else. They aren't educated on the alternatives. Now that some of those alternatives are being constructed I have a feeling this town will embrace them.

I also disagree about the urban core.

It's small in land area but name another city our size that isn't part of a bigger metro with a 30+ story building (5/3 building/LFC) and five 20+ story buildings (Kirwin/Blanding/Park Plaza/Raddison/Kincaid Tower). I can only think of a couple. I think our urban core is great for our size city. With a little work and a little bit of an attitude change it can be spectacular.

Lexington has built taller buildings outside the core than you'll find in Chicago.
There's nothing outside of their core or the lakefront that's more than five stories (barring hospitals).

We have Continental Towers on Nicholasville, the building (I dont know it's name) in Corporate Plaza with the Bank of Lexington sign. I think Lexington will support more density in the future.

I guess we will agree to disagree.

What you said is why I would classify it as a big town, not a small city. The people are unaware and uneducated on urban environments, that's not what they want here. I don't see many people jumping ship from the burbs to the city. In fact i'd like to see some #'s on new development outside the city vs. in the urban core area.

We do have a few decent sized buildings, but there is no vibrancy as a resident of downtown, not just a worker. I stand behind my statement, if it wasn't for UK, downtown would be absolutley dead.

Big buildings outside the urban core don't count as urban core. They are more of the problem, suburban sprawl.

I think we got our wires crossed. We may agree on more than you realize. I agree that there can be a lot of improvement in the vibrancy of our core. I live downtown too so I know what you mean. But to be fair it isn't a ghost town either. (Except maybe weekends.)

I wasn't even touching the issue of big town/small city, I dont care.

I dont see large buildings further out from the core as sprawl. I see 80 units in Continental Tower that did NOT become 80 single family detached homes on the edge of town. I see that as a victory of suburban sprawl.

Is it ideal? No.
What I rather see those buildings downtown? yes.

But it isn't eating up farmland either, and that's a victory in my book.

I think we got our wires crossed. We may agree on more than you realize. I agree that there can be a lot of improvement in the vibrancy of our core. I live downtown too so I know what you mean. But to be fair it isn't a ghost town either. (Except maybe weekends.)

I wasn't even touching the issue of big town/small city, I dont care.

I dont see large buildings further out from the core as sprawl. I see 80 units in Continental Tower that did NOT become 80 single family detached homes on the edge of town. I see that as a victory of suburban sprawl.

Is it ideal? No.
What I rather see those buildings downtown? yes.

But it isn't eating up farmland either, and that's a victory in my book.


Gotcha, well I guess I was thinking more along the lines of activities, shopping, nightlife, etc. of downtown. Of course people commute from the burbs downtown to work, but do they stay after work or come into the "city" on weekends, most don't. They only come downtown because they have too, not because they choose too. Where people live is a choice, and most lexingtonians aren't ready to give up the mcmansion lifestyle.

The small city/big town was a statment directed to krosejr, I should have clarified that. But some of the things we have discussed back up my point on why Lexington is still a "big town" not a small city to me. Because most of the people here want it to be a small town, not an urban city. Most of the people I have met here in town are from smaller cities. They chose lexington because it had ammenities of a larger city "rest., malls, shopping, the cats, etc.) but it's not intimidating in any way. It feels like a small town and that's how they like it.

I guess I like my business districts to be downtown where they were intended to be, not in the burbs. To me that's just another strike against getting people downtown.

Has anyone else paid attention to the construction boom on Virginia and S. Lime the last couple years.

1. The new UK research building (completed)
2. The new UK parking garage (under construction)
3. Holiday Inn (completed)
4. Marriot (across Broadway from Virginia Ave, completed.)
5. The new UK Hospital. (already doing site prep on this one.)
6. Another new 120,000sf UK research building. (planned)

Feel free to add anything to list I forgot to mention, or that I dont know about.

The thought I have is mostly regarding #'s 1, 5, and 6 on the list above. Together they will add 1,500+ new jobs to that area.

Do you think developers will see potential for new housing in the area? If so what form do you think it will take.

Also what traffic implications do you foresee especially with Rose St. closing since Nicholasville/Limestone is already the biggest rush hour artery permanantly between Hugelet and Limestone? And what solutions are there for the impending traffic fiasco?

Thoughts?

Any tower cranes in Lexington right now????

Like these......
http://mk29.image.pbase.com/o4/04/645104/1/57181968.anewskyline1.jpg

Just wondering.

No tower cranes that I know of.

No tower cranes that I know of.


Interesting. Given the types of construction that is taking place up there, you would think they would utilize one at some point. I wondered the same thing when they built the UK Research building across from the School of Pharmacy.

I'm sure there will be one with the new hospital. I can't remember if the Virginia Ave parking garage had a tower crane or not. But either way it isn't there anymore.

FIRST IN A SERIES OF REGULAR GATHERINGS
By Michelle Ku
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Members of Lexington's Urban County Council and Louisville's Metro Council got together yesterday in the first meeting of the two groups since the merger of the Louisville and Jefferson County governments.

The meeting, at the Kentucky Horse Park, was intended to be the first in a series of regular gatherings to discuss issues important to Lexington, Louisville and Kentucky, said Councilman Jay McChord, who organized the meeting.

The two councils discussed the effect the 2010 World Equestrian Games will have on the state and tourism opportunities. They also got a better understanding of how Louisville's metro government and Lexington's merged government work.

For example, council seats in Louisville are partisan, and the Democratic and Republican caucuses meet before the official Thursday council meetings.

Lexington's council seats are non-partisan.

Seven Lexington council members and six Louisville council members attended the meeting.

A resolution on the formation of the group, called the Lexington Louisville Council Consortium, will be presented to Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac at Tuesday's work session.

The group also plans to send a letter to U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., notifying him about formation of the consortium.

Planners are deciding where to draw the lines
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Janet Worne/Staff

Jack Jones Jr. owns Mineola Farm on Bryan Station Road. He feels increasingly encroached upon by his neighbors in the North Pointe subdivision and has submitted a request to change the designation of his farm from rural to low-density housing. In all, 79 landowners have submitted requests for changes.

Subdivisions that border one side of Mineola Farm are a constant headache for farm owner Jack Jones Jr.

From the subdivision side, whiskey bottles, beer cans and trash are tossed over the fence into his fields. Every Fourth of July, horses have to be put in barns to keep from being hurt or frightened by firecrackers shot onto the farm.

Jones doesn't put horses in the two fields next to the North Pointe and Old Paris Place subdivisions anymore because he fears they may be chased by neighbors' dogs.

All of which helps explain why Jones has asked the city to change his 200-acre farm's designation from rural to low-density housing. It would give him more options as farming becomes increasingly difficult.

Jones is one of 79 property owners who have asked the government to either change their land-use designation in the Comprehensive Plan (the county's blueprint for future growth) or to allow their property to be brought inside the Urban Service Area, Lexington's boundary between rural land and urban development.

Requests for land-use changes, especially along the urban boundary, are the most closely watched part of the comprehensive planning process. The Urban County Planning Commission will start reviewing those requests this week as it works to revise the 20-year growth plan.

This is Jones' third attempt to change his farm's land-use designation in the plan.

Jones said he doesn't want to sell the farm, which was established in the 1920s by his grandfather. "As evidence I don't want to move, I put in over $100,000 in fencing in the past two years," he said. But it's increasingly difficult to raise expensive horses with dogs and children running onto the property, he said.

Mineola Farm isn't the only noteworthy request on the list.

There's Eaton Farm, with 111 acres on Newtown Pike, whose owners are asking to come into the Urban Service Area. They say the move would be an insurance policy against light industry that might be developed on an adjacent farm that is already inside the urban boundary.

"If that farm is ever developed as light industry, the Eaton family would like to have the option, way down the road, to do the same," said farm manager Reiley McDonald.

Seven requests to bring rural land into the urban area are concentrated along Athens-Boonesboro Road near I-75. The larger tracts include 600 acres owned by Doug Dean and 220 acres owned by T.H.W.B., LLC, whose principals are former Lexington mayor Scotty Baesler and Robert Woods.

"Our land is inside I-75. It's the farm behind the old Jerry's restaurant," Baesler said. He would like to do a mixed-use development of residential and commercial on the land.

Baesler and Woods also want the Blue Sky Industrial Park expanded. It's in a rural activity center, outside the Urban Service Area. Baesler hopes that either the urban boundary will be pushed out, picking up Blue Sky, or that the rural activity center will be expanded.

"We've been turned down before on this, but we're going to try again," said Baesler.

The chance to get land moved inside the urban boundary "only comes around every five years," said attorney Rena Wiseman, who represents several land owners. "If you have any desire to develop, you put it in the Urban Service Area."

The last time the urban area was significantly expanded was in 1996; a comprehensive plan update in 2001 made relatively minor adjustments.

Another concentration of proposals where owners want the urban service boundary expanded is in the area bounded by Winchester and Royster roads, I-75 and I-64.

David DeMarcus, with 200 acres, Joseph Palumbo, with 279 acres, and Steve Lawson with 877 acres, all want to develop their land in that area. Their properties, DeMarcus said, are part of a 1,500-acre chunk of land, owned by several people, who all want to be in the Urban Service Area.

"You're kidding," said Emma Tibbs, a resident of the Greenbrier neighborhood and former president of the Fayette County Neighborhood Council, when told of the Winchester Road requests. Tibbs said she thought her neighbors would be "stunned" at the prospect of a fairly dense development across the road from the entrance to their subdivision.

During the 2001 plan review, "Our neighborhood was camped out down there at city hall. We never missed a meeting," she said, as they monitored arguments by developers to be included in the urban area.

DeMarcus said there has been plenty of other development in the fast-growing eastern part of Lexington.

"With the area around Hamburg (Place) expanding," DeMarcus said, "it's more logical to put this land up for development than continue farming."

He favors channeling growth in areas such as Winchester Road, where it has already taken root. That would take pressure off other parts of the county "where we could keep ... green space and keep the horse farms."

DeMarcus said he would "hate to see" development out Versailles Road, Newtown Pike and Bryan Station Road.

The Fayette County Neighborhood Council opposes expansion of the urban boundary, especially a large area such as that proposed along the Winchester Road corridor, said council president Walt Gaffield.

"Expansion could impact the city's ability to do infill and redevelopment," he said. "The more infill and redevelopment, the less expansion that's needed and the less pressure there is on the horse farms in Fayette County."

Land survey helps guide planning process
AND IDEOLOGIES WILL CLASH AS DEBATE HEATS UP
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

A recently completed land survey shows 5,600 acres inside Lexington's Urban Service Area available for residential development.

"Knowing that figure is a valuable tool that will help guide the Planning Commission's thinking as they work to update the Comprehensive Plan," said Jim Duncan, the city's director of long-range planning.

Every five years, the planning commission updates the Comprehensive Plan, the blueprint for land-use priorities. The amount of vacant land remaining inside the Urban Service Area is a key part of any discussion about whether the boundary should be expanded to accommodate future growth.

Home builders are going to push for expansion of the boundary, said Tom Kelley, president of the Home Builders Association of Lexington. "Builders in Fayette County tell me they're going to have to go to adjoining counties like Jessamine if it isn't expanded."

How hard will they push? "Hard as we can," Kelley said.

Fighting to hold the current boundary will be the Bluegrass Conservancy. "We'll be the counter balance of reason" to the homebuilders, said executive director Tim DeWitt.

The conservancy says Lexington should grow up, not out, and focus on infill and redevelopment. "From an economical, environmental and sustainable position, it makes a lot more sense," DeWitt said.

"We have the World Equestrian Games coming in 2010. All those people are not coming to look at asphalt, but horses and horse farms," he said.

In 2001, the last time the planning commission looked at the whole urban service area, there were 9,400 acres available for residential development. "During that five-year period, we built on 3,700 acres, or 40 percent," Duncan said.

There are several thousand acres of vacant, non-residential land inside the urban area, Duncan said, "but residential is what most people are interested in."

The vacant land survey was conducted between July and December 2005 by the city's professional staff.

Lynn Roche Phillips, a member of the Planning Commission, questions whether 5,600 acres is an accurate representation of available vacant land.

"Anything that did not have a concrete slab on it, ready to be built, was called vacant," Phillips said. But some of the land has already been approved for development.

Phillips thinks there's actually less than 5,600 acres available for development. "Most people would not call land committed to development as vacant land," she said. "It's committed to be developed, and it's just a matter of time until it is."

Duncan said the professional staff "fully expects" the vacant land figures will be disputed. "We feel people on the development side will say a lot of land we're calling vacant is already spoken for and should not be included," he said.

Some say there are other opportunities inside the urban boundary, such as redevelopment of urban sites.

"There are many more places like that and not just downtown, but like tobacco warehouses and along New Circle Road," said Billy Van Pelt, staff member of the city's Purchase of Development Rights rural preservation program. "These sites give us unique design challenges, and give developers a responsible way to be innovative and dynamic."

But John Barlow, president of Barlow Homes, said in three to four years, "80 percent of available vacant land within the Urban Service Area will be gone. It's going to be critical mass."

Bravo!!!! Finally a voice of reason.

My own comentary in

“Let’s face it: People come to Lexington to see the horse farms, not the big blue building,” said Harold Tate, president and executive director of the Lexington Downtown Development Authority, referring to the 30-story Lexington Financial Center. Such arguments – that in-fill development is essential to preserve the economic value of Lexington’s more pastoral horsefarm surroundings – are nothing new, of course, in the city’s revolving growth vs. no-growth debates. But they’re being married now with a renewed interest nationwide in reviving and living in downtown areas.

[Hopefully the city will become attractive enough that people will come for one or the other, or both.]



[B]In Lexington, 200 residential units have opened downtown in the last 18 months. More than 400 units are currently under construction, and another 600 are on the drawing board for coming years, according to the Development Authority. More than $300 million in downtown projects are in the works. “That’s huge,” Tate said.

[Woohoo! This is probably the equivalent of the entire nineties decade.]


Lexington’s mini downtown renaissance has been a case of pent-up demand and growing supply, Tate said. Many potential downtown dwellers are not willing to buy historic homes and restore them, but are eager to buy smaller, upscale condos. As more new units are rented and sold, Tate said his office has been fielding calls from former Lexingtonians living in cities like Chicago who want to move back and get downtown digs of their own.


Banks, too, have taken a more active interest in downtown developments in recent years. Generally more expensive and risky than suburban developments, such projects often could not get funding from banks until they were almost entirely pre-sold. But “their attitude has changed completely,” Tate said. “Now they’re like, ‘Sure, what you got?’”

[It's about friggin' time.]


The link for the Lane Report is www.kybiz.com, also featured are Louisville, Owensboro, and Paducah

Company's coming, so city has to-do list
NEWTOWN PIKE CAN'T BE DONE BEFORE WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER


The Urban County Council caught its first glimpse of work that needs doing to get Lexington ship-shape for the 2010 World Equestrian Games and the 500,000 expected visitors.

To do: expand sanitary sewer capacity, repave some streets, repair broken sidewalks, remove graffiti, plant flowers and trees, and find a permanent site for an emergency operations center.

But one thing the city's chief administrative officer, Milton Dohoney, said wouldn't get done was the Newtown Pike extension. In response to questions, Dohoney said: "If we had the money in the bank today, I don't think we could complete it in time for the 2010 games."

He said the complexity of the road and community redevelopment project makes finishing it in four years nearly impossible.

Dohoney briefly outlined 18 other projects he said Lexington will need to prepare for the World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park. The list came from a brainstorming session by a group of 35 members of city government, the Bluegrass Area Development District, LexTran, the U.S. Equestrian Federation and a local representative of the World Equestrian Games.

Excluding sanitary sewers, the projects carry a price tag of about $10 million. The most expensive proposals were sewer projects such as overhauling and expanding North Elkhorn and South Elkhorn pumping stations and eliminating odor on Town Branch. Estimated cost: $20 million.

Dohoney and Councilwoman Linda Gorton said the city's sanitary sewer fund will be able to pay for those projects.

The first question by council members: Where is the city going to get money to do all the other work?

"We need to lock in permanent funding rather than have it be an issue every year as people on the council change," said Vice Mayor Mike Scanlon. "It's the best thing we can do for this community -- provide permanent funding to make sure these things get done."

Dohoney said earlier, "If we can win council support for the projects we're proposing, we think everything on our list is doable."

He plans to meet this week with the city's commissioner of finance and the director of the budget to "brainstorm ideas" for funding sources.

Dohoney said that with an expected half-million people flooding into the area for two weeks in 2010, a permanent emergency operations center was a necessity. "So it's not a question of if we can fund it, but how can we fund it. Is that what you're saying?" Scanlon asked.

Dohoney said a permanent site must be selected first. At that point, the city would be eligible to apply for federal Homeland Security funds to offset part of the costs.

He advised starting on the sewers, roads and sidewalks as quickly as possible, "this year if possible," as these are the "most difficult." State funds are expected to help pay costs of repaving.

Other projects are:

• Planting trees and flowers on main corridors leading into the city, including Versailles Road and South Broadway. This is another project that needs to get under way this year. "Plants need to get in the ground so they will be mature in four years," he said.

• Enforcing city codes, repairing or razing substandard buildings and cleaning up vacant lots.

• Removing graffiti and coating building surfaces with a material that makes it difficult for graffiti paint to adhere.

• Large, internally illuminated street name signs downtown and near the Horse Park.

• Installing a system of signs in a consistent color and design to lead people to landmarks throughout the county.

• Repainting downtown traffic poles and having organized cleanups.

Dohoney emphasized the potential for economic spin-offs from these projects. "If we do a good job with these games, it puts us in good stead to land other horse-related events," he said.

Fayette Mall aims for trendier mix
NATIONWIDE, MANY ARE EVOLVING INTO 'LIFESTYLE CENTERS'
By Karla Ward
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

David Stephenson/Staff
Abuelo’s Mexican restaurant, on one side of the main Fayette Mall entrance, opens soon. Another space will be available on the other side.
More photosTraditional shopping malls are losing favor to a trendier retail concept -- the "lifestyle center" -- and Lexington is soon to see another one.

Fayette Mall's new open-air retail, restaurant and entertainment development, The Plaza at Fayette Mall, is scheduled to be complete by late October.

The project, which sits on 24.8 acres on Rojay Drive, just south of the mall, will open in phases over the coming months.

Fayette Mall is one of a growing number of malls across the country that are developing such complexes.

"Shopping malls, while they are a dominant economic force, they have to evolve," said mall consultant Stanley Eichelbaum, president of Marketing Developments Inc. in Cincinnati. "They're being attacked by an upstart called lifestyle centers."

Hamburg Village -- the portion of Hamburg that houses Victoria's Secret, Gap, American Eagle and others -- is a good example of a lifestyle center. It offers a mix of retail, restaurant and service tenants characterized by the look of a downtown street, complete with sidewalks, fountains and flowering plants.

While Fayette Mall is holding its own against the Hamburg development, a 2005 market survey by Scarborough Inc. showed that Hamburg is growing much faster.

The number of shoppers in Lexington and surrounding counties who said they had shopped at Fayette Mall in the last three months grew from 222,400 in 2001 to 265,000 in 2005. At Hamburg, the number jumped from 175,100 in 2001 to 259,000 in 2005.

Eichelbaum said malls "all over the place" are putting up collections of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues similar to The Plaza at Fayette Mall.

CBL & Associates Properties, the Chattanooga-based company that owns Fayette Mall, bought The Plaza property from the Verizon telephone company in 2002 for $9.5 million.

A 16-screen Cinemark Theater will open there June 30.

Gordmans, which promotes itself as a name-brand retailer that offers up to half off department store prices, will open a 60,000-square-foot store at the center. Kentucky currently has no other Gordmans stores.

Other retailers include Old Navy, Pearle Vision and Portrait Shoppe. Logan's Roadhouse will open at the site in May, and Johnny Carino's Italian restaurant is scheduled to open in September.

Carl Landis, mall marketing director, said the mall is negotiating with several other restaurants and retailers. Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy is scheduled to open Monday on the front side of the mall.

As malls strive to compete against one another and other shopping centers, entertainment venues such as the Cinemark theater are becoming a more common attraction, said Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Since the late 1990s, malls throughout the country have added themed restaurants such as Rainforest Cafe and entertainment venues such as movie theaters, carousels and skating rinks when they expand or renovate, she said. She said the Mall of America south of Minneapolis, Minn., was the forerunner in the trend.

The Mills Corp., which owns Cincinnati Mills, Nashville's Opry Mills and other malls throughout the country, has also emphasized entertainment. In addition to stores and restaurants, Cincinnati Mills offers movie theaters and WonderPark, a jungle-themed indoor entertainment complex with a small roller coaster, bumper cars and games.

In addition to helping malls hold onto market share, Duker said, entertainment and unusual restaurants are also a way for malls to lengthen the amount of time customers spend there and broaden the mall's appeal to a wider customer base. "Malls are trying to be something to everybody," Duker said.

Land-use planning
Don't expand Rural Activity Centers

It's easy to lose sight of Fayette County's enormous success in land-use planning as hundreds of houses spring up on the edges of the city.

But that's just the point: There are edges, and they are contained within an Urban Service Area. Because of that boundary, no one in Lexington is more than a 15- or 20- minute drive from our stunning rural countryside.

Fayette County includes four developments in the rural area that existed when the lines were drawn but that are not rural or agricultural -- the airport, Spindletop, Blue Sky and Avon. They are acknowledged, defined, mapped and named Rural Activity Centers.

This week, the Planning Commission will begin considering at least 79 requests to change how parcels of land are treated in the Comprehensive Plan that guides growth here, including one to expand the Blue Sky Rural Activity Center on Athens-Boonesboro Road in southeastern Fayette County.

The Rural Activity Centers should not be expanded. They were never intended to be the nuclei from which additional rural development would grow.

There are good reasons for this.

Taxpayers are saddled with a huge burden when development leapfrogs beyond the Urban Service Area. A basic rationale for having a boundary is to make the delivery of government services -- police and fire protection, roads, sewers, schools -- more efficient.

If Rural Activity Centers, separated from the urban core, begin to develop into full-fledged communities, the costs will be enormous.

As staff writer Beverly Fortune clearly illustrated in the Sunday Herald-Leader, horse farms and residential subdivisions don't make good neighbors. If a Rural Activity Center expands, the acreage around it loses value for anything other than more development and that invites further development.

There will be good reason to make some of the changes land owners are requesting, but this is not the time to change the approach to the Rural Activity Centers that has served Fayette County well for the past few decades.


I haven't made up my mind about this one yet.

Just what we need, more chain stores in Fayette Mall. As if traffic in that area wasn't bad enough now.

Tell me about it.

An article in Business Lexington about The Mark.


http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=637

An article in the same issue of Business Lexington about the Blackhorse at Gratz Park.

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=636

Yet another article from Business Lexington. This was a good issue!

http://www.bizlex.com/story.php?id=635

BILL FARMER ALSO SAYS NEWTOWN EXTENSION CAN BE DONE BY 2010
By Sarah Vos
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
If elected mayor, Councilman Bill Farmer Jr. wants to build a highway to connect northern Jessamine County and southern Fayette County to Interstate 75.

Farmer, a jewelry store owner, isn't sure exactly where the road would run, but he envisions it starting where the proposed Newtown Pike extension ends and following the railroad tracks south into Jessamine County. He said he's also open to a more rural route.

"The idea there is to find the best connection for Jessamine County to have with the interstate system," Farmer said yesterday.

The connector would help Fayette County by taking traffic from Lexington's southern arteries, Tates Creek, Nicholasville and Richmond roads.

A connection through southern Fayette County is now being studied, thanks to $500,000 in federal money, but Farmer is calling for other options to be considered.

A downtown Lexington exit is important for people driving north to work in the city, said Farmer, who released his transportation plan yesterday afternoon.

Mayoral candidate Charles Martin Jr., a cigar store owner, said that he had proposed a north-south connector years ago. The problem was figuring out where to put it, he said.

"You could elevate a road above the railroad tracks, but that would be a massive construction project," Martin said. Tearing the railroad tracks out would be an option if there were a way to relocate them, he said.

In addition to the connector, Farmer wants the city to finish the Newtown Pike extension by 2010, when the World Equestrian Games come to Lexington, and add two lanes to New Circle Road from Richmond Road east to Newtown Pike.

On Tuesday, Lexington's chief administrative officer, Milton Dohoney, told the city council that the Newtown Pike extension couldn't be finished by 2010. The road with its two forks -- one to Bolivar and Broadway and one to South Limestone -- was too complex and the community redevelopment project too big to complete in four years, he said.

But Farmer says it can be done if the city works harder. Even though the exact route has not been established, the city could be talking to CSX Railroad about the land it needs and starting to move people whose houses lie in the path of the extension.

In addition, Farmer said, the city could finish the comment phase for the environmental impact analysis more quickly.

Farmer's plan can be read on his Web site at www.billfarmer2006.com.

Jim Newberry's campaign manager, Shaye Raybold, said that as an Urban County Councilman, Farmer has had decades to fix Lexington's traffic problems but hasn't. She said Newberry would announce his transportation plan next week.

Newberry, a corporate attorney, released his environmental plan yesterday. It proposes protecting farmland, increasing access for pedestrians and bicyclists and identifying abandoned properties for redevelopment. The proposal can be read on his Web site, www.newberryformayor.com.

Mayor Teresa Isaac's campaign did not return a phone call requesting comment.

So I noticed in a lot of other forums people have been meeting up somewhere face to face in a bar or restaurant or somewhere like that.

I figured I'd ask if anyone would be interested in getting together and getting a beer or grabbing something to eat as a group.

There are four or five of us here that live in Lexington that post and anyone else who's lurking out there but not posting would be welcome too.

Let me know what you all think. :runaway:

^^ Sounds good to me...how about a Legends game this coming Sunday afternoon?

Sounds good. What time is the game? Anyone else in.

I believe the game is at 2pm....I'll check and make sure.

I'll be in Lex this weekend to see my grandmother, but if I have time I might try to meet some of you guys at the ballpark or at a bar or something. Its always good to try to put a face with the names on here.

I can't make it this Sunday, but I would be up for grabbing a beer or coffee sometime.

What about Saturday afternoon or evening? We can meet at a bar downtown in the evening or Common Grounds during the day???

But if Saturday doesn't work for Krosejr we can stick to the Legends game.

Lou-villian you're more than welcome to join us! When we hammer down a set time let one of us know if you need directoins.

I should have some time on Saturday afternoon. I do have to be somewhere by 8pm, so the afternoon would be good for me. As far as coffee vs. alcohol, it doesn't matter...I might be leaning more to alcohol though.

There is a Legends game on Saturday night as well? Would that work? and Lou-villian or anyone else from Louisville or where-ever that would be great if you could join us! :)

That game on Saturday night starts at 7:05. We may shoot for that and meet up at a bar in a couple weeks so George can be there.

I'll shoot Lou-villian a PM about it.

And anyone else is welcome.

Sounds good to me....

From Business Lexington.
www.bizlex.com
Breaking News

New Pharmaceutical Facility is “Factory of the Future” :cheers:

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 1, 2006) − The University of Kentucky’s new $17 million Center for Pharmaceutical Science & Technology facility was officially unveiled today in a ceremony led by Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Lexington mayor Teresa Isaac and UK president Lee T. Todd, Jr.

The 20,000 square-foot building is the largest sterile pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Kentucky. Located at the UK Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington, the new CPST facility will provide analysis, formulation and manufacturing of sterile drug products for early phase clinical trials. It will be staffed by 25 professionals with experience in the global pharmaceutical industry who bring expertise in the technical and engineering aspects of pharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as in the regulatory and scientific realms.

“With the opening of CPST, Coldstream Research Campus and the Commonwealth are about to enter a new economic era,” said UK president Lee T. Todd, Jr. “This state-of-the-art facility will be a boon to Kentucky’s pharmaceutical and biotech industries, creating the type of knowledge-based jobs, innovations and opportunities that will allow this state to compete in the global economy.”

“Because of our uniqueness, customers will come to us,” said CPST managing director Frank Manella. “The CPST also will be a magnet that draws a variety of health care companies to the area.”

The new CPST facility will be unique among others worldwide as it becomes the first pharmaceutical manufacturing facility to produce cytotoxic and non-cytotoxic drugs in the same room at the same time.

Current pharmaceutical industry practice dictates separating cytotoxic and non-cytotoxic drug manufacturing by entire buildings. By using custom-made mobile isolators, the new facility will be able to manufacture potent and more conventional drugs in the same room at the same time, revolutionizing the industry and making classical cleanroom processing obsolete. These isolators will allow CPST scientists to quickly switch from one project to another, eliminating the risks of cross-contamination.

Other features of the new facility include the ability to manufacture sterile liquids for injection and the capability to freeze dry injectables, a service rarely found outside of large pharmaceutical companies.

The new facility is an expansion of the CPST in the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, which is home to an FDA-registered pharmaceutical manufacturing facility utilizing current Good Manufacturing Practices to produce oral and topical products. The on-campus location of the CPST provides analytical method development and validation, pre-formulation studies, formulation development, manufacturing process development, manufacturing for animal studies and human clinical studies, ICH stability studies, API manufacturing and pharmacokinetic analysis.

The new facility is viewed as a “business incubator” because it has significant potential to draw pharmaceutical and biotech industries to central Kentucky to build new manufacturing facilities and supporting services, leading to the economic growth of the Commonwealth.

“When the General Assembly approved higher education reform in 1997, UK was asked to use its research capabilities to drive Kentucky into the world economy,” Todd said. “CPST is precisely the type of facility that will help us – and our talented faculty and staff at the College of Pharmacy – do that.”

“The CPST will have trained personnel and an infrastructure to help businesses build new companies here,” said CPST operations manager Mark Gilbert.

By the year 2011, annual revenue forecasts predict the CPST operation will bring in $15 million and employ up to 100 scientists, engineers and professional staff at yearly earnings ranging from $50,000 to $150,000.

“The cascade effect on the local economy and increase in prestige for the Commonwealth, university and college will clearly show a wise investment on the part of the university and the Commonwealth,” Manella said.

Lexington is the eighth most highly educated city in the nation, according to 2000 U.S. Census data. In each of the past two years, Forbes magazine ranked Lexington among the top cities in America to locate a business.

For all Lexingtonians who are interested there is a public comment meeting about the Comprehensive Plan scheduled for Monday May 15th at 7pm.

This is our chance to let the whole planning commision know what's on our minds. Everyone should make it a point to come because I feel like most of the people posting on here know more than the planning commision.

Topics for discussion are:
-Downtown
-Infill & Redevelopment
-Remainder Inside New Circle Road (the part of town inside new circle.)


I dont know where the meeting is but I'll keep you up to date.

This is from Lextran's website

LexTran Ready For Faster Service on Main Routes

Transit Authority of Lexington, Kentucky (LexTran), will implement service every thirty minutes on its main routes (Routes 1, 2N, 3N, 4 and 5) beginning Monday, May 8, 2006. The doubled service on these routes will be available Monday through Friday, 6.a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The increased service includes extension to Fayette Mall for Route 4 and increases the number of buses running on Saturdays. No changes are planned for current Sunday service. LexTran general manager Terry Garcia Crews said this latest improvement is part of an overall plan developed two years ago through a comprehensive operating analysis. “This document, which we call the C.O.A., is the blueprint for our service strategy, our guide for each phased service improvement,” said Crews.

In August, 2006, another milestone will be reached as LexTran provides new service including neighborhood connectors, a jobs bus for early shift employees along the Nicholasville Road corridor, links to Bluegrass Airport and Keeneland, and even a special activities bus for senior citizens.

As LexTran continues to grow, so does ridership, with approximately 1.8 million passengers by the end of March, 2006. This represents a 25 percent increase over the same period a year ago.


For more information contact Dave Riggins, Director of Community Affairs, at (859) 255-7756, extension 218.

Another article that goes more in depth than the last.

LexTran rolls more often on 5 routes
MALL-TO-MALL RUN ADDED AS MORE RIDERS HOP ON BUS
By Jennifer Hewlett
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER


The wheels on LexTran buses will be going 'round and 'round more often starting today as the local transit authority starts 30-minute service during peak hours on five of its routes.

And -- attention shoppers! -- one of those routes is being extended so riders can go to Turfland and Fayette malls without changing buses.

The increase in service, which has been planned for some time, follows a dramatic increase in ridership. From July 1, 2005, through March 31, the Lexington Transit Authority carried about 1.8 million passengers, a 25 percent increase over the same period a year earlier, LexTran community affairs director Dave Riggins said.

"I think it's because of two reasons," he said. "Number one is because of gas prices. We have seen a steady increase in ridership since gas prices started skyrocketing. Number two is the increased service opportunities that we are phasing in. ... They realize that there have been several improvements with LexTran, and they're willing to give it a shot."

Beginning today, instead of hourly runs, buses on Route 1 (Woodhill Drive-Georgetown Road), Route 2 North (Newtown Pike), Route 3 North (Russell Cave Road), Route 4 (North Limestone-Versailles Road) and Route 5 (Eastland Drive-South Broadway) will run every half-hour between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Those routes also will have 30-minute service on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. No changes are planned for Sunday service.

LexTran's Tates Creek Road and Nicholasville Road routes have had 30-minute service during peak hours for some time.

Also starting today, buses on Route 4, the North Limestone-Versailles Road route, will head to the Meijer store on Reynolds Road after leaving Turfland Mall, then go on to Fayette Mall. Those buses had been going back to the downtown transit center after leaving Turfland Mall.

"The route was designed to have a mall-to-mall service," Riggins said. "The advantage is you don't have to go back downtown."

LexTran cut services and about 20 jobs in the summer of 2004 because of budget woes, and bus ridership dropped from 2.4 million passengers in the 2003-04 fiscal year to about 2 million in the 2004-05 fiscal year. In November 2004, voters approved an additional tax on property to help LexTran with its money problems, and it has been increasing its service level in increments since then.

In August, LexTran plans to add a couple of neighborhood connectors, a bus for early-shift employees of businesses along the Nicholasville Road corridor, service to Blue Grass Airport and Keeneland, and a special activities bus for senior citizens.

ELECTION 2006
Getting a grip on growth
THE NEXT MAYOR COULD PLAY A BIG ROLE IN THE CITY'S DEVELOPMENT
By Sarah Vos
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Perhaps the biggest issue facing the candidates for mayor -- and the one that may affect Lexingtonians most directly -- is whether to expand the line that divides the city's suburbs from its horse farms.

Add thousands of acres to the developed side, and some parts of Lexington would see an increase in traffic, and need more sewer capacity, roads and schools.

Keep the line where it is, and Lexington could push new houses to the surrounding counties, which have fewer planning regulations. Housing lots inside the city would become more expensive and along with them housing prices, developers say.

The stakes are high. Developers have been contributing generously to the mayoral candidates, along with landowners who want to grow their fields into housing tracts.

The four candidates for mayor all say they support expanding the Urban Service Area, the boundary between urban and rural, and encouraging infill and redevelopment in other parts of the city.

But there are subtle differences in their views, which could translate into big differences for Lexington.

Urban County Councilman Bill Farmer Jr. says that the Urban Service Area has to expand. "But you need to do so as incrementally as possible," he said.

First, he said, the city has to become more serious about promoting infill, building on vacant lots inside the city, and redevelopment, refurbishing abandoned and underused buildings.

Then the city can examine how far it should expand, said Farmer, a jewelry store owner.

To make development easier in the city's core, Farmer wants the city to rewrite its zoning laws as other cities have done. He wants to give developers who improve land downtown a five- to eight-year moratorium on increases to their property taxes, and have the city invest more in improving infrastructure downtown, such as widening sewer lines.

"It's very important that as we grow we use all the space that we can within the Urban Service boundary," he said.

When the city does expand, it should open areas to the south and east, not west and north where the best soils and most of the horse farms are, he said.

Mayor Teresa Isaac says that the amount of land for development should increase and, at debates and forums, strikes the most pro-development stance of the four. She declined to be interviewed for this story, but said in an e-mail that protecting Lexington's horse farms should be a top priority.

Landowners and developers have been generous to her campaign. They include Steve Lawson, who gave Isaac $1,000, the maximum amount, as did his wife, mother and father.

Lawson has asked the city to add 877 acres that he owns near Winchester Road to the Urban Service Area, which would allow it to be developed. Former Lexington Mayor Scotty Baesler, who wants to add land near Interstate 75 and Richmond Road, also gave Isaac the maximum amount.

At forums, Isaac has said that she wants to encourage infill and redevelopment and touts the fact that 200 new residential units have been added downtown during her tenure and 800 more are being developed. But she hasn't said what, if any, changes she would push to make infill and redevelopment easier.

Downtown developers complain that growing land prices, the challenge of assembling parcels of land and the additional permits needed make redevelopment harder than building suburban neighborhoods.

Redevelopment projects often have to go before the board of architectural review, the board of adjustment and the planning board, said Bill Lear, a Lexington attorney who is building several residential projects between downtown and UK.

"They could make the processes a lot easier," Lear said.

Attorney and candidate Jim Newberry says that it's too early to tell, but, if the Urban Service Area is going to grow by more than a few hundred acres, there needs to be a community-wide discussion of where, when and how. So far, that has not happened, he said.

Before any decision is made, he wants to know more about Lexington's available land. He wants to update the long-term sewer plan and address transportation issues before any growth happens. In the past, Lexington added suburbs without preparing for it, Newberry said. "We create situations where people find themselves buying new homes and then having to deal with inadequate infrastructure."

To encourage infill and redevelopment, Newberry says he would expedite the permitting process for such projects, giving them priority over suburban development. He also wants to develop individual plans for existing neighborhoods, looking at road, sewer and infrastructure needs.

"Once those plans are in place, I think it becomes easier for developers to see how their projects fit within the broader scheme of things," Newberry said.

Candidate and cigar store owner Charles Martin Jr. says expansion needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis. He says he supports infill and redevelopment but is skeptical that older buildings need to be preserved. "Just because something is old or downtown, doesn't mean it's historic," Martin said.

The last time Lexington's Urban Service Area was significantly expanded, in 1996, the debate took three years, the negotiations almost fell apart and the fight launched a bumper sticker war: "Growth is Good" versus "Growth Destroys Bluegrass Forever."

Planning, said Walter May, chairman of the planning commission at the time, became a blood sport.

The planning commission has started that process again, looking at where and how Lexington should grow. Under a tentative schedule, the issue could be decided before the next mayor takes office. But if a major expansion hits the table, the discussion could drag on.

While the mayor doesn't play a direct role in deciding where to expand, he or she appoints members to the planning commission and, perhaps more importantly in the short term, can set the tone for debate.

Unlike 1996, when developers asked for an additional 10,000 acres in the urban service area (they got 5,400), builders aren't putting a number on what is needed this time, said Todd Johnson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Lexington.

But anyone who says Lexington doesn't need more land for houses isn't facing reality, Johnson said.

"You can't stop people from coming here," he said, pointing to data that predicts Lexington will continue to grow over the next 20 years. "You have to have housing for those folks."

According to the city's planning department, residential housing has consumed an average of 630 acres a year over the past six years. At that rate, the 5,700 acres the city estimates are still available for houses would be used up in 9 years.

Part of the trade-off in 1996 was creating the Purchase of Development Rights program, which buys conservation easements from farmers, preserving that land from development. So far the program has purchased development rights for 15,900 acres on 141 farms.

Both Farmer and Newberry said they would continue the program. Farmer said he wouldn't increase the $2 million the program gets from the city, if the urban area was expanded again.

Newberry said that he would consider expanding the program if the urban area was expanded, but that decision would be a budget issue.

Martin said the PDR program concerns him, because of how it affects surrounding landowners. "It sometimes bothers me that some group wants to develop their property and they can't because there's a group around them that doesn't want to," Martin said.

During the last campaign, Isaac pledged to spend $2 million a year on the PDR program, but in 2003 she allocated $1.5 million in her budget. Because the program receives matching dollars, the cut would have reduced the program's funding by even more. The council restored most, but not all, of the cut. The following year, Isaac proposed, and the council approved, $3 million in bonds for the program.

Tomorrow night (Monday 5-15-06) the meeting I mentioned a few posts ago regarding downtown, infill and redevelopment, and the area inside New Circle Road will be the topic at a Comprehensive Plan meeting.

7:00pm, Council Chambers

Come out if you can, we need some people who actually get it speaking out at these meetings. And I think everyone who posts here gets it.

It looks like Isaac vs. Newberry in the outcome of today's mayoral primary.

The two will go on to the general elections.

For Mayor Issacs growth and planning philosophies look to the past for years.
For Newberry's look to www.newberryformayor.com

Here's a rundown of the projects either underway, just completed or that have been announced in downtown Lexington. The number of units is to the best of my research or memory. If you have any corrections of if I leave something out let me know and I'll correct it.

Downtown:
500's on Main: An entire block rebuilt into mixed use, most buildings are 3-4 stories, one building is 7 stories. 50+ condos, retail, office and restaurant space

BlackHorse: Residential, I can't remember how many units. Literature says 8 stories but I only count seven in renderings so it's 7 or 8.

Center Court: Mixed Use, ground level retail, residential above. I want to say 70 plus units but I can't remember the exact number. South Hill/Campus area.

City Courts: Residential, recently completed, 53 units Campus/Downtown area.

Main & Rose: Mixed Use, Retail and residential. 90+ units

Nunn Building: Residential. Rehab of a historic building and construction of an addition to that building. I want to say 40+ units but I dont remember exactly.

The Mark: Mixed Use. office and residential. 30+ units

Artek Lofts: Residential, Old Georgetown Street. 30+ units

Kimball House: Mixed Use, commercial and residential. Redevelopment of historic structures, 20+ units

University Lofts and South Hill Station Lofts: Two residential projects: Converted tobacco warehouses into loft apartments. University Lofts is completed, I'm not sure of the status on South Hill Station. I cant remember trhe number of units but I know the combination of the two will exceed 100.

Shelbourne Plaza: Mixed Use, Residential and retail on South Broadway. 200+ units



A list of Townhome/Rowhouse developments in the downtown area include:

Fairmont: West Main

South Hill: They're peppered all over South Hill and a couple tobacco warehouses were bulldozed to make way for a couple blocks of townhomes South Hill/Campus Area

600 Max: West Maxwell, across from Rupp Arena parking lot.

These dont count individual rehabs of downtown homes (example: the Oldham House) which are scattered throughout the CBD and historic districts around it.

I have also heard of a couple projects in the works that haven't been announced yet. Hopefully we'll be learning more about those soon.

Not bad for a city our size. These projects should boost street activity.

Less than a mile from some of these projects will be the new UK Hospital which is expected to create 1,700 construction jobs while being built and 1,300 full time permanent jobs when completed. Also a new research building for UK is rumored to be in the works for the hospital area. Hopefull these will boost demand for more housing units on the south side of downtown

I drove by the Main& Rose site friday night and saw it was fenced off! Hopefull this will start going up soon.

Impressive list!

Facility expected to bring 400 new jobs to Kentucky
AVIATION MODIFICATION HANGAR OPENS
By Alex Fontana
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Gov. Ernie Fletcher arrived in a Blackhawk helicopter in Avon yesterday to announce a new addition to Bluegrass Station that will bring 400 new jobs to Kentucky.

Fletcher, Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac and state and national military officers attended the grand opening of a $11.275 million aviation modification hangar at Bluegrass Station that will be used to modify Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters for the U.S. military.

Fletcher said the facility will employ aircraft mechanics, electricians and other support personnel who will upgrade engines, install radar systems and improve weaponry, communications and control systems.

David Altom, spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs, said the hangar is expected to inject $300 million into the state's economy.

"That's a tremendous impact," Fletcher said.

Special Operations Forces Support Activity, or SOFSA, in 2004 asked Bluegrass Station, formerly known as the Lexington Bluegrass Army Depot, to construct the hangar, which SOFSA will lease.

The Kentucky General Assembly in 2005 approved the $11.275 million bond for construction of the 60,000 square foot modification hangar, warehouse and office space.

The warehouse is under construction.

SOFSA will contract with L-3 Joint Operations Group to construct the hangar and aircraft upgrades. L-3 JOG assembles parts taken from the United States government and other companies and uses them to upgrade aircraft, said Dave Merriam, vice president of L-3 JOG.

The federal government owns the 780 acre Bluegrass Station campus.

Good to see Lexington building away. I was there 2 weeks ago after Derby and it has such a magnificent downtown streetscape and historic district to rival that of many big cities. You do not get the small town feel of other cities this size. Louisville's little brother ain't so little.

Good to see Lexington building away. I was there 2 weeks ago after Derby and it has such a magnificent downtown streetscape and historic district to rival that of many big cities. You do not get the small town feel of other cities this size. Louisville's little brother ain't so little.

I agree ATLanta, Lexington has a wonderful streetscape for a city its size and I was just there this past weekend and they are doing things that I don't think many of its peer cities are doing. Places like Knoxville and chattanooga may have more people in there MSA but they don't have the streetscape or the tall buildings like Lexington has. I think Lexington clearly distinguishes itself from its peer cities. It was good to finally see some cranes downtown, I don't think I've seen cranes in downtown lexington for years. Lexington definitly has a bit of a cosmopolitan feel, unlike some of its peer cities which have more of a suburban feel.

Lexington is still a second home to me because I have many family members there and I went to grad school in Lexington. That is like my second home and I 'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Kentucky. Louisville, Lexington, NKY can go a long way to change the image of Kentucky if they can work together and with some help from frankfort. If we can some how change the perceptions of NKY and Louisville which some folks in the state see as islands we can really push this state forward. When I travel to states like Tennessee and North Carolina I get jealous because those states are thriving financially. Those states make Kentucky look medival in a since. We have some wonderful towns and cities in this state to attract business and tourism.

^^

I totally agree. I'm really glad Lexington and Louisville's coucils are meeting monthly and discussing issues that will help both our cities move forward. I'd love to see NKY get involved in those talks too.

Maybe we can finally get some mass transit moving through the golden triangle and beyond... :runaway:

^^

I totally agree. I'm really glad Lexington and Louisville's coucils are meeting monthly and discussing issues that will help both our cities move forward. I'd love to see NKY get involved in those talks too.

Maybe we can finally get some mass transit moving through the golden triangle and beyond... :runaway:

Ian that would be a thing of beauty to have some sort of "golden" triangle mass transit. My master plan would be to have a better highway system through the mountains to connect those counties with the northern tier of the state. Open up more economic oportunities for Owensboro and Paducah. They are the riverport towns in Western Kentucky; and put Casino boats in those towns to rival the Indiana and Illinois. Put slots in Keeneland, Churchill, and Turfland. If we had a mass transit line going through the golden triangle just think of the economic opportunities for the outlining counties in each metro. The bedroom communties wouldn't be so bedroom anymore, they would be able to attract some companies to move operations. I know there are many people in Louisville who work in Toyota and a rail line would greatly benefit those people. Just like there are people in central Kentucky who work at Ford, UPS, and GE. It would help out all three airports, but then again I know I'm dreaming and this would never happen but since we are dreaming right now I would like to see this take place. :)

While your talking about moving people from Louisville to Georgetown by rail dont forget about a stop in Frankfort. Imagine how many trips there are from Lousivlle and Lexington to Frankfort each day.

If I were to put a system together it would look like this...

A triangle for Lexington Louisville and NKY

From Louisville a line west to owensboro, then south to bowling green and west to paducah

From NKY east to Ashland

From Lexington south to London, then east to Hazard, and on to Pikeville.

After that park and ride busses to the rail stops from surrounding towns


Imagine if Frankfort implemented a statewide mass transit system imagine how far ahead Kentucky would be then most states!

The only way we are going to move this state forward and actually be on a level playing field with our southeastern counterparts is to maximize the economic engines of the state. First of all we can't continue to expect the major population centers to continue to take a hit on tax money. This is why we need some "casino" money. People in Kentucky let there medival religious influence dictate there lives. People need to wake up and step into the real world, I know being close to Indiana, Indianapolis is making a boat load of money off the casino boats in Gary, Evansville, Elizabeth, and others. Most of the money that is used to build there new 600 million dollar dome is coming from the taxes off the casino's. Why can't we do this? If we had something that would bring in more tax revenue that would lessen the blow Lexington, Louisville and NKY receives from the state tax system. If we had better road infrastructure in the mountains that would help them attract more business. There really isn't a easy way to get to anywhere in eastern Kentucky to be honest. The Same thing can be applied to Western Kentucky. This isn't just a golden triangle versus the rest of the state, its about the state as a whole. We need to come up with ways to bring more money into the state. The race track industry is losing money why? Because alot of outlining states have either land base or riverboat casinos.

Most importantly we have to step our education sector up. We can't continue to fight over this stupid UofL vs UK rivarly. This is the grass root of the bickering in frankfort. Basketball should never divide a state let alone any sport. We should be pouring money in our education institutions. UofL should not have to continue to go to corporations and billionaires to fund academic programs. The state should be ponying up money to fund each and every one of these schools. UK should be able to meet there top 25 goal easily. UofL just wants to be a top notch urban institution, but UK and UofL put out alot of bright minds. The problem is they don't stay in Kentucky because there isn't alot of economic gain. Better education institutions=better jobs.

While your talking about moving people from Louisville to Georgetown by rail dont forget about a stop in Frankfort. Imagine how many trips there are from Lousivlle and Lexington to Frankfort each day.

If I were to put a system together it would look like this...

A triangle for Lexington Louisville and NKY

From Louisville a line west to owensboro, then south to bowling green and west to paducah

From NKY east to Ashland

From Lexington south to London, then east to Hazard, and on to Pikeville.

After that park and ride busses to the rail stops from surrounding towns


Imagine if Frankfort implemented a statewide mass transit system imagine how far ahead Kentucky would be then most states!

Those were pretty much my thoughts, but I'm glad you broke it down.LOL That would serve a lot people and it would help to bring the state together. It gives the outlining counties economic opportunities. Hotels, restaraunts etc. But you are right the place the really benefits the most would be frankfort. Politicians could easily access the states airports without having to hop in the states half working jet. The one fletcher almost got shot down over.

^^OMG...now guys you are getting me all worked up!!! LOL AHHH what a wonderful dream!!!! :) Who knows...maybe the tides will turn and some of this one day could happen.

The only way we are going to move this state forward and actually be on a level playing field with our southeastern counterparts is to maximize the economic engines of the state. First of all we can't continue to expect the major population centers to continue to take a hit on tax money. This is why we need some "casino" money. People in Kentucky let there medival religious influence dictate there lives. People need to wake up and step into the real world, I know being close to Indiana, Indianapolis is making a boat load of money off the casino boats in Gary, Evansville, Elizabeth, and others. Most of the money that is used to build there new 600 million dollar dome is coming from the taxes off the casino's. Why can't we do this? If we had something that would bring in more tax revenue that would lessen the blow Lexington, Louisville and NKY receives from the state tax system. If we had better road infrastructure in the mountains that would help them attract more business. There really isn't a easy way to get to anywhere in eastern Kentucky to be honest. The Same thing can be applied to Western Kentucky. This isn't just a golden triangle versus the rest of the state, its about the state as a whole. We need to come up with ways to bring more money into the state. The race track industry is losing money why? Because alot of outlining states have either land base or riverboat casinos.

Most importantly we have to step our education sector up. We can't continue to fight over this stupid UofL vs UK rivarly. This is the grass root of the bickering in frankfort. Basketball should never divide a state let alone any sport. We should be pouring money in our education institutions. UofL should not have to continue to go to corporations and billionaires to fund academic programs. The state should be ponying up money to fund each and every one of these schools. UK should be able to meet there top 25 goal easily. UofL just wants to be a top notch urban institution, but UK and UofL put out alot of bright minds. The problem is they don't stay in Kentucky because there isn't alot of economic gain. Better education institutions=better jobs.

Can I get an Amen!

Amen

^^OMG...now guys you are getting me all worked up!!! LOL AHHH what a wonderful dream!!!! :) Who knows...maybe the tides will turn and some of this one day could happen.

Kroserjr living outside the state for 4 yrs really made me feel like I was living inside a box in Kentucky. I see why our young people are moving out of the state. The opportunities you get in North Carolina, Tennesse, Georgia, and Florida are just much much better. I got offered a job in Charlotte before I even graduated college. When I looked in the courier journal yesterday and seen advertisements for jobs at Nissan in Nashville it made me shake my head. I seen atleast 3 advertisements for entertainment and jobs in Nashville in a "louisville" paper alone. This is why places like Nashville and Charlotte are booming. They have much more to offer Kentucky 20 somethings. Talk about a aggressive marketing campaign, I mean Louisville and Lexington should be doing the same thing. We should be in other states advertising our cities and what our cities have to offer. Yes we are doing things now, but what Lexington and Louisville are doing now, these other places were doing them 10 yrs ago.

I just helped a friend move to Austin Texas a month ago. Talk about a awesome place to live, man Austin has everything a 20 something could ever want or somebody just looking for a place to retire in. A wonderful entertainment district in 6th st and a great job market. These places sell themselves and we can do the same thing here in Kentucky. This is why I'm so glad to see Louisville and Lexington governments working together and basically saying F.U to frankfort. If they are not going to help us elevate our cities then we need to work together and do it ourselves. Louisville has been doing it forever and Lexington can do it to. UK and UofL could work together to improve the health care in the state, both schools have awesome medical schools. Image is everything in the U.S. Lexington needs to hit it off big in the Equestrian Games. You guys are hosting 100 of thousands of folks for two weeks. Kentucky will be in the spot light and it could go a long way with the image problem. I would like to see a NBA team come to Kentucky and rotate sites. The team could play 40 games in Louisville, 20 games in Lexington and another 20 games in the Cincy area. Cincy doesn't have a NBA team and Kentucky has rapid fans, but these are things I would like to see happen in the state.

Marketing is huge. I think with recent films like Elizabethtown that romanticize the state a little bit have helped. But the bottom line is when people hear Kentucky, scenes from 'Deliverance' are conjured up in their minds.

That's one hell of a hurdle to get over.

Deliverance....wasnt that set in Georgia.

I would think bluegrass horsefarms and mansions combined with Appalachia..coal mines and such...is more what comes to mind....so there is this Genteel South image plus the Appalachian image.

But Im interested in the magnitude of development, particularly infill development, happening in Lex. The city ...the older parts....always was a great town to walk in...very very pedestrian freindly, so hopefully the new developement is senstive to the human scale of the older neighborhoods and downtown.

Marketing is huge. I think with recent films like Elizabethtown that romanticize the state a little bit have helped. But the bottom line is when people hear Kentucky, scenes from 'Deliverance' are conjured up in their minds.

That's one hell of a hurdle to get over.

Exactly Ian, Kentucky Derby doesn't do the job because it just promotes a horse race, not the city of Louisville or the State really. They promote these hollywood folks more than they do the actual race. The Equestian games will actually promote the horse region of Kentucky. It will show that Kentucky just isn't a bunch of hills and trailor parks, but rather a lush green landscape with rolling hills. The bluegrass region kinda reminds me of some places outside of London, where you see the green parishes, horse farms and such. That promotes a positive image. TV exposure only helps the state, but you are right, people have that deliverance image. Racism, rednecks, and hillbilly's. I guess the derby helps promote to people who come to it from out of town and they see the New Orleans type of atmosphere during derby week with all the parties and people. "But" That's not going to convince a corportation to want to come here, I just wish the State would market the metro regions other areas of the country. The reality is Kentucky still has a faulty image.

I took some pictures of progress on the 500's on Main and Center Court today but yet again I'm having trouble getting the photos from my camera to my computer. But steel is rising at both sites.

If you get a chance swing by both sites if you haven't seen them in a little while.

In the meantime I'm going to try to get pictures up in the next day or so.

BOTH SIDES OF EXPANSION ISSUE GEAR UP FOR FIGHT
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Lexington's community leaders are gearing up for a familiar tug of war.

Anchoring one end of the rope are prominent and powerful development interests who want to see more suburban development in rural areas of the county.

Digging their heels in on the other side are prominent and powerful equine interests who want to see Lexington grow up, not out.

Each side says it's too early to know whether the upcoming debate over possible expansion of Lexington's Urban Service Area -- the portion of Fayette County where intense development is allowed -- will turn into a muddy grudge match, as happened a decade ago.

In 1996, when 5,400 acres was added to the Urban Service Area, the community weathered a bitter debate that featured a war of bumper stickers, some of which read "Growth Is Greed," "Growth Kills Bluegrass Forever" and "Growth Is Good."

"It got ugly," said developer Dennis Anderson, who predicts that some of his colleagues "will stay home rather than get involved in that again."

Still, stakes are high and preparations for a possible confrontation are under way.

Earlier this month, leaders in the agricultural and thoroughbred industries, along with preservationists and neighborhood activists, gathered at Mount Brilliant Farm for the first meeting of the Fayette Alliance.

Their mission: become a counterbalance to suburban developers by educating residents about the importance of the equine and agritourism industries and promoting redevelopment of the city center.

"We have to make better use of land inside the urban service boundary before bulldozing our farmland," said Margaret Graves, an Alliance organizer.

The group is not "anti-growth," said John Phillips, chairman of the Alliance board of directors. "But we need intelligent community dialogue on where we want to be in years to come."

Developers say they're open to dialogue, but suggest that simple math spells out the need for expansion of the Urban Service Area.

Lexington has 5,600 acres inside the Urban Service Area available for residential development, according to a vacant land survey released earlier this spring. At the current consumption rate of 400 to 600 acres a year, the county's land supply will run dry in a decade, said Todd Johnson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Lexington.

The group's president, Tom Kelley, said last month that home builders intend to push as "hard as we can" for expansion of the Urban Service Area.

Forty land owners have already lined up to include their farmland in the Urban Service Area.

The Urban Service boundary is one of several elements of the city's Comprehensive Plan now being updated -- a task done every five years -- by the Planning Commission and the city's professional planning staff.

Real estate agents and developers who have spoken at public comment meetings so far on the issue say available land is "very constrained," but they were not specific in where they'd like to see expansion or by how much, said Chris King, Lexington's director of planning.

King declined to speculate on how he thinks the Comprehensive Plan update process will play out this time. He said in the 1990's, the Planning Commission indicated it felt "the healthiest choice" was to have 20 years of available land for growth.

That would be 10,000 acres, Anderson said. "I don't see that happening with this Comp Plan. No way."

Equine leaders argue that further development of rural areas will only tarnish Lexington's status as "horse capital of the world."

"Our economy, our quality of life, everything builds around that," said Don Robinson, a horse breeder and former chairman of the Planning Commission.

Economic studies show that the horse industry in Kentucky has a $4 billion annual impact on the state, creating 50,000 jobs, said state senator Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown.

Horses also drive tourism, a $1 billion industry in the 17-county Blue Grass region, said David Lord, president of the Lexington Convention and Visitors Center. In 2005, 800,000 people visited the Kentucky Horse Park, officials said.

Since Fayette's farmland already produces huge economic dividends, it makes more sense for Lexington to grow within existing boundaries, utilizing vacant lots and redeveloping dilapidated areas, say Alliance members.

"Lexington needs to build up, not out," said Knox Van Nagell, executive director of the Fayette Alliance.

That's a strategy many cities, not just Lexington, are attempting to follow, said Laurie Volk, co-managing director of Zimmerman & Volk, a housing research firm in Clinton, N.J.

In a 2004 study, Volk estimated that downtown Lexington could support 424 new housing units per year.

About 72 percent of the new residents would be singles and childless couples under the age of 30, Volk estimated. An additional 24 percent would be empty-nesters and retirees over the age of 50.

"Everybody talks about building single-family houses in the greenfields for the traditional family: mother, father, two children," but 65 percent of people now live in one- and two-person households, she said.

"Gasoline is never going to get cheaper. The traffic is going to get worse," Volk said. "That is why Lexington would be sensible to keep its growth boundary where it is and help land owners get value out of their land some other way."

Anderson agreed that Lexington needs to build more densely, but said building in already developed areas is "expensive, time-consuming and many people want input in what you do."

Neighbors frequently complain about infill projects, he said, not because they're opposed to density, but because of bad design.

I found the pictures i mentioned a couple posts ago.

Construction Updates

Center Court...

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/centercourt.jpg

Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/5-60-06005.jpg


500's on Main...

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/500sonMain.jpg

Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/5-60-06004.jpg

They're putting the facade on the Vine St building but those pictures wont load... it's an ugly facade anyway.

Enjoy

Currently a parking garage sits on the site where the hospital will be built.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/UkHospital1.jpg

If this graphic is accurate look at how the new hospital will dwarf the long building (I can't remember it's name) in the foreground that borders Limestone, which already dominates the Eastern side of Limestone.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/UKHospital.gif

Quick Facts:

Floors:10
Square Feet: 1,000,000
Estimated Construction Jobs: 1,600
Estimated Permanant Jobs: 1,300
New Parking Structure: 1,129 spaces
Cost: $450,000,000
Projected Completion: 2010

This is easily the most exciting project for me going on in Lexington. Construction has already begun on the parking structure, which has to be completed first so they can tear down the current one (the site of the new hospital).

I found the pictures i mentioned a couple posts ago.

Construction Updates

Center Court...

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/centercourt.jpg

Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/5-60-06005.jpg


500's on Main...

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/500sonMain.jpg

Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/5-60-06004.jpg

They're putting the facade on the Vine St building but those pictures wont load... it's an ugly facade anyway.

Enjoy

Where is Center courts located? I must of missed the construction signs when I was in Lex a couple of weeks ago.

On the corner of Upper and Bolivar, directly across from the South Hill Station Lofts.

Lexington once again backdrop for a film, this one about a bartender
By Michael Casagrande
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

When a shortage of extras slowed production earlier this month of a movie being filmed in Lexington, the star of the flick took to the streets.

Marisa Brown, who plays a bartender with a career dilemma in the ultra-low budget Blink, marched in her micro-miniskirt costume from Gambino's Bar on West Maxwell Street to the University of Kentucky campus in search of background bar-flies.

"Everything takes place in a bar," she said. "You can't get that atmosphere if you don't have enough people in there."

Production soon resumed at Gambino's, the setting for much of the film being directed by UK graduate (class of 2000) Craig Miller.

Local Investors put up most of the $100,000 to make the movie, a number Miller said is extremely low -- even for an independent film.

Filming is set to wrap on June 5 in Lexington, but Miller said anyone interested in being an extra can come to Gambino's on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The movie centers on Toni, an artist and bartender who faces a crossroads in her personal life, Miller said. As a struggling artist, she has to decide whether to quit her job at the bar to pursue a gallery opening.

The film's budget constraints mean almost no one working on the film is getting paid.

Most of the 22 crew members said they were apprehensive about working on the film without pay until they read the script.

"Quite frankly, when you come across a script that really speaks to you, money stops being an issue," said C.J. Julian, director of photography.

Miller wrote the script while working on a film last year. Originally, Blink was a series of eight short films before Miller molded the project into a feature film.

Still, it took Miller's roommate, Greg O'Bryant, to convince him to pursue the project.

"I thought it was extremely realistic," said O'Bryant, who is also the film's producer and editor. "It's not like a lot of the movies out there today because it captures the essence of young people."

Lexington made for a perfect backdrop for the movie, Miller said.

"It's amazing how Lexington has fully embraced us," he said. "We didn't really know what to expect coming into this."

The movie was originally planned to be filmed in Louisville, but Miller changed his mind after seeing pictures of Gambino's Bar on West Maxwell Street.

"The look of the bar was ideal," Miller said.

Producer Anisa Qureshi said the bar's style, colors and patterns make its look timeless.

Miller said he wants to have the movie finished by fall so it can be entered into film festivals, including the Sundance Film Festival in January.

On the corner of Upper and Bolivar, directly across from the South Hill Station Lofts.

I guess I just wasn't paying attention, i'm not really sure how I missed it.

We all spend time on here talking about what we'd like to see done, but talk doesn't really translate into getting anything done.

Myself and another forumer from Louisville have been talking about citizens of both our cities working together for the benefit of both our cities, and also to bring the state out of the dark ages and into the 21st century as far as oppurtunities are concerned.

We've talked vaguely about starting a sort of grassroots organization and wanted to let everyone else in the forums in on the discussion

So this is an open invitation to anyone who reads it...

If anyone's interested in joining the discussion just let us know what you think. Everyone is welcome to participate or contribute as much or as little as you like. There are no details as to what, if any grassroots group will look like or do it's just too early for that.

So having thrown that out there, If anyone's intersted, toss out ideas about what you'd like to see such a group do, or what such a group should look like.

^ Very good idea. If I still lived there, i'd be a member of the group ASAP!

Well, it sounds like an interesting concept.

Are you wanting to form a group of forumers to perhaps get together from time to time, attend planning meetings in Louisville/Lexington, make a voice known when things such as a new arena or bilding in propoised in our cities?

Well, it sounds like an interesting concept.

Are you wanting to form a group of forumers to perhaps get together from time to time, attend planning meetings in Louisville/Lexington, make a voice known when things such as a new arena or bilding in propoised in our cities?

I can only speak for myself but to be honest I dont know what the group would look like or what it's function would be. I'd rather wait and let that be up to everyone if we have several people willing to get involved.

There was a flyer under my door looking for extras for that indie film. As soon as I read Gambino's I had to scratch my head and wonder who would shoot an "indie" film at the most mainstream bar around?

There was a flyer under my door looking for extras for that indie film. As soon as I read Gambino's I had to scratch my head and wonder who would shoot an "indie" film at the most mainstream bar around?

^^ Ha! Tru dat! That's the worst bar I've ever had the misfortune of setting foot in. It's even worse than the Keys. They should have used Charlie Brown's or, at the very least, Lynagh's / the Rosebud / McCarthy's.

On that note, there is a bluegrass band called the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers playing on Friday night at the High Life Lounge at 10:00. I highly recommend anyone looking for something original to do to check these guys out. Their lyrics are clever / historical / often revering, often deprecating analyses of our lives and events in the Commonwealth. I believe they are not easy for just anyone to appreciate (people that don't get the whole Kentucky deal), but impossible for people like us not to.

You can check them out at www.blindcorn.com (you'll kind of see what I mean if you peruse the lyrics to "Europe on $15 a Day" and "River of Blazing Bourbon," among others), and if you're so motivated, I'll see you out on Friday evening. :cheers:

We all spend time on here talking about what we'd like to see done, but talk doesn't really translate into getting anything done.

Myself and another forumer from Louisville have been talking about citizens of both our cities working together for the benefit of both our cities, and also to bring the state out of the dark ages and into the 21st century as far as oppurtunities are concerned.

We've talked vaguely about starting a sort of grassroots organization and wanted to let everyone else in the forums in on the discussion

So this is an open invitation to anyone who reads it...

If anyone's interested in joining the discussion just let us know what you think. Everyone is welcome to participate or contribute as much or as little as you like. There are no details as to what, if any grassroots group will look like or do it's just too early for that.

So having thrown that out there, If anyone's intersted, toss out ideas about what you'd like to see such a group do, or what such a group should look like.

Ian is right, we would greatly appreciate it if you guys could help us as we try to instill some vision for the crack heads in frankfort. Its no secret that Louisville, Lex, and NKY are the backbones of the state. Our states largest metro's are falling behind times. A unified front with some strong ideas would go along way to help promote some change and possibly send a message to frankfort that we want to push Kentucky forward. Everyone that post in both the Louisville and Lexington forum wants what is best for the state as a whole. Maybe we could start by combining two threads and maybe call it Kentucky development news or something like that. I know from reading other boards that Bowling Green, Paducah, E-town and others have alot of development that is taking place in those cities as we speak. Maybe we can include some of the other towns. Its just an idea, but I think it would be pretty cool, because I know me personally, I enjoy coming over here to read about all the great things happening in Lexington and central Kentucky. I think if some of the Louisville forumers have some free time they should take a short drive to Lexington and see all the condo's they are building. I never thought I would see lexington get serious about urban infill. I was proven wrong and they are definitly ahead of competing cities from what I've seen. Places like knoxville are still becoming the classic suburbanite metros.

Lou-villian, good call on opening another thread.

I'll also open one up simply to discuss ideas about the potential organization, that way people wont have to look through both threads to find out what's going on with it.

I'll call it "Kentucky Idea Group". There everyone can post ideas about whether or not they're interested in coming on board, what they'd like to see such a group do, what the group should look like from an organizational standpoint, or anything else for that matter.

I'll put it in the general Southeast section

Lofty plans made for ex-garden center
HILLENMEYER WAREHOUSE WOULD BE CONVERTED INTO HOUSING
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Pablo Alcala/Staff
The warehouse would be converted into loft-style apartments, and a second building of lofts and townhouses would be added, for a total of 63 units.
More photosThe Hillenmeyer Garden Center on Sandersville Road, where generations of Lexingtonians bought trees and flowers for their yards, may be growing loft apartments come spring.

A proposal by brothers Doug and Kerry Cauthen will convert the old brick warehouse into loft-style apartments and add a second building of lofts, plus 12 townhouses, for a total of 63 residential units. The project received conditional approval from a committee of the Planning Commission yesterday.

A small brick structure, once the corporate offices of Hillenmeyer Nurseries, will be retained. Mary Todd Lincoln's father once had a business in the building, constructed in the late 18th to early 19th century, according to the city's Division of Historic Preservation.

"It's a tremendous piece of property and we want to do a quality development with it," said Kerry Cauthen, who's in the horse business and operates Four Star Sales. Doug Cauthen is president of WinStar Farm in Woodford County. Their brother is Triple Crown-winning jockey Steve Cauthen.

The tract, slightly less than seven acres, adjoins the Spring Valley Golf Club. There's a contract on the property, Doug Cauthen said, pending a zone change.

Kerry Cauthen said he was familiar with the site because he plays golf at Spring Valley. "I've hit balls onto that property for years," he laughed.

Approval was made conditional on retaining several mature trees and an old rock wall on the site. Rory Kahly, with EA Partners engineering firm, expects the project to go before the full Planning Commission for a public hearing later in the summer.

Kerry Cauthen said he anticipates breaking ground in the spring of 2007. He said it will likely be built in phases.

For many years the 100-foot-by-300 foot, two-story warehouse had a nativity scene with live animals, a must-visit at Christmas for area families. A lower level could possibly be used for parking, said Rena Wiseman, attorney for the Cauthens.

Hillenmeyer Nurseries was founded in 1841 by Francis Xavier Hillenmeyer, a wine maker who came to Kentucky from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. It is Lexington's second-oldest business (Milward Funeral Directors has the distinction as the oldest) and the second-oldest plant nursery in the United States, according to the Hillenmeyer family.

The Hillenmeyer Garden Center closed last October. Owner Chris Hillenmeyer said in an interview in January that long hours, lack of time for his family and a competitive plant market contributed to the decision to close.

He and his wife Beverly had worked 60 to 70 hours a week. "We didn't take vacations, just a day here or there. We had no time for ourselves, for our kids," he said.

Chris and his brothers Stephen and Louis E. Hillenmeyer III owned Hillenmeyer Nurseries, but ended their partnership in 1992 and divided the company's assets.

Louis Hillenmeyer sold his share of the company to his two brothers. He is host of a local radio gardening show and owns seasonal garden stores known as Louis' Flower Power Shops.

Chris took the Hillenmeyer Garden Center and ran it until he closed it last fall.

Stephen Hillenmeyer Landscape Services, which took the bulk of the business known as Hillenmeyer Nurseries, specializes in landscape design, installation and maintenance.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/MainRose.jpg

Site manager Donald Eades of WS Construction removed fencing yesterday as site preparation began for the Main & Rose residential-retail complex at East Main Street and Elm Tree Lane.

The four-story building in downtown Lexington will have 96 condominium apartments and 25,000 square feet for businesses, such as restaurants, day spas and a grocery store.

The apartments will have 750 to 2,200 square feet and are priced from $150,000 to nearly $500,000. Most of the units have been reserved by buyers, said developer Phil Holoubek.

Construction is expected to be completed by September 2007.

The 2.5-acre site is now a parking lot, but previously was occupied by the Downtowner Motel that was demolished in 1989.

Main & Rose will fill most of the block bounded by Main, Elm Tree, East Short Street and Eastern Avenue.

The project will not include a parking lot at Elm Tree and Short that is used by customers of Hurst Office Suppliers and the buildings along Main at Eastern.

I was finally able to get into my pictures of the building that's going up on Vine, next to Kincaid Tower.

Apparently the early plans for this building had it at 11 stories. Sucks that they knocked it down to five.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-4-06002.jpg

The picture is out of date by a couple weeks, last i saw the facade was complete on the west and north sides of the building.

The deadline for proposals for the Transit Center Project expired at 4pm last Friday June 2nd.

When do you think we'll hear the outcome? What would you like to see go on top of the transit center?

^^I agree..a shame it was lowered to 5 :(

CURRENT BUILDING OVERCROWDED; MEETING SCHEDULED
By Megan Potter
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

A few years ago, the Northside Public Library closed its doors for a week in order to squeeze the children's section into a back corner, making room for new computers.

Still, the space they created wasn't enough.

"On any given weeknight, there are 10 to 15 people waiting in line to use a computer," said executive director and head librarian Kathleen Imhoff.

But a new library branch may change that.

Plans to build a facility on the site of the current one on Russell Cave Road are under way. On Tuesday, the Lexington Public Library will host a public meeting about the project. Imhoff will lead the discussion with representatives from the two architecture firms working on the project and library board members from the Northside area. The public is invited to participate in the discussion.

Doug Tattershall, director of marketing for the library, said attendees should come equipped with "their ideas about how the existing branch has served them well and how they think a new branch could serve them better."

Tattershall said the original building, which opened its doors in 1984, is outdated. At that time, for example, computers were nonexistent.

"Libraries have changed more in the last 20 years than in the last 100," he said.

Although the library board has no time line or finalized plans for the building, the committee already has plenty of ideas for change. One objective Ð doubling the number of computers with Internet access and adding a computer classroom. Another plan is to move the library's cable channel operation to the new building.

Currently the smallest branch of the library system, the existing 10,000-square-foot Northside building will remain open until the larger building is completed. Collaborating architects from the Lexington-based Omni company and the Philadelphia-based Vitetta company have decided how best to situate the building on the roughly 10-acre site. Officials have not decided what to do with the existing building once the new library opens.

Research for the project began several years ago, and Imhoff has been meeting with homeowners associations in the area for insight on the community's needs.

A recent study showed that citizens as far away as the Masterson Station area use the branch.

One of five neighborhood branches, Northside follows the formula set up when the Central Branch was established. The downtown branch offers more in-depth services, including a 140-seat theatre. It supports the smaller neighborhood branches, which emphasize children's sections, family needs, group study and tutoring. Each is tailored toward its particular community.

The opinions of Northside residents are critical in the planning process.

"We'd like to talk to people. ... What is it they'd like to see in this new building?" Imhoff said.

Already the Northside library stands out for its extensive African-American fiction collection.

"We're seeing an influx of Hispanic patrons," said Library Director Bill Biles, indicating the section of Spanish books and audiocassettes. "All we really need is space."

New construction Update from downtown Lexingon Kentucky!

500's on Main, the steel is rising higher. This is not the whole site but the rest of it is not under construction yet.

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/500sonMain.jpg

Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06005.jpg

This is the new office building going up next to Kincaid Tower. The facade is up on 3 sides of the building, and if I may add it is UGLY, they could have done much better than this.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06003.jpg

Center Court, They have the foundation ringed with steel in an almost "Stonehenge" style. I couldnt get the whole site in one shot so you get three pics. :)

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/centercourt.jpg

Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06011.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06012.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06013.jpg

Construction has begun on Main & Rose!!! Right now they are doing site prep It's a very large site so I have two pics.

Renderings
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/MainRose1.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/MainRose2.jpg

Progress

Looking Southeast
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06008.jpg

Looking West
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06009.jpg

They've resumed work on the Nunn Building!!! Most of the work is on the interior of the origianl Nunn Building. They haven't started building the addition yet.

Rendering:

The addition is on the left and the original building to the right.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/nunn_building1.jpg

Presently

The addition will block the view of the altell building.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/6-10-06010.jpg

Enjoy!

Great work Ian. Have you seen the work that has begun on the Newpast development. It is on W. Main kind of across from the new Fairmont on Main Townhomes just past Jefferson. Guyon Architects did the design. I haven't seen renderings, but there was an article in the most recent Nougat. It sounds like a nice project and uses a lot of "green" design ideas.

I also rode by the Lorillard Lofts the other day, and they have made some good progress. They have a way to go, but this should be a good one when complete.

I havent seen anything on Newpast, this is the first I've heard of it. I'll have to pick up that Nougat. Anything you can say about it offhand??? I'm a sucker for "green" developments.

Excellent work guys. Lexington started building once they found out I left. how nice. LOL!!! Seriously, this is great stuff to see. But it is a shame that such prime properties in DOWNTOWN, of all places, are getting mixed use 5 story buildings. I would think that land prices would dictate that they go higher than that. Either way these are great developments, but not something I would think to see out of a city of almost 300,000 people.

But that is just my stupid brain working so oer look my ramblings. LOL!!!

^^Agreed Lexy. I've thought the same about the land values. Recently instead of adding units they've been making units ultra-expensive. I tihnk soon we'll see these go higher. I'd love to see a something like the twin 15 story towers on top of the transit center proposal (proposed a few years ago, the project died.) come out of this new round of RFP's for that site.

UK Hospital's vision is becoming reality
New campus layout brings six medical colleges together
By Karla Ward
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

The University of Kentucky will unveil today designs for its new $450 million hospital, as well as a long-range goal of moving its six medical colleges to a new campus across Limestone.

"Our competition is Vanderbilt, the Cleveland Clinic ... the Mayo Clinic," said Dr. Michael Karpf, UK's executive vice president for health affairs. "We need to be able to stand toe-to-toe with them in terms of facilities."

The first step of the hospital project is under way.

Ground has been broken on South Limestone for a hospital parking garage with 1,600 spaces, more than twice what's available in the current hospital garage.

Once the garage opens next year, UK will tear down its old garage to make way for the new hospital.

A pedway from the new garage will lead patients to a central lobby that will link the new Albert B. Chandler Hospital, Kentucky Children's Hospital and the Linda and Jack Gill Heart Institute. Patients could be dropped off at a circular drive off South Limestone.

The driveway and 30,000-square-foot lobby, Karpf said, will create one entry point to the UK hospital facilities and will help patients get their bearings quickly.

"We want to be sure people don't get lost," he said. "They get lost right now."

UK will share its hospital plans and vision for the medical campus with legislators and community leaders this afternoon.

The existing hospital, which also houses the medical and dental school, was built in 1960 and is "not even anywhere near state-of-the-art" anymore, said Dr. Jay Perman, dean of the College of Medicine.

Perman and other medical center officials also envision replacing the current academic space with a "medical campus of the future" that would be built in increments over the next 15 to 20 years on the west side of South Limestone, and could cost $2.5 billion.

All on one campus

Perman said UK is one of a handful of academic medical centers in the nation that have medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, public health and health sciences schools all on one campus.

UK would leverage that by having students in all those colleges educated together, with the assumption that they would be better equipped to work as a team after entering the work force.

"In education nowadays, the buzzword is teamwork," Perman said.

Much of the group learning would take place in a Health Sciences Learning Center that would house a shared library, bookstore, classrooms, auditoriums and simulation labs where students could experience what it's like to work with other members of the health profession.

That facility might be constructed by 2013 or 2015, officials said.

More research facilities such as the Biomedical Biological Sciences Research Building, which sits at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Limestone, would follow.

UK President Lee Todd said such space is "critical for us to get scientists to come on board," which is, in turn, key to UK reaching its goal of being a top 20 research institution.

Perman said one of his greatest fears is recruiting a great researcher to the university but having nowhere to put the person.

"Money is not the problem anymore," he said. "We are pretty much out of research space."

Buildings for each of the health-related colleges could also come later.

The university has funding from the state to build a new College of Pharmacy building. Construction on the $120 million facility should begin next year and be finished by late 2009.

Ken Roberts, dean of the College of Pharmacy, said Kentucky has a shortage of pharmacists. And although the college has already increased its class sizes, it will be able to increase enrollment even more in the new building, he said.

UK already owns some of the property needed for a new medical campus; other plots are occupied by residences and businesses. The university has begun holding meetings to share its goals with area residents.

'That'll never happen ...'

Perman said he has encountered skepticism about the scale of the planned campus.

"When I first started showing this, even internally, people started saying, 'that'll never happen in Kentucky,'" he said. "That bothers me. I would just say, 'why not?'"

The buildings could be paid for with state support, money for research overhead from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and, hopefully, philanthropy, he said.

"We'd be glad to put somebody's name on any of these buildings," Perman said, grinning.

Still, finding the money to complete a campus like medical center officials want would be a formidable challenge.

Todd said the university needs a 5.8 percent increase in funding from the legislature each year for the next 14 years, along with more freedom to issue bonds.

"We have to have more control of our destiny," he said. "That's where the state's going to have to step up."

Perman said the researchers and funding they'd bring with them to such a campus would be a powerful economic engine.

"I don't think there's anything that drives the economy -- unless you bring in another Toyota plant -- like research," he said.

First phase

The first phase of the hospital project, which will begin next year and should be complete by 2010, will include construction of two towers for patient rooms, a much larger emergency room, eight operating rooms, a gift shop, chapel, patient library and other areas to be finished later.

UK expects to open five wings of patient rooms in that phase, including an estimated 48 intensive care beds and 112 medical/surgical beds. As beds in the new hospital open, beds in the old hospital will close.

About half of the 1 million square feet will be "fitted up" for use during the first phase.

Traffic on South Limestone will be rerouted to enter and exit Rose Street at Virginia Avenue through an extension of Huguelet Avenue. South Rose Street where it meets Limestone would be closed to through traffic, said Dall Clark, director of UK's Capital Project Management Division.

UK has already borrowed $100 million of the $450 million needed for the hospital, and it has received approval from the legislature for an additional $150 million in bonds. The remaining $200 million, Karpf said, will come from hospital revenues.

Karpf said improved performance of the hospital has helped make the project possible. UK expects to treat 24,700 patients this year, up 29 percent from three years ago, when it had 19,089 patients.

"The financial performance of the hospital has been very strong," he said. "We're ahead of schedule in financing the new building."

The remaining 500,000 square feet

Karpf said the new hospital will feature lots of natural light, wood and limestone. It will have green space and plenty of Kentucky art.

"It has to be a building that the people of Kentucky feel comfortable in and feel good about," he said.

UK would finish the remaining 500,000 square feet in a later phase of the project, which could begin in 2011 and conclude two to three years later.

That area would include six more wings with as many as 192 patient rooms, the neonatal intensive care unit, imaging department, 19 more operating rooms, pharmacy, blood bank, cafeteria, classrooms and other areas.

The building will also have room for two more floors to be added.

All patient rooms will be private and have furniture that will allow family members to stay overnight.

"The rooms are oversized. They're family-centered," Karpf said.

The design of the rooms is also flexible enough for future needs.

"The technology now moves so fast," said Dr. Richard Lofgren, chief medical officer at UK Hospital. "We may be bringing MRI machines to the bedside in five years."

Because of expected growth in UK's student population, the university will also begin construction this fall on a new $24 million University Health Services building, which would provide care for students and employees. That building is scheduled to open on South Limestone in spring 2008.

Lofgren said the projects are an outgrowth of the growing body of research being done at UK and the increasing number of expert faculty members being recruited.

"The atmosphere here is upbeat, excited, moving forward," he said. "It's a dramatic renaissance of the medical center in general."

New UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital
What's going where, when and how much will it cost?

• New UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital will have 1 million square feet and be finished in two phases, allowing for step-by-step replacement of the existing hospital.

• The first phase, to be completed by 2010, will cost $450 million and will allow for half of the 1 million square feet to be fitted up for use.

Health Sciences Learning Center

• Would house simulation labs, library, bookstore, classrooms and auditoriums, allowing students from the colleges of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, health sciences and public health to learn together.

• Could be built by 2013.

College of Pharmacy Building

• The new $120 million College of Pharmacy building will double available classroom space and increase research space by about 40 percent.

• Construction should begin next year and be complete in late 2009.

University Health Service (Student Health)

• $24 million building will provide health services to UK students and employees.

• Construction is scheduled to begin this fall and be complete in spring 2008.

n Primary care, gynecology, mental health and prevention services will be provided.

New Parking Garage

• Pedestrians will reach the new hospital via a walkway from a parking garage with 1,600 parking spaces -- more than twice the number in the current garage.

• Work on the site is already under way. The first parking spaces should open in August 2007.

South Limestone is going to look a lot different in 10 years!

Here are renderings for the facilities mentioned in the articles above.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/Uk.jpg

Hi,I'm from lexington but i usually go around SSP fourm but this site site has much better lexington discussion. Anyway, i saw that building next 2 the kincaid towers a few weeks ago I was hoping it would be taller 2. The new hospital looks amazing though and I can't wait to see it finished.

I also have drawn all the buildings for lexington on SSP too if u guys want to take a look
http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?19766846

^ Excellent work Mike.

that is good work mike. Welcome to the forum.

Wow, great diagram! Thanks for posting that!

Just thought I'd say you guys are keeping up an excellent development thread. Lexington is booming. :okay:

Legislators praise UK medical center plans
GENERAL ASSEMBLY CALLED COMMITTED TO HELP WITH FUNDING
By Karla Ward
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

The University of Kentucky's plans for a new $450 million hospital and $2.5 billion academic medical campus were lauded by legislators after a public unveiling yesterday.

"I'm really excited about it," said Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington. "We are committed to make this one of our top 20 research institutions in the nation. We're well on our way."

They also said the Kentucky General Assembly is committed to helping fund the future medical campus, to be built on the west side of South Limestone Street in increments over the next 15 to 20 years.

Students in the medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy, public health and health sciences schools would learn together in a new Health Sciences Learning Center.

More research facilities like the Biomedical Biological Sciences Research Building, where yesterday's event was held, would follow, along with buildings for each of the health-related colleges.

To make it happen, UK President Lee Todd has said, the university needs a 5.8 percent increase in funding from the legislature each year for the next 14 years, along with more freedom to issue bonds.

Concerning additional funding for UK, House Budget Committee Chairman Harry Moberly Jr. said in a Frankfort interview, "I hope we can continue to fund all higher ed at the appropriate level, which I think we did this time, particularly UK.

"As long as Dr. Todd is doing a fine job and continues to provide adequate accountability and planning, as he is, I think we will look very favorably upon what he wants to do."

The university has already received state funding to build a new $120 million College of Pharmacy building, which should be finished by late 2009.

Prep work for the new Albert B. Chandler Hospital has already begun. Ground has been broken on South Limestone for a hospital parking garage with 1,600 spaces.

Once the structure opens next year, UK will tear down its old garage to make way for the new hospital. About half of its 1 million square feet will be "fitted up" for use during the first phase, which should be complete by 2010. UK would finish the remaining 500,000 square feet in a later phase.

To accommodate the new hospital, South Rose Street where it meets Limestone would be closed to through traffic, said Dall Clark, director of UK's Capital Project Management Division. Traffic will be rerouted to enter and exit Rose Street at Virginia Avenue through an extension of Huguelet Avenue.

Last year, the Urban County Council unanimously gave its support to UK's proposal to close a portion of Rose Street for the construction of the hospital.

Before the road can be closed, the Urban County Council needs to take a final vote approving the permanent closing, said Bob Bayert, the design section manager in Lexington's engineering division.

That should happen later this year, after the extension of Virginia to Rose is completed.

Central Baptist plans move to Hamburg
'You need to be where your patients are'
By Karla Ward
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

Central Baptist Hospital is developing plans to close shop on Nicholasville Road and build a hospital east of Interstate 75 in the Hamburg area within six or seven years.

The existing hospital is 52 years old and needs to be replaced, said Bill Sisson, chief executive officer of Central Baptist.

It would cost $275 million to rebuild the hospital on its current site, Sisson said, but he thinks he can rebuild more economically -- and in a better location -- on 129 acres near Hamburg.

"We don't think that in 10 years people are going to want to drive down Nicholasville Road and look for hospital care," Sisson said.

Instead, Lexington is growing eastward, and the hospital already draws many of its patients from the eastern half of the state. An I-75 location will make the hospital much more convenient for those people.

"You need to be where your patients are and allow easy access for them," said Dr. John Barton, the hospital's director of maternal-fetal medicine.

Rather than constructing one hospital building with a tower of patient rooms, the new hospital would be a medical mall of sorts, with separate buildings housing heart and vascular services, cancer and research, women's and children's care, neurosciences and surgery.

Patients will stay in private rooms in the building that houses the care they need. Sisson said that will make the facility less confusing for patients.

'One-stop shopping'

Central Baptist would like to partner with other companies to provide rehabilitation services, long-term care and assisted living on the new campus, as well as a spa, wellness center and hotel for families.

"It'll be pretty much one-stop shopping for health care," Sisson said. "There would be nothing in the state that would even resemble the kinds of things we're talking about."

Central Baptist has a contract on the property at Hamburg but will not complete the sale until after its concept wins city planning and zoning approval.

Sisson said he expects to submit a preliminary development plan to the city next month.

The project would also have to be approved by the state Certificate of Need division.

Sisson and Patrick Madden, whose family owns the property, declined to say how much Central Baptist will pay for the land.

Madden said it has always been his goal to have a hospital at Hamburg. Sisson said he and Madden have been talking about the project for at least three years.

"We want to have every element," Madden said, adding that retail, residential and office areas have already been developed. "We're growing so fast in that area, it's needed. ... This'll be a big, big benefit for Lexington."

Current site to be sold

Central Baptist intends to sell its existing 30-acre campus after the new hospital is built.

Although there are no definite plans for the future use of the property, Sisson said he has been in contact with some parties interested in it. He said office space or light industry could be potential uses.

"We don't want to sell what we've got before we know where we're going," he said.

Sisson discussed the plans with 700 hospital employees Wednesday, two days after the University of Kentucky unveiled details of a planned $450 million Albert B. Chandler Hospital to be built by 2010.

However, Sisson said he had been floating the idea among department heads, the medical staff and community leaders during the last few months. He said the employee meetings had been planned long before UK made its announcement.

"This has nothing to do with what the university's doing," Sisson said.

So far, the hospital staff seems to be accepting of the plan.

"I think it's very exciting," said Dr. Hal Skinner, a cardiologist. "It gives the opportunity to do things from scratch, without a hodgepodge expansion."

Mike Overbee, a respiratory therapist, thinks the concept will make it easier for patients to navigate the hospital.

"We have a little bit of a problem now with getting people where they need to go," he said. "I think it's a great vision."

Finding the funding

Sisson said Central Baptist will spend the next few years planning and saving for the new hospital.

"If I can't do it and be more efficient, I have to think twice about doing it," he said.

But Sisson is confident the job can be done efficiently.

"Staying where we are, we're only going to increase the cost of health care," he said.

Bond funds will pay for some of the project, and some might be paid for through philanthropy. Sisson did not have an estimated cost.

The hospital received the city's approval in 2002 to build a 256,000-square-foot women's and children's hospital on the property where Central Baptist Church once stood. The church moved to a new location farther south on Nicholasville Road last year.

Sisson said Central Baptist will use that property for a parking lot, which it will need anyway until the new hospital is finished.

Central Baptist would also leave behind a seven-story medical building that cost $40 million when it opened only six years ago, in 2000.

"The growth has exceeded everybody's expectation," said hospital spokeswoman Ruth Ann Childers. "It seemed like the first day it opened we needed more elevators."

Central Baptist does not plan to add to its complement of 387 patient beds.

Sisson said outpatient care is growing, and patient stays are becoming much shorter.

"We think we're going to need more 23-hour stay beds," he said, noting that 35 percent of the hospital's patients are gone within a day's time.

Competing for patients

Several local hospitals said the move wouldn't affect them -- they're concentrating on building projects of their own.

St. Joseph Hospital is in the midst of a $90 million expansion and St. Joseph East is planning a $61 million expansion.

St. Joseph and Central Baptist are going head-to-head in heart care, both touting top treatment for heart conditions.

Jeff Murphy, spokesman for St. Joseph Hospital, said competition might be reduced in the Nicholasville Road area if Central Baptist moves to Hamburg.

"It could make a difference," Murphy said. "Especially in ... emergency heart care. People want to get to the most experienced facility in the fastest length of time. It's going to take a lot of precious minutes to get over to Hamburg."

Murphy also said that, because St. Joseph East is an established hospital, he doesn't expect patients to migrate to a new hospital at Hamburg.

"Central Baptist won't have an impact on loyalty," he said.

UK spokeswoman Amanda White Nelson said a crosstown move by Central Baptist also would not affect the university's plans for its new hospital.

Frank Beirne, CEO of Samaritan Hospital, said his hospital is busy with its proposed $32 million hospital in Jessamine County, plans for a medical office building, new primary care centers and a recently opened diagnostic center.

"We're very pleased with our location in a re-emerging downtown," he said. "We're very comfortable with our address."

This will be located across I-75 from Hamburg and run almost the entire stretch from Winchester Road to Man O War. :cringe:




St. Joseph East plans expansion
By Barbara Isaacs
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

St. Joseph East Hospital announced a $61 million expansion today that would enable the facility to double the number of babies it can deliver each year and also provide a private room to nearly every patient, said Jeff Murphy, spokesman for St. Joseph Hospital.

The planned expansion includes 90,000 square feet of new construction, including a 40,000-square-foot building that would house an expanded labor and delivery department, newborn nursery, neonatal intensive care unit and other women’s and children’s services, Murphy said.

Currently, the hospital delivers from 1,500 to 1,600 babies a year.

“We’re at capacity,” Murphy said. The new, larger facility would allow the hospital to deliver 3,000 babies a year.

The other 50,000 square feet of new construction will include an expanded emergency room, medical imaging, laboratory services and treatment areas related to heart disease and bariatrics, including obesity surgery.

The plan also includes 43,000 square feet of renovations, including inpatient rooms. The hospital currently offers about 50 percent private rooms; the expansion will provide 98 percent.

The plan is in final review with Catholic Health Initiatives, which owns St. Joseph and St. Joseph East. Murphy said the new additions are expected to be complete by summer 2009.

Murphy said increased demand for services is prompting the expansion. He said that, during the last four years, births at the hospital have increased by 64 percent. Inpatient surgeries have increased by 108 percent and emergency room visits by 51 percent.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of growth,” Murphy said. “People need health care.”

i think it is pretty stupid for central baptist to move especially when it already has a great location they should do what UK is doing and expand and Renovate it and there is only a few nieborhoods near hamburg

^^I can see why they are moving...the Hamburg area is still growing and will cont. to grow..and for the folks out there to come into Nich Road..that is hell. Just like Nich-ville having to come to Lexington for a hosp. and now they want their own. That should have been the case a long time ago.

"This will be located across I-75 from Hamburg and run almost the entire stretch from Winchester Road to Man O War. :cringe:"
I agree!! Build it up not out...

I agree the location is good but for crying out loud why does it have to sprawl like Hamburg.

I also agree Nicholasville needs its own hospital Jessamine County is too large not to have one.

Do you think this pro-active method of economic development is more effective than the more reactionary method of getting an inquiry from companies who want to locate here and then offering incentives.

I think its a good idea, but its hard to tell if we'd just be wasting our time.

Economic entourage: Airport takes Bluegrass contingent on promotional Dallas tour
By Susan Baniak
BUSINESS LEXINGTON

A dozen local tourism and economic development representatives will take to the skies with Blue Grass Airport officials this month to show their counterparts in Dallas, Texas, that Lexington is worth the trip.

With the airport funding the group’s flights and organizing a cocktail reception with 100 Dallas-based meeting/convention planners, travel agents, tour leaders and travel writers, local leaders see it as a prime opportunity to tout Central Kentucky as a business and leisure destination. At the same time, airline officials hope the personal connections made will build continued support for American Airlines’ three daily non-stop flights between Lexington and Dallas, a service which has been in existence for a little over a year.

“We go to great lengths to advertise on behalf of our market carriers,” said Amy Caudill, manager of marketing and community relations for the airport. “We want to make sure when they come into this market they know that they are going to be successful.”

In addition to increasing awareness of the Bluegrass and building good will with its airline partners, this kind of proactive marketing gives Blue Grass Airport an edge when competing for additional service, Caudill said.

“Rarely do airports throughout the country play such a large role in tourism efforts,” Caudill said. “Not only are we increasing the number of passengers coming inbound from Dallas to Lexington, but we are trying to complement the efforts of our community partners by promoting tourism and economic development.”

And in turn, trip participants can see real value in helping to sustain direct flight service as a valuable asset that makes Lexington a convenient “one-stop shop” for visitors.

Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau President David Lord, who will be attending the June excursion, said the LCVB is currently developing a strategy to better leverage Blue Grass Airport’s direct flight service, currently available to 13 large-hub airport cities.

“So much of our business has been ‘drive-in’ in the past,” Lord said. “We think that this is just a good way to encourage a new market for those people who won’t necessarily jump in their car and, especially from Texas, drive 18 hours.”

In addition to Dallas-based horse associations that the LCVB considers worth courting, the organization hopes to draw attention to Lexington’s increasing presence in the world of horse shows and competitions.

In June 2004, the airport sponsored a similar trip to support its then newly acquired non-stop service to Washington D.C. on Delta Airlines. Lord and Commerce Lexington President and CEO Bob Quick, who will also be traveling to Dallas, both attended. While that excursion was helpful in allowing the group to meet with legislators to further public policy agendas for the Bluegrass, according to Quick, he and Lord expect to focus more heavily on promoting the Bluegrass for business relocations and conventions as well as vacations on the upcoming Dallas trip.

“We need to continually tell our story, and we need to tell our story outside of this market,” Quick said. “We need to be very strategic in where we go with our limited resources.”

While larger markets such as Dallas have more resources to allocate to economic development and tourism marketing, it’s the partnerships inherent in efforts like the upcoming Dallas excursion that have been effective in putting Central Kentucky on the map, Quick said.

Our advantage is that we’re collective,” Quick said. “We’re partners - the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Blue Grass Airport, Commerce Lexington, all the groups that are going. When we combine our time, our talent and our resources, we’re just as effective, if not more.”

Quick plans to meet with economic development consultants, whom Quick refers to as the “gatekeepers” for potential plant expansions and relocation decisions, to make them aware of Central Kentucky’s benefits.

“We know we’ve got a lot of business that goes back and forth between our two regions, and we just need to keep building on it,” Quick said.

According to Caudill, the representation from different state and local organizations is what brings real value to the initiative.

“As a group, we feel like we can promote the area a lot better. In addition, we have experts from each area who are there to represent the region,” Caudill said.

In addition to Lord and Quick, professionals joining the delegation will include: Randy Fiveash, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Tourism; Ralph Brett Barnes and Eric Dunnigan, project managers for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development; Ali Crane, Richmond Chamber of Commerce assistant executive director; and LFUCG Councilman Bill Farmer.

And although it is difficult to measure the value in terms of immediate returns, the cooperative effort to increase Central Kentucky’s face time in key markets will build the groundwork for economic windfalls in years to come, Quick said.

“It’s always hard to measure, because you don’t know if someone’s got something today or tomorrow to bring them out here, or if it’s going to be a couple years down the road,” Quick said. “But you can’t go wrong when you continually get out around the country marketing Lexington. The pieces all keep adding up.”

Apartment building gets new lease on life
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Wellington.jpg

As part of the revival of downtown, the historic Wellington Arms, at the corner of Woodland Avenue and East Main Street, is undergoing a $2.5 million restoration that's attracting a surge of young professionals.

Expected to be complete by early fall, the renovation's features include a fitness center for residents and a first-floor lobby space for private parties.

Architect Lynn Cravens, giving a tour yesterday, said the changes complement the building's original features -- stunning hardwood floors, a marble lobby, burled walnut paneling, terrazzo halls and crystal chandeliers in hallways and apartments.

Artist Daniel Sigal, who has lived in London, Paris and New York, purchased two units on the third floor this spring.

He opened the pair into one 90-foot living space that includes his studio and kiln at one end. Brightening the apartment are large windows overlooking downtown.

"I feel very comfortable in Lexington," said Sigal, who has been coming to Keeneland's sales and races for 26 years.

A guest who visited recently to watch the televised running of the Belmont told Sigal, "Even though this is in Lexington, it feels like New York," Sigal said.

The feel of high society also came with the addition of upscale hair stylist Timothy Johnson and his Timothy -- The Salon.

After 35 years in Lansdowne, Johnson and business partner Alan Garrett moved downtown last month.

"I've always been in love with the Wellington Arms," Johnson said. "When I was a little boy, I thought this was the ultimate."

Built in the early 1930s, the building has a distinctive English Tudor-style facade and leaded glass windows.

Bathrooms in the building, which is named for Harry Wellington Moores, have the original pedestal sinks and hexagonal tile floors. Throughout are 7-foot inlaid birch doors.

"We are striving to retain everything from 1931. That is important to us," said Cravens, who owns the five-story building and two adjacent historic houses with two partners.

Cravens and his partners bought the Wellington Arms, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1984 and did a $2 million renovation the next year.

The current renovation of the 44,000-square foot building began in June 2005. Work includes a new roof, air conditioning, water pipes, courtyard and a 28-unit covered parking shelter.

There's no need for strengthening the 75-year-old building, though.

Cravens described it as "one of the most substantial" in the city. Floors are 1-foot poured concrete. Interior walls were built with 4-inch gypsum blocks, and the front exterior is 2-foot Kentucky rough-cut limestone.

"In a tornado watch, it's the safest place in Lexington. I never have any fear," said Cathy Lowe, who's lived in the Wellington Arms since 2000.

Although Lowe's deluxe one-bedroom apartment won't change in the renovation, other apartments are being combined. The building's previous 33 units, which were rentals, have been reduced to 25 condominiums, ranging in size from 500-square-foot studios to 1,500-square-foot three-bedroom apartments. Priced between $120,000 and $395,000, 10 units have already sold.

Cravens said he anticipated attracting more young professionals and "charming, interesting, intelligent people who want to live close to downtown."

Johnson, the hair stylist, said downtown is "where the energy is."

WHOA!
That Wellington Arms placelooks incredible. :okay:
After reading that article, it seems Lexington has really hit a boom all its own. DT is going to be completely different within a few years.

I dont know about a boom just yet. We've got a lot of infill and residential growth happening but no really spectacular projects have come around so far. Hopefully the residentially growth will be a precursor to something big going up.

But there's no doubt that Louisville's hit a boom! Congratulations!

First the bad news...

While demolition crews were tearing down this...
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/FallingChurch.jpg

To make way for this...
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/woodland_lofts_thumbnail.jpg

They accidentally knocked a support beam loose and sent part of the church falling out into high street. High Street and some nearby businesses were closed while crews were cleaning up after the mishap.


But the good news is site prep is underway for the Woodlands Lofts...

Thats bullshit. its 2006 and we are STILL clear cutting our urban areas by tearing down historic buildings. Lord knows there are hoardes of surface lots and urban prairie in Lex where they good build these lofts....

Neighbors worry about plan for old YWCA site
APARTMENTS WOULD HELP AREA IN TRANSITION, DEVELOPER SAYS
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

A proposed high-density apartment complex on the site of the former YWCA on Cross Keys Road is drawing opposition from neighbors who fear it would destroy the neighborhood's residential character.

Neighbors worry it would bring "increased traffic, human density, noise, increase cut-through traffic that is a problem already, and more on-street parking," said Phil Crewe, a member of the West Gardenside Neighborhood Association board of directors.

"We don't think this is good for the neighborhood," he said.

Developer Tom Jones seeks to have 1060 Cross Keys Road in Gardenside rezoned from professional to high-density residential so he can build a complex of four buildings with 144 units, each with two bedrooms, that would rent for $650 a month.

Jones said his infill project would be an enhancement for "a neighborhood that's at a tipping point. Parts are getting better. Parts are getting worse.

"I don't want to build a box of crap that in five years will be falling down," he said. "I want a place that is well maintained with onsite managers."

The proposal is scheduled to be heard Thursday by the Planning Commission. The planning staff has recommended postponing the issue, saying the development might not be possible on the steeply sloping lot.

The debate over the future of the property takes place in a section of town that has seen changes as Lexington's immigrant population has increased. Asked whether neighborhood opposition was being driven in part by immigration fears, Leslie Trapp said, "I think that's a fair question."

Trapp, a former urban county councilman from District 11, said he walked Cross Keys Road and Maywick Drive, a culturally mixed area, on Friday and talked to residents. "I really believe opposition is on the density issue," he said. Residents worry about the impact of a large number of people and additional traffic on a quiet, dead-end street, he said.

"If this issue goes before urban county council -- and I'm sure it will end up there -- you'll see a pretty united front with people of color, people who have been here 30 years, apartment-dwellers and single-family home owners," Trapp said. "They don't want to see high-density apartments there. They would love to see a community center go in there."

Police Chief Anthany Beatty would like the site for a combined police roll call and community center on the west side of the city. "I talked to the chief administrator's office last year when the property came up for sale, but I never heard back from them," Beatty said.

City administrator Milton Dohoney said it wasn't economically feasible to purchase the property, demolish the building and construct a new one. At the time, the property had a $2.1 million price tag.

Eleventh District councilman Richard Moloney said he talked to Rebecca Langston, the commissioner of public safety, but "the commissioner indicated this was a low-priority item."

Moloney said acquiring the property "is an opportunity we might not get back again, and Chief Beatty loves the location."

Langston said she would not be opposed to moving the west sector roll call center from Old Frankfort Pike to Gardenside, but "we can't build everything we want all at once because the money doesn't exist."

Her first priority is finding a site to build a permanent, larger, full-time emergency operations center that combines police, fire and emergency rescue squads and that would serve the region. The YWCA site isn't large enough for that, she said.

The facility and its 6.19 acres are valued at $2.5 million, according to the county property valuation office. It was developed about 45 years ago as the Cabana Club by Gardenside Plaza developers Ray Pierson and David Trapp. Builder Al Strauss put in the miniature golf course. Later an ice skating rink was added.

The YWCA purchased the property in 1977 and operated it as a fitness center. It closed in 2005 after the YWCA was plagued by financial and management problems.

Strauss, who built most of the buildings on Cross Keys when Gardenside was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, also objects to the lack of greenspace in the proposal. "I planned them with lots of lawns and trees around them. It's a beautiful, residential street."

The apartment complex plan shows four buildings with grass courtyards in the center, plus greenspace at the rear of the property.

"All you'll see from the street is concrete and asphalt. Any greenspace will be invisible from the street," Strauss said, adding that developers "might be complying with zoning laws in legal terms, but not in aesthetic terms and in keeping up an attractive neighborhood."

This would be a mistake of epic proportions. :gaah:

I have supported the way Dr. Todd runs UK ever since his arrival, but he obviously is a slash-and-burn capitalist that will pounce on every opportunity for University to make a buck. Normally, this is good, but not in this instance. I guess you got to take the bad with the good, but I hope he doesn't get his way on this one.

UK proposes revamping of Spindletop Farm
Retirement community could be built by 2010
By Art Jester
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

David Stephenson/Staff
Spindletop Hall is located at the end of a tree-lined driveway off Ironworks Pike. The club is open to UK alumni, faculty and staff.
More photos
The Spindletop Farm proposal
SPINDLETOP'S HISTORY
The University of Kentucky wants to put a 400-person retirement community on UK's Spindletop Farm in rural northern Fayette County.

As part of the project, the non-profit retirement community would issue tax-exempt bonds to finance a $9 million to $12 million renovation of the historic mansion, Spindletop Hall, and would be responsible for maintenance of it.

The new plans surfaced in a June 16 letter from Donald Frazier, the president of Spindletop Club, to its 1,600 members and were confirmed by UK officials yesterday.

UK officials repeatedly stressed that the plans were preliminary and could face zoning and financing issues. Nevertheless, the scenario has provoked strong reactions among Spindletop Club board members, some of whom will meet today to discuss the proposal.

Several Spindletop Club board members fear the retirement community facilities will jeopardize the scenic beauty surrounding the mansion, which sits near Ironworks Pike and the Kentucky Horse Park. Spindletop Club now offers recreation and dining to its membership, drawn from UK faculty, staff and alumni.

The proposed retirement community would include a spectrum of living facilities including patio homes, independent-living apartments and assisted-living facilities. A conceptual plan shows many of the structures being built where Spindletop's pools, fields and tennis courts are now.

Those recreational facilities would be relocated, though it's not clear where.

Charles Haywood, a retired UK economist, former Spindletop Club board member and a 41-year club member, sees Spindletop facing a gloomy fate.

"It will be destroyed," Haywood said in an interview.

In a memo prepared for a Spindletop Club board task force meeting today, Haywood wrote: "The existing swimming pools, tennis courts, picnic area, playground, the 'Barn' snack bar, and much of the lawn in back of the mansion will be destroyed to make way for construction of buildings to house an assisted-living facility, a nursing home, a facility for dementia-affected persons, a clinic and related parking areas.

"The amenities and facilities for which Club members now annually pay more than $1,000,000 in dues and fees would disappear," he wrote. "The plain fact is that the ... plan sounds the death knell of the club."

Ben Carr, president-elect of the Spindletop Club board and a retired high-ranking UK administrator, said: "We can see some very positive things. For the house to have a complete renovation is one. We also know we would have changes at Spindletop Hall and people might not want to be members."

Carr, who was a chancellor of the former UK Community College System, said several Spindletop Club board members are worried about the plan to relocate the swimming pools and tennis courts, the elimination of "vistas and open spaces" by the new construction and the apparent subjugation of the Spindletop Club board under the retirement community board. "The house will be under the control of the retirement community board," he said.

UK spokesman Jay Blanton said neither UK nor the Spindletop Club board has the money for a much-needed renovation of the facility, and that the project could attract more club members. "Our hope is that the Club could emerge stronger, said Blanton.

The proposal marks a change of plans for UK, which had previously projected its Coldstream Research Campus as the site of a retirement community for UK alumni, faculty and staff.

Jack Blanton, a retired UK senior administrator who is a consultant to UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. on the project, said the change of site emerged in the winter after retirement community board members and the developer visited Coldstream, which sits next to Interstate 75 and Newtown Pike.

"The traffic up and down I-75 is a constant roar," Jack Blanton said. "The noise problem is something you can't abate."

Minimizing the noise would have required building a berm and putting extra insulation in the housing units, "all of which ran the cost out of sight," he said.

Another problem at Coldstream would have been a median on U.S. 25 as it is expanded into a four-lane highway. The retirement community's entrance and exit would be onto that road. The median would have blocked a left-hand turn for trips toward Lexington, requiring residents to make an inconvenient drive north some distance and turn around, Jack Blanton said.

Frazier and UK officials stressed that the Spindletop project still faces potential hurdles. "This is a conceptual plan," Jay Blanton said. "It's a long way from reality."

The retirement community would be built on a part of Spindletop Farm that was zoned P-1, or professional office, in the 1970s, he said.

The P-1 zoning does not permit separate housing units and might not allow the planned patio homes, Jack Blanton said. But they might be permitted because they are part of a total project, he added. There would also be apartments.

There is no estimate yet on the total number of units, he said. That would be known after advance sales, which would last two years.

Another possible hang-up is that 75 percent of the units must be sold so that the project can obtain financing, Jack Blanton said.

Construction of the retirement community and the Spindletop Hall renovation could begin in the fall of 2008. It would take two years to build the retirement units, and the renovation would take a minimum of 18 months, Jack Blanton said.

UK estimates that the retirement community will cost more than $150 million, will have about 200 employees and generate an annual payroll of $9 million.

The developer would be The PRAXEIS Group, a Florida company that has built retirement communities nationwide, including one for the University of Florida and another planned for Florida State University.

UK bought the 1,000-acre Spindletop Farm in 1959 for $850,000. The university began to use Spindletop Hall as a faculty, staff and alumni club in 1962.

Under the plan, the retirement community would use 94 acres of Spindletop Farm, and the club would use 52 acres. The remainder would still be used by the UK College of Agriculture. UK's ag school would continue to use Coldstream Farm's 192 acres as pasture for poultry and dairy animals, Jack Blanton said.

The retirement community project would require the approval of the UK Research Foundation, which has oversight of Spindletop Farm, Jay Blanton said. Todd is chairman of the foundation board.

UK's Board of Trustees would not have to approve the project, Jay Blanton said.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/14882745.htm

Ladies and gentlemen, here's your bi-weekly construction update for Lexington KY.

500's on Main

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/500sonMain.jpg
Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/8f674b00.jpg


CenterCourt

Renderings
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/centercourt.jpg
Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/09fe1e70.jpg


Nunn Building Lofts and Main & Rose: Nothing much new. They're still pushing dirt around.

Here's the ugly building on Vine. The facade is up on all four sides now.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/e455ae44.jpg

The Mark

Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/themark.jpg
Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/1bb2b7dc.jpg

I completely forgot about the Newpast development that George mentioned last time. I'll try to get by there soon.

Awesome! Thanks for the updates. :okay:
Lexington might not be getting any towers currently, but all this infill is sorta leading the way for something big I think. Its about time Lex-Vegas got something new and slick. :D
And TALL!
I say give it time.

New renderings of the UK Hospital project.

First the view from the south.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/UkHospitalfromtheSouth.jpg

Second, a view from the north on limestone with more of the new medical campus on the right.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ukhospitalpano.jpg

Pretty sweet and I'm glad UK is doing this because they needed to expand the medical campus badly. Some places of similar size had Medical complexes three times the size of the one on campus. This is one of the things I always wanted to see take place. Its about time they stopped caring about basketball for a second and started upgrading the medical center. Now they can finally get the cutting edge medical technology and better doctors. UK pretty much serves most of Eastern Kentucky. It was very important they got this done, but as they always say better late than never. I'm happy for my old educations grounds. :) I also like how the new buildings blend in with the existing. I was afraid they would try to get to space age instead of keeping the buildings simple and clean. I'm glad they chose the right design, but like I said this will help all of Central/Eastern Kentucky.

That must be the Sunday morning rendering, because when does Limestone ever have so few cars in that stretch--at lease during the daylight hours? :hilarious

That must be the Sunday morning rendering, because when does Limestone ever have so few cars in that stretch--at lease during the daylight hours? :hilarious

I know when I was going to UK, it used to be a nightmare walking across limestone and you can pretty much forget trying to find a parking space. The funny thing is, and I don't know if its still like this now, but during the summer time and weekends it was almost like a ghost town in that area. When fall and spring semesters were in session, it was a nightmare anywhere around that area of campus. Drivers just didn't have any respect for kids walking to class.LOL

It's not so much a ghost town but it's far far quieter in the summer.

Exstream Software moving to Coldstream

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/exstream_rendering.jpg
It may look like your average suburban office building, but the fact that it'll be built in coldstream is a HUGE accomplishment.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 26, 2006) – One of the world’s fastest-growing technology companies will soon call Coldstream Research Campus home. Exstream Software Inc., which develops, sells and supports enterprise document creation software for Fortune 1000 companies around the world, will relocate its corporate headquarters to the University of Kentucky's Coldstream Research Campus. The privately held company, headquartered in Lexington since 1998, expects to move 150 Lexington-based employees to Coldstream next year.


“Exstream Software is the type of company that a Top 20 public research university needs at its research campus,” said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. “I am pleased UK was able to partner with the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Commerce Lexington to make sure one of the region’s most innovative, entrepreneurial companies remained in the Bluegrass. Exstream Software is a tremendous Kentucky success story. Led by CEO and UK alumnus Davis Marksbury and Exstream co-founder and chief technology officer Dan Kloiber, Exstream is precisely the type of company that will succeed in the global, 21st century marketplace.”


“The campus environment at Coldstream is ideal for our world headquarters,” said Davis Marksbury, president and CEO of Exstream Software. “We are a rapidly growing company with an exceptionally talented employee pool and customers in 22 countries around the world. Our goal is to provide a world-class environment for our customers and Lexington-based employees — which will number around 250 in a few years. And our company will add an estimated $40 million to $50 million a year in economic impact to the Lexington area. As a Lexington native and UK alumnus, I am thrilled we can make this commitment.”


According to Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Gene Strong, the expansion and relocation of Exstream Software to UK’s Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington proves that central Kentucky can provide the right mix of pro-business environment and quality of life needed to ensure the success and continued growth of one of the world’s fastest-growing technology companies.


“This is another example of how Coldstream is providing an important link between the university’s research interests and technology-transfer focus and the business community,” said Wendy Baldwin, UK executive vice president for research.


“Exstream Software will be a cornerstone for future development at Coldstream,” said Coldstream director and UK Associate Vice President for Research and Economic Development John Parks, “Not only will they add to the technology base that is growing at our research campus, companies like Exstream will help attract other high-tech partners.”


Exstream markets its industry-leading enterprise document personalization software, Dialogue™, to companies around the world in the financial services, banking, insurance, health care, utilities, telecommunications, hospitality, retail, government, and other industries. The company has more than 400 customers, including such well-respected enterprises as Merrill Lynch, AT&T, Fidelity Investments, Aflac, FedEx, HSBC, Allstate, Humana, State of New York, Carnival Cruise Lines, and many others. Ranked among the nation’s fastest-growing technology companies, Exstream continues to expand international operations, with direct sales and services offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Norway, and Australia.


“This is another of those fascinating success stories of a ‘home-grown’ entrepreneurial company that’s having worldwide impact. Businesses like Exstream Software energize the local knowledge-based economy by offering exciting, high-paying jobs and often fostering other high-tech spin-offs,” said Commerce Lexington Inc. President and CEO Bob Quick.


The new three-story corporate headquarters building, located next to the Coldstream Center facing Newtown Pike, will be developed by Kale Roscoe and designed by Evans, Murphy, Graves Architects. Roscoe, who is also developing the $60 million Lexhold buildings at Coldstream, owns the IBM building and recently purchased the Coldstream Center.


“Exstream Software is a welcome addition to the Coldstream Research Campus. Having a company with Exstream’s international reputation will help attract other companies to Coldstream and to Lexington,” said Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac.


Coldstream is currently home to 35 tenants with 815 employees. Corporate tenants include IBM, IDEXX Veterinary Services and Lexel Imaging Systems. UK research centers at Coldstream include the Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center, the Center for Aluminum Technology, the Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute, and the College of Pharmacy’s $17 million Center for Pharmaceutical Science and Technology. For more information, visit www.UKColdstream.com.

Thats great news and I'm glad Coldstream is the location for these type of companies. Coldstream is right off the highway in a very scenic area of town. To me the biggest news is that this is not your average 10-14 dollar an hour paying job. These jobs will probably be paying in the neighborhood of 60,000 to 100,000+. I just wish they would stop trying to build houses and apartments over in that area. That area should be for corporate headquarters and extended stay hotels. Again this gives college graduates from across the state the opportunity to land good high paying jobs. Definitly some great news coming out of Lex.

I also received a alumni letter from UK talking about some retirement homes or something of that effect being built on a portion of a farm located on newtown pike. I think its a horrible idea because that farm area should be preserved. These money hungary jacks kill me trying to destroy an areas character. I hope this doesn't take place, but it look as if its pretty much a done deal. There's plenty of infill they can use in the city without have to destroy all the farm land.

You're exactly right Lou-villian the retirement community should be UK's oppurtunity to shine in the area of infill/redevelopment. there's no need from them to be leading the way in tearing up more farmland. Ball Homes and other developers already do plenty of that

Post 389 is an article about the retirement community you mentioned.

Gateway to Lexington
By Susan Baniak
Business Lexington


At first glance while driving north on Newtown Pike, it seems like Robert Rosenstein and his partners in the Newtown Springs LLC development next to Griffin Gate have been quick to jump on an opportunity. In anticipation of the 2010 FEI Games at the Kentucky Horse Park, for which Newtown Pike will serve as a key route from downtown, and amid renewed resolve to build an extension to UK’s campus, Newtown has gained significance in the past year as the much-discussed “gateway” to Lexington.

In truth, the recently cleared 90-acre parcel outside New Circle Road that will become Newtown Springs has been nine years in the making.

“We wanted to compliment what Griffin Gate has done with the golf course and the townhouses, and we had to work between the city, state and the neighbors … to get this Citation extension at least off the ground,” Rosenstein said.

The Citation Boulevard extension, the first section of which Rosenstein’s company has undertaken in order to get the project underway, is expected to eventually connect Newtown Pike with Russell Cave Road. The Newtown Springs development will include roughly 50 acres of townhouses and single family homes to be built by Beazer Homes, the first residential development along that stretch of Newtown since Griffin Gate was built more than a decade ago. The development will also include 20 acres zoned B6-P for a planned shopping center, for which the company is currently in talks with national tenants although no contracts have been signed. An additional 10 acres along Newtown, parceled in 1- to 2.5-acre lots, will be available as B-1 zoning for neighborhood businesses such as pharmacies, banks and convenience stores, and four acres will be used for professional offices.

Citing UK’s renewed commitment in the development of Coldstream Research Campus in recent years as well as the housing that has sprung up along Citation Boulevard, Rosenstein said he is encouraged about Newtown Pike’s potential. The widening of Newtown to six lanes also bodes well for the road’s traffic flow. To Rosenstein, Newtown Springs represents a prime opportunity to build on land that does not directly conflict with Lexington’s horse farm interests, having already been allocated for high-density multi-family use in the city’s 2001 Comprehensive Plan.

“It’s definitely not infill, but to some extent, it’s land that’s been sitting there that was not being used for other purposes,” Rosenstein said.

The Newtown corridor has also attracted some long overdue attention from the state as funds have been programmed into the state’s six-year highway plan for a new interchange at Newtown Pike and New Circle Road, said Max Conyers, director of the Lexington area’s Metropolitan Planning Organization and LFUCG transportation planning manager. The plans include expected ramp improvements as well as right-of-way and utility phases in fiscal 2008, and construction work on the new interchange with related improvements to New Circle Road and Georgetown Road is scheduled to start in fiscal 2012. The project will be funded through National Highway System funds in addition to some discretionary funds allocated by the state for the design phase.

“(The state) views that as very critical, because that’s just a major interstate connection into our community. You have a lot of freight that moves up and down there,” Conyers said. “Even from a federal national security and economy standpoint (as part of the National Highway System), that’s a very important facility.”

While Newtown Springs has been on the drawing table for years, increased development along key corridors in the north, such as Leestown and Georgetown roads, has only served as more encouragement on Newtown, which up to this point has seen relatively little activity over the past decade.

“There has been more interest in lands that are available in the north end probably over the last ten years, because we have seen numerous zone changes for commercial developments and residential developments,” said Bill Sallee, LFUCG planning services manager.

Anderson Communities’ development plan for Providence Business Center, located just outside Interstate 75/64, is another example of a Newtown Pike development project that is just starting to gain a presence after being zoned for it for years.

In its first phase, owner Dennis Anderson expects the project to include 30 to 40 acres for an office/research park facility on the property, which stretches from neighboring Eaton Farm to the restored Providence Place mansion. A plan has recently been approved by the planning commission for a new parkway to be built there off Newtown Pike just north of Stanton Way. The center does not have any commitments from businesses yet, but there has been some interest from a regional financial company, a regional medical group and a local computer software company, Anderson said.

But Anderson has his own larger vision for the area. It’s his desire to build a mixed use community on the roughly 360 acres he owns beyond the highway between Newtown and Russell Cave, a project similar to Anderson’s recent development of the Townley Center business park and Townley Park residential development on Leestown Road. So far, however, he hasn’t gotten the planning commission’s permission to change the current economic development land use on the majority of the property, which restricts it to primarily industrial and manufacturing uses.

“Every time we’ve talked about changing it, people scream (that) we’ve got to develop these jobs, we’ve got to grow our tax base. In fact, ED hasn’t accomplished one thing,” Anderson said of the economic development land use designation, which was created in 1996 and applied to his property and one other section of the county near Winchester Road. “In ten years, not one acre of ED property has been developed. And in ten years, not one job’s been created, … and there hasn’t been one extra tax dollar generated in this zone.”

The highway interchange brings the potential for a lot of economic vitality to the Newtown Pike corridor, Anderson said, and so far Lexington hasn’t made full use of that potential.

“It’s a good place to put jobs. It’s a good place for communities. It’s your solution for traffic. Right there’s your infrastructure, and it hasn’t been fully utilized,” Anderson said.

That economic potential as a highway interchange was the primary reason that Anderson’s property was brought inside the city’s Urban Services Boundary as economic development land in the first place, according to Knox van Nagell, executive director of the newly formed Fayette Alliance. The alliance, a coalition combining the interests of citizens from neighborhood associations, downtown interests and agricultural industries, hopes to educate and encourage citizens and government officials to promote infill and protect Fayette County’s irreplaceable farm land and key agricultural enterprises, van Nagell said.

According to van Nagell, Anderson’s property was brought into the urban services area for the specific purpose of using it for economic development, not residential housing, and a mixed use designation would serve neither the city’s intentions nor the interests of the economically important and viable horse farms nearby.

“That change would be highly disruptive to the surrounding Thoroughbred farms in that area,” van Nagell said. “From our perspective, a mixed-use residential development would really disrupt the scenic corridor aspects of the area.”

At this point, Fayette Alliance hopes to hold the line on urban expansion, because the organization believes that the requisite need for extending the Urban Services Boundary has not been met, van Nagell said.

The planning commission is expected to consider integrating other possible uses under the economic development designation, and all other options, as they craft the land use element of the 2006 Comprehensive Plan this year. The commission will be gathering community input on this and many issues regarding possible land use changes or expansion of the Urban Services Boundary in the hopes of adopting a land use element for the city’s 2006 plan by the end of November.

“The land use of the existing economic development land is probably the biggest issue they’ll be dealing with in that area for the comprehensive plan,” said Jim Duncan, LFUCG Long Range Planning Manager, regarding Newtown Pike. While there have been a few proposals for small farm parcels to be brought inside the urban services area near Newtown Pike, the majority of requests for extending the boundary have come in the areas of Winchester Road and Richmond Road, Duncan said.

While Commerce Lexington has no interest in jumping into the fray in debates about specific land parcels, making sure the community and its leaders are aware of the need for sufficient available land for optimal future business development has been one of its goals during this year’s Comprehensive Plan process. The organization is currently focusing on development of its business park on Georgetown Road, but as President and CEO Bob Quick pointed out, ample land for the future is essential if high-tech companies with tax-generating jobs are going to find a home in Lexington in the years to come.

“You have to have the land, or you can’t bring the companies in,” Quick said. “If you don’t have the land to expand our existing (businesses), then we slowly are going to hurt ourselves economically.”

LexTran keeps expanding services and as they do more Lexingtonians are using public transit. This next round of expansions will represent the first time 24 service is available, even if it is just Nicholasville Road it's good news.

Expanded bus service includes jobs line, specials for seniors
By Jennifer Hewlett
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Beginning August 21, LexTran will venture into new territory, sending buses into the belly of some neighborhoods in an effort to offer more personalized service.

LexConnects, the umbrella for LexTran's special services, will offer:

• Two neighborhood circulator buses, one in north Lexington and one in the south end of town.

• A jobs bus for people who work along Nicholasville Road.

• Bus service designed for, but not exclusively for, employees of Keeneland Race Course and Blue Grass Airport.

• Special bus rides for senior citizens.

A regular LexTran bus route designed with the residents of Masterson Station in mind also will start August 21, said LexTran officials.

The neighborhood circulators, now scheduled to run Monday through Friday, will follow set regular routes throughout the day, but also will take designated "diversion" routes to pick up and drop off people living nearby who have requested rides in advance.

"We'll come to the intersection closest to your house and pick you up there. ... Then we'll take you to a connecting route," LexTran spokesman Dave Riggins said.

Margaret Davidson of Harrogate Road said she is glad LexTran is trying to serve more customers.

"It has promise," she said after hearing about the new circulator route in her area. "There's an awful lot of places that the buses need to go. They need to think about what people need."

The expansions come 21 months after voters approved an $11.6 million property tax for transit, handing LexTran its first dedicated revenue source. For most of its history it had relied on an unpredictable mix of federal and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government grants.

LexTran has already used the new funds to return Sunday, late night and 30-minute rush hour service.

Details of the LexConnects programs are still incomplete, and some fine tuning may be required after the services start, officials said.

People living along or near circulator diversion routes must request rides at least 90 minutes in advance, but no more than two weeks in advance.

Plans call for the Northside Circulator to run hourly from 6:37 a.m. to 5:37 p.m. The circulator will follow a main route that stops at North Park Shopping Center, Eastland Shopping Center and Bryan Station High School, among other places.

The Boston Road/Southside Circulator will run hourly from 6:50 a.m. to 5:50 p.m. The circulator's main route includes stops at Fayette Mall and Wal-Mart on Nicholasville Road, among other places.

The Nicholasville Road corridor jobs bus will run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., Monday through Friday. Jobs bus riders must fill out applications, which will be distributed by their employers.

LexTran representatives are still meeting with employers along Nicholasville Road to determine demand, Riggins said.

The Keeneland/Airport bus, which is open to all riders, will not only stop at Keeneland and the airport, but will go through the Beaumont Centre area and stop regularly at Dunbar High School.

"There's a counselor who has been trying to get us to locate there, especially for kids that are involved in after-school activities," Riggins said.

The Keeneland/Airport bus will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Special buses for seniors are scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, but hours could be increased if there is enough demand, Riggins said. These buses will take seniors pretty much wherever they want to go in Fayette County, as long as at least 10 people want to go to the same place.

"One particular group said they'd like a hair salon day," Riggins said.

The new Masterson Station route will run from 6 to 9:30 a.m. and from 2:35 to 6:23 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Mark Rhoads, who lives in McConnells Trace off Leestown Road, said the new route might help him and his wife, Dina, avoid buying a second car.

"At least the days she goes to school, she could take a bus, then I could take the vehicle," he said.

Fares for the new bus routes will be $1, LexTran's standard fare. Seniors and the disabled pay 50 cents.

LexTran will hold three public meetings to give people an opportunity to comment on the new services.

The meetings are scheduled for:

July 18, Lexington Public Library, Central Library, noon to 1:15 p.m.

July 18, Lexington Public Library, Beaumont Branch, 6 to 7:15 p.m.

July 20, Lexington Public Library, Northside Branch, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

From the Herald-leader posted tonight...see below


I thought this was potentially great news for downtown. I do have some major concerns for the hotel project: I would hate to see places like the Dame, Triple Crown Lounge, Busters, and Mia's that add a lot to downtown all be gone for the sake of one hotel. Lets hope this a mutli-use redevelopment and the farmers market gets a permanent home.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/14981518.htm

I hope the Dame doesn't get shut down. I hope they'll have more news on this in tomorrow's paper.

I don't think the hotel being built is such a bad idea, I think its actually a good location to build one and it should have been built LONG time ago. There aren't many hotel options in downtown and it gives consumers and conventioneers more choices besides the Radisson and the Hyatt. Its good for business, the more people you have staying in the downtown the more money they will spend downtown. It keeps them from having to drive through a multitude of lights on Newtown Pke, Richmond Rd, New Circle, Man O' War and others. I always thought the places that really needed more hotel service was right in the middle of downtown and by the airport/keeneland. I don't think its such a bad idea. Depending on the magnitude of the hotel they can move some of those clubs inside the hotel, or they could buy or rent another vacant building in the area. I'm sure if these places are forced to move, the developers and the city will give them a nice chunk of change to where they can move there establishments to another area in downtown. Thats just my 2 cents. The Farmers market I would love to see stay downtown though.

Once again here is your bi-weekly construction update from downtown Lexington Kentucky.

These pictures are brought to you courtesy of my lovely girlfriend since I'm stuck at work all day.

500's on Main
Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/500sonMain.jpg
Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06001.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06002.jpg

Center Court
Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/centercourt.jpg
Progress (these were accidentally taken in black and white)
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06005.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06006.jpg

Ugly building on Vine
I've never seen a rendering for this but here's the progress.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06003.jpg

The Mark
Rendering
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/themark.jpg
Progress
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06008.jpg

Main & Rose
Renderings
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/MainRose2.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/MainRose1.jpg
Progress (large site = several pictures)
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06009.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06011.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/7-9-06010.jpg

Nunn Building
Rendering (the building emphasized in the rendering is going to be built on to the existing building which is being renavated now.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Lexington/nunn_building1.jpg
Progress (these were taken from the LRC webiste)
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/nunnbuilding1.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/nunnbuilding2.jpg


The 500's and Center Court are coming along nicely. It'll be good to see some steel rising at Main & Rose but we're still a little ways off since they haven't even begun foundation work yet.

According to the article released last week we may have a new hotel to show you sometime soon.

This was in today's paper. It looks like we may see something finalized before the end of the year...maybe even construction will have started.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/15018166.htm


http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/15018168.htm

I love the progess in Lexington. Hopefull the Dame doesnt close...thats such a great music venue and bar.

Lexington is such a beautiful and awesome city. I love to see all the new developments.

this is more great news i wish they would or released rendering or something instead of just telling us that they are planning something because that just gets me all excited

I agree!! Good times are going on and coming for our great city! :)

This is exciting news. I hope they release renderings at that August meeting.

This is exciting news. I hope they release renderings at that August meeting.

The good thing is they have more than one development to choose from. These are projects I love and urban infill is what Lex needs. Some mixed use mid-rises would be lovely, I know how conservative Lex is so I know they probably wouldn't go higher than 275 ft or 12-14 floors. Regardless, this is a wonderful project for the city of Lexington.

'Crucial corner' proposed as mixed-use building site
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Whether selling bedding plants in April, Christmas trees in December or petunias and pumpkins in between, Judy's Garden Shop has supplied the gardens of Ashland Park for most of the past 16 years.

But the little shop's days are numbered.

A zone change request for the property and two adjoining lots at the corner of East Main Street and South Ashland was filed yesterday with the city's planning staff. It requests permission for a five-story building that would include a mix of retail, office and residential units.

"I hate it I have to move," said Judy McCreary, who owns the shop with her husband, Bob. But "this is too good a spot for us to sit here like this."

After hearing rumors for weeks that a building as high as 10 stories might go up on the property, some neighbors wish Judy's could stay, too.

Architect Reese Reinhold, on the board of the Historic Ashland Park Neighborhood Association, called the development site "a very crucial corner because it is a gateway to our homes and our historical neighborhood."

His neighbors, including some in the nearby nine-story Hanover Towers, are concerned about what might be built and would "love to have input."

"We knew something was going to happen to that corner because it is a valuable piece of property," Reinhold said.

Tyler Prewitt, who owns the corner property, along with the lots on both sides, said the building will be "high-end to fit the neighborhood."

Although plans are preliminary, Prewitt said the new building probably won't be more than four stories.

"We're not going to obstruct their view of downtown," she said. "I don't see the need for five stories, and I'm not sure we could get the parking squared away for it anyway."

The three pieces of property, which make up less than an acre, are not included in the nearby historic zone, Prewitt said.

The properties have been in Prewitt's family since the early 1980s. The corner building was first a gas station and then a liquor store before Judy's Garden Shop opened.

Prewitt said developers have contacted her regularly through the years wanting to buy the property. Among their proposals have been a gas station and a convenience store.

At this point, the garden shop lot is zoned for business use. An adjoining parking lot leased to Hanover Towers for overflow parking and the three-story English Manor apartment building facing East Main are zoned for residential uses.

Of neighbors' concern over the proposed building, Prewitt said it should be an improvement "on what they're looking at now."

Sorry for Judy, but that sounds like it could be a great development. But I hope the do screw up the stupid view of DT. yeesh 10 stories would be awesome, but now they are looking at not even exceding 4 so the view is not obstructed.. >_<

Sounds like Louisville and Lexington both have hurdles to jump for projects. Lexington has residents and Louisville has council members LOL. Hopefully a few whacky neighbors get in the way of a solid development. I'm sure this project will still move forward, but I hope they don't have to scale anything down to please a few people.

New veterans medical facility planned on Leestown
By Barbara Isaacs
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

A large new medical facility is planned as the centerpiece of a major upgrade of the Leestown campus of the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

It's a radical evolution from several years ago, when the Leestown VA hospital was targeted for closure.

Local veterans rallied around the aging facility, gathering more than 25,000 signatures in a petition drive, drawing the support of Kentucky lawmakers and successfully lobbying the VA to keep it open.

"Clearly, we've come a long way," said Sandy Nielsen, director of the Lexington VA Medical Center.

After two years of examining Lexington VA operations, VA planners have boiled down multiple potential plans to two final proposals. Both include construction of a 65,000-square-foot medical facility, said Desti Stimes, director of public affairs for Lexington VA Medical Center, though Nielsen said she could not confirm how large it would be. Plans also include renovation of some existing buildings on the 135-acre campus.

Nielsen said she doesn't have details about the two plans and is expected to be briefed on them soon by national VA officials. "Right now, it's all very conceptual," she said.

"Lexington veterans can rest assured that new, state-of-the-art facilities to provide world class medical care well into the 21st century are part of the plan," Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson said in a statement. "We still have some decisions to make about other parts of the campus, but the new inpatient and outpatient facilities are in the final proposal."

VA contractors are expected to develop the final recommendations for the campus by the end of the year. A local advisory panel will hold a public meeting, which has not yet been scheduled, to review and respond to the two plans.

The ultimate goal is to modernize the entire campus, which includes 52 buildings, most of which were built between 1930 and 1963.

"We are pleased the effort is still going forward," said Thomas W. Baker, 59, a Lexington Army veteran and chairman of the Bluegrass Military Affairs Coalition, which led the effort to save the Leestown campus. "This is a new era for veterans' care and we may be a model for the rest of the country."

"It's great news for veterans," Stimes said. "This will go a long way toward helping fulfill our mission of offering timely, quality medical care in a modern setting."

Stimes said that planners still need to decide which of the current Leestown programs will be housed in the new building and which will go into renovated ones. The Leestown facility currently has 99 beds, including 61 nursing home beds, and that number isn't expected to change significantly.

The Leestown campus offers a variety of inpatient and outpatient services for veterans, including inpatient treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, mental health and substance abuse treatment, primary care, women's health services, hospice treatment, prosthetics and orthotics and other services.

The two campuses of the Lexington VA Medical Center serve more than 30,000 veterans a year.

Officials are expected to study the potential re-use of the rest of the campus so the VA can generate money to help meet the health care needs of veterans.

Baker said there is opposition to using the Leestown property for anything other than serving veterans.

^^As a vet. myself...this was one news I was happy to hear!

I just read in Business Lexington that Shelbourne Plaza construction is supposed to begin as early as next month! Just thought I'd pass that along

I'm at work with nothing to do so I was digging around on the planning commisions website and found a proposal still in early stages for a six story mixed use project with 50+ residential units and ground floor retail to be built across the street from where Shelbourne Plaza will be built.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/markacre.gif
(sorry for the crappy map.)

Shelbourne Plaza is in red, this development is in blue and will use the entire block.

I'm starting to envision that entire stretch of South Broadway lined with midrises from the railroad viaduct all the way downtown.

You can see read about the plan here, it's the 8th page or so of the PDF file by the name of mark acre properties.

ftp://ftp.lfucg.com/Planning/Agenda_060727.pdf

Another article about bringing more land inside the Urban Service Boundary.


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/7564SouthernSplit.jpg
(an aerial of the land they want to pave over.)

Will Lexington expand to east?
Five land owners seek inclusion, but they have their critics
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Charles Bertram/Staff


But one request seems to be getting special attention, both for its sheer size and the direction it would push the city's future development.

Five property owners, who own 1,800 contiguous acres of prime farm land, have banded together to ask the city to bring their land inside the boundary as one huge chunk to be developed. Roughly, the land runs to the east of Interstate 75, between Winchester Road and Interstate 64.

The property owners say the proposal makes sense because east Lexington already is blooming with new growth, including the stores and homes of Hamburg Place. They say bringing the land in as one chunk would allow for more careful planning and thoughtful development.

But opponents say the mega-chunk of land for development would bring more people and more cars and envelop nearby productive farm land. They also raise questions about whether Lexington has the capacity to process sewage from such a large new growth area.

And they say the idea would force Lexington to grow ever-closer to the Clark County line, closing the rural gap between the two communities in the same way that Lexington's southern growth has blurred the line between Nicholasville and Lexington.

Jennifer Crossen operates an equine riding school on a 46-acre farm on nearby Cleveland Pike and opposes expanding the urban service boundary.

She said the Winchester Road proposal would "swallow us up." She said she drives Winchester Road often, passing Patchen-Wilkes Farm and Hamburg Place, both of which are being developed.

"What they've done to those two farms is so awful, I try to close my eyes when I go by," she said.

But Joe Palumbo, one of the five land owners along Winchester, said in a recent interview that developing the swath "makes sense because it's in the path of growth already coming out from Hamburg."

Also, another 600-acre farm south of Winchester Road from the 1,800 acres is already inside the urban service boundary, Lexington's boundary between the rural area and urban-style development. That farm was brought inside the boundary in 1996, the last time a significant chunk of land was opened up for growth.

Attorney Bruce Simpson, who represents the five land owners, said the city's future growth corridor will be between Winchester Road and Athens-Boonesboro.

"Fayette County has developed south as far as it can to the Jessamine County line," he said. There may be growth opportunities west along Man o' War and for a small area between Man o' War and Blue Grass Airport.

But it's "highly unlikely" growth will extend beyond these areas because of the city's commitment to protect the equine industry, Simpson said.

The Winchester properties include productive agricultural land with horses, cattle and hay fields. But Simpson said developing them would take pressure off prime horse farm land in a crescent-shape section of northern Fayette County.

David DeMarcus, one of the five landowners, said, "I want Fayette County to stay the horse capital of the world, but we need some room to grow, so people can have houses."

The expansion debate takes place as Fayette County's population is projected to grow to 294,000 by 2010 and reach 344,000 by 2030.

To accommodate that growth, the county has 9,000 acres of vacant land inside the Urban Service Area available for development. Of that, 5,000 acres are set aside for residential. "At the rate we have consumed land, we have nine years worth of land to go," said Jim Duncan, the city's director of long range planning.

If the boundary is expanded, Simpson said that adding 1,800 acres in one chunk "would give the planning commission a unique opportunity to look creatively at ways to provide for a more distinctive landscape in Lexington ... instead of 300 houses that all look alike, vinyl sided, with a garage facing the street."

But people who live in the area are lining up in opposition.

Mariana Moore, former president of the residents association for the nearby Greenbrier neighborhood, said she thought it "outrageous that this prime farm land would even be considered for development."

Moore said the urban service boundary is a tool to implement a vision of a balanced county. "You have growth. You have farm land. Asking to bring 1,800 acres into the urban service area, you are basically abusing the urban service boundary criteria," she said.

"Lexington is not just another town along the interstate," she said. "We have to be better stewards of the land and that means protecting our agricultural land."

Great work Ian. Have you seen the work that has begun on the Newpast development. It is on W. Main kind of across from the new Fairmont on Main Townhomes just past Jefferson. Guyon Architects did the design. I haven't seen renderings, but there was an article in the most recent Nougat. It sounds like a nice project and uses a lot of "green" design ideas.

I rode by this today and noticed the billboard. Check out the website at www.new-past.com. Looks like another great infill project.

Here's some updated photos of the 500's. I wasnt able to make it around this week to get other projects but I'll try to get a couple photos in passing.

They're starting to put up steel for the third building.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/7-30-06001.jpg
The brick facade will fit in nicely with Victorian Square next door.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/7-30-06002.jpg

I rode by this today and noticed the billboard. Check out the website at www.new-past.com. Looks like another great infill project.

Sounds like a very cool project.

Another article about bringing more land inside the Urban Service Boundary.


http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/7564SouthernSplit.jpg
(an aerial of the land they want to pave over.)

Will Lexington expand to east?
Five land owners seek inclusion, but they have their critics
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Charles Bertram/Staff


But one request seems to be getting special attention, both for its sheer size and the direction it would push the city's future development.

Five property owners, who own 1,800 contiguous acres of prime farm land, have banded together to ask the city to bring their land inside the boundary as one huge chunk to be developed. Roughly, the land runs to the east of Interstate 75, between Winchester Road and Interstate 64.

The property owners say the proposal makes sense because east Lexington already is blooming with new growth, including the stores and homes of Hamburg Place. They say bringing the land in as one chunk would allow for more careful planning and thoughtful development.

But opponents say the mega-chunk of land for development would bring more people and more cars and envelop nearby productive farm land. They also raise questions about whether Lexington has the capacity to process sewage from such a large new growth area.

And they say the idea would force Lexington to grow ever-closer to the Clark County line, closing the rural gap between the two communities in the same way that Lexington's southern growth has blurred the line between Nicholasville and Lexington.

Jennifer Crossen operates an equine riding school on a 46-acre farm on nearby Cleveland Pike and opposes expanding the urban service boundary.

She said the Winchester Road proposal would "swallow us up." She said she drives Winchester Road often, passing Patchen-Wilkes Farm and Hamburg Place, both of which are being developed.

"What they've done to those two farms is so awful, I try to close my eyes when I go by," she said.

But Joe Palumbo, one of the five land owners along Winchester, said in a recent interview that developing the swath "makes sense because it's in the path of growth already coming out from Hamburg."

Also, another 600-acre farm south of Winchester Road from the 1,800 acres is already inside the urban service boundary, Lexington's boundary between the rural area and urban-style development. That farm was brought inside the boundary in 1996, the last time a significant chunk of land was opened up for growth.

Attorney Bruce Simpson, who represents the five land owners, said the city's future growth corridor will be between Winchester Road and Athens-Boonesboro.

"Fayette County has developed south as far as it can to the Jessamine County line," he said. There may be growth opportunities west along Man o' War and for a small area between Man o' War and Blue Grass Airport.

But it's "highly unlikely" growth will extend beyond these areas because of the city's commitment to protect the equine industry, Simpson said.

The Winchester properties include productive agricultural land with horses, cattle and hay fields. But Simpson said developing them would take pressure off prime horse farm land in a crescent-shape section of northern Fayette County.

David DeMarcus, one of the five landowners, said, "I want Fayette County to stay the horse capital of the world, but we need some room to grow, so people can have houses."

The expansion debate takes place as Fayette County's population is projected to grow to 294,000 by 2010 and reach 344,000 by 2030.

To accommodate that growth, the county has 9,000 acres of vacant land inside the Urban Service Area available for development. Of that, 5,000 acres are set aside for residential. "At the rate we have consumed land, we have nine years worth of land to go," said Jim Duncan, the city's director of long range planning.

If the boundary is expanded, Simpson said that adding 1,800 acres in one chunk "would give the planning commission a unique opportunity to look creatively at ways to provide for a more distinctive landscape in Lexington ... instead of 300 houses that all look alike, vinyl sided, with a garage facing the street."

But people who live in the area are lining up in opposition.

Mariana Moore, former president of the residents association for the nearby Greenbrier neighborhood, said she thought it "outrageous that this prime farm land would even be considered for development."

Moore said the urban service boundary is a tool to implement a vision of a balanced county. "You have growth. You have farm land. Asking to bring 1,800 acres into the urban service area, you are basically abusing the urban service boundary criteria," she said.

"Lexington is not just another town along the interstate," she said. "We have to be better stewards of the land and that means protecting our agricultural land."

If they do expand into this territory I would hope they try some "new" urbanism type developments. I would hate to see them destroy all that land for some cookie cutter type homes. If anything maybe a hotel or two, but with hamburg so close you really don't need a new life style center. I know when I lived in Lex they claimed they would never develop anything that far east. I know one guy in the article said something about providing more housing and maybe its just me but it seems like theres plenty of housing in Lexington. I think these guys just want to make some money. Lexington surely isn't short on housing and I was just there 3 weeks ago and I didn't see any shortage and I certainly didn't see people living on top of each other like in China.LOL

double post

Lou-villian, you're absolutely right. there is no huge demand for housing. In fact, we still have 9,000 undeveloped acres inside the Urban Service Area. The only thing that would happen if they expand is it will allow developers to continue doing exactly what they've been doing for 50 years - single family detached homes and shopping centers.

Leaving the Urban Service Area as it is will force developers to be more creative and utilze there land more responsibly.

Exactly my point, Lexington really really needs to develop some good real estate inside man o'war. I could see developing out toward winchester "if" they had a economic base like Oldham County,Ky or Franklin, TN. Last I checked the median income in Winchester was far below that of fayette. Fayette County is where the money is and they need to keep good development inside man o'war and downtown. If they build on that land so be it, but only thing they are going to do is hurt Winchester. Like I said if folks in Winchester was bringing in bank like that then I could understand other than that you are destroying farm land and sucking winchester dry.

You're right about Winchester. I grew up there and its mainly just a factory town. There is a little money but not enough to justify a large expansion in that direction. The real reason they are pushing East is because the most prestigous horse farms with the most money coming in are on the North and West sides of the county.

We've already deeloped up to the Jessamine County line on the douth end of town so now they are pushing in this direction.

Think of a connect-the-dots picture in a child's art activity book, without the dots being connected.

That's what the Healthway Trail System, a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly pathway proposed for south Lexington, looks like now.

But the picture is starting to become clearer, thanks in part to $426,000 in federal money that was earmarked in late June for two segments of the multi-use trail system. The picture could become even more clear in October, when construction could begin on two other segments.

The multi-use trail system will extend from Waveland Museum State Historic Site through Shillito Park, around Lexington Christian Academy, through Wellington Park and along Clays Mill Road, past Higbee Mill Park.

It's not a new idea. A series of trails in that part of town has been planned for years, and plans have been around for a long time for the trails to be part of a countywide network of multi-use trails.

But 9th District Urban County Councilman Jay McChord, with help from others, has polished the plans for building and linking the south Lexington trails. He also helped "brand" this particular string of planned trails -- the name Healthway was suggested by Dr. Kim Williams of Morehead, whom McChord has consulted in his quest to make the trail system a reality.

"I think it's right off the bat just a real innovative program that Jay's spearheading," said Steve Austin, president and chief executive officer of Bluegrass Tomorrow, a regional planning agency that has helped.

"It really builds on the work of the Lexington Planning Commission and the Greenspace Commission," he said.

"We have a beautiful city that you can't seem to enjoy unless you're in a car," McChord said.

It's not just the opportunity to see pretty scenery up close that will make the Healthway an attractive alternative to driving, McChord said. Such trails are good for the health of the people who use them and they increase property values, he said.

"When gas goes to $5 (per gallon), we're going to be looking for other ways to get around," he added.

When completed, the south Lexington Healthway Trail System will allow people to walk or bicycle to three parks, a state shrine and several major retail areas and schools without having to get into a car, he said.

"We know there's a lot of folks that want this type of infrastructure. My whole district will be able to jump on a bike and safely get around the district in just a few years," McChord said.

"It sounded like a wonderful fit with our goals in terms of environmental projects," said Susan Lancho, a spokeswoman for Kentucky-American Water Co., which provided $2,500 in seed money for the project.

The Healthway Trail System, which will be 7 to 9 miles long when completed, has more mileage currently planned and funded than any other trail project in Fayette County, according to Keith Lovan, an engineer with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's engineering division who oversees trail projects.

Lovan said that in October construction might start on two sections. Those are the already-funded Wellington-Reynolds Road Trail, and the South Elkhorn Trail portion of the Healthway Trail System from Waveland to Shillito Park, for which funding has been available since 1997. Those two projects are priced at about $1 million, McChord said.

The $426,000 in federal money secured in June will be used to build a trail that is connected to the South Elkhorn Trail and runs along the edge of Shillito Park to Reynolds Road and a trail that runs behind Lexington Christian Academy. Work on those two segments, expected to cost a total of $450,000, is scheduled to start sometime next year, Lovan said.

McChord said he is now seeking funding for trails inside Shillito Park and Wellington Park. Those trails are expected to cost $520,000.

Once the Healthway Trail System is completed, McChord said, corporations and others will be asked to help with landscaping and programming for it.

"Even Xenia, Ohio, has an incredible bike-trail system," he said. "In Lexington, we think of it as an amenity. ... We need to build a bikeable, walkable community for everybody."

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Healthway.gif

^^I was very happy to read this in the paper...I live off Rey. rd on the other side of Nich rd.

This is encouraging.

Poll: Most Lexingtonians oppose expanding Urban Services Area
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER


The Fayette Alliance, a group of farmers and horse farm owners, released results of a public opinion poll yesterday that it says shows an overwhelming number of Fayette County residents oppose expansion of the Urban Service Area.

Asked whether more land should be brought into the urban area for housing and commercial development, 74 percent said no. And 71 percent said they would be "less likely" to vote for a candidate who favors expanding the Urban Service Area, the alliance said.

Knox van Nagell, executive director of the alliance, said the results show residents "care deeply about preservation of the Bluegrass."

But Central Kentucky builder Dennis Anderson said he did not believe the numbers. Of the survey, he said, "When you see who's paying for it, you can understand the results. The Fayette Alliance has an agenda and their poll would support that."

The alliance opposes expanding the Urban Service Area, the portion of the county where development is allowed.

Information for the poll was collected in a telephone survey done by The Matrix Group, a local marketing research firm, of 200 Fayette County voters between July 14 and 25.

Van Nagell described the survey as a "random sample."

Todd Johnson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Lexington said, "If the survey was truly a random sample, then the majority of people in Fayette County don't have a good grasp of how much land we have inside the Urban Service Area."

The city's planning staff says there is less than 10 years' worth of land left in the urban area that can be developed, Johnson said.

Results did not surprise Carol Goes, land planner for Barlow Homes. "Not really. This is a very popular place to live." Goes called balancing growth with land preservation a "tough" call.

"You don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg -- the horse farms," she said. "But the availability of land is very, very tight and causes land prices to skyrocket. To keep putting land expansion off will make the situation just get worse"

Survey results will be sent to the mayor, Urban County Council members and the planning commission, which is reviewing the county's comprehensive land use plan that guides growth in Fayette County.

By Walter May
During the update that resulted in Lexington's 1996 Comprehensive Plan, there was a long and difficult fight over expanding the Urban Service Area.

Eventually, the planning commission decided that the Urban Service Area needed to be expanded, but it was unwilling to do so simply by redrawing the line and continuing to do business as usual.

Three concerns troubled the commission:

• The endgame. If every time we updated the plan, we simply added the number of acres we had consumed since the last update, would we simply march all the way to the county line until everything was paved?

While the Urban Service Area boundary has served us well to make development compact and to preserve our invaluable landscape, it could not continue to serve that preservation purpose if it simply moved with demand. We wanted a program that provided a measure of preservation in perpetuity.

• Finding a way of reducing the pressure on the boundary. We wanted to use more of what we already had designated for development so that there would be less demand for land outside the boundary.

• The nature of development under the existing rules. We wanted new rules that would promote a friendlier style of development with more mixed uses; easier access among residential, retail and service uses; buildings with frontage oriented toward public rights of way; fewer "snouthouses"; and mechanisms that would make construction of infrastructure more predictable, adequately sized and fully and equitably financed.

To address these concerns, the commission worked with the planning staff, the administration and interested parties from across the spectrum to find solutions.

To address the "endgame" issue and have a program of preservation in perpetuity, the parties put together the Purchase of Development Rights program.

To lessen the pressure on the boundary, there was general and concerted commitment to improve and energize our infill and redevelopment policies.

To improve on business as usual, the rules of development in the expansion area were redrawn to encourage the goals the commission had identified for it.

This is not meant to be a recommendation for or against expansion. But if the commission determines that an expansion is warranted, it should not simply adopt that expansion by itself but in conjunction with a comprehensive review and evaluation of the programs that were put in place to complement expansion in 1996.

In each case -- PDR, infill and redevelopment and expansion-area rules -- the commission should evaluate the effectiveness of these programs and consider what revisions they need to be more effective.

Also, the commission needs to consider what additional programs might be needed to ensure that expansion is a benefit for the community as a whole. Then, the commission should work with the staff, administration and all interested parties to develop the needed program improvements that must accompany expansion if it is to benefit the community at large.

For instance, any expansion should be done only with an increased commitment of resources to the PDR program. If resources at a rate of X have been committed to PDR as a result of the last expansion, then a similar expansion should require a commitment of resources at the rate of 2X going forward. Similar commitments should be made for infill and redevelopment.

As to expansion area rules, it appears that those designed to promote and encourage the development of affordable housing have not been successful. The commission should determine why and make the appropriate changes. The same considerations apply to the nature of the physical development that has been realized to date.

I am sure there are many other examples of potential improvements as well as new programs.

The expansion of the Urban Service Area is an act of too great importance to be done in a vacuum. It must be done only as part of a careful consideration of all the aspects of development that it affects and that affect it.
----------
Walter May of Lexington was a member of the planning commission from 1986 to 1998 and its chairman from 1993 to 1998.

'Our hotel embodies Lexington'

By Karla Ward
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

FRANK ANDERSON | STAFF
General manager Gerry van der Meer, left, and co-owner Joe Montgomery took in the new Campbell House lobby, newly decorated in rich metallic tones. More in BusinessIt's been little more than a year since the Campbell House re-emerged on the Lexington hospitality scene with a new name -- the Crowne Plaza Campbell House -- and the completion of a major renovation.

Now its owners are beginning to see the fruits of their labor.

The Crowne Plaza Campbell House was one of 10 "great hotels for under $100" featured in Southern Living magazine last summer.

The Travel Channel has paid a visit.

And once again, big names are returning to the guest book that Queen Elizabeth, Elvis and Bob Hope once signed. Bill Cosby and Regis Philbin have stayed there recently, and Johnny Depp has been spotted in the dining room.

The Campbell House was once a favorite among the horsey set, a classic old-Lexington landmark.

But when Joe Montgomery and Stephen Dawahare bought the inn in 2002, many considered it dated and dreary. Meanwhile, newer hotels had sprung up around town, snapping up much of Lexington's corporate business.

The men have since sunk $14 million into its transformation.

The lobby, guest rooms and meeting spaces have been redecorated in rich gold, bronze and copper hues.

Arches, columns and faux storefront facades adorn the pool and patio area.

Each guest room has a Tempur-Pedic mattress and details such as extra pillows, CD player and guest pouch complete with lavender spray and a sleep mask.

"We put a lot of thought into how to bring this hotel back," Montgomery said. "It's been real gratifying to restore a landmark property in this community that really could've gone the way of the wrecking ball."

But turning a tired landmark around takes more than fancy furnishings.

'Very good upside potential'

The new owners have made staffing changes, added services and taken on new marketing strategies, including attaching a major brand name to the property.

Montgomery declined to share specific numbers, but said he and Dawahare are "very pleased with how our business is coming back. ... It has very good upside potential."

General Manager Gerry van der Meer said "the market is still soft," but the hotel's occupancy has been "steadily growing" since the renovation.

The 290-room hotel has 26 suites, including two high-end VIP suites that typically go for about $900 a night. (Regular guest rooms can range from less than $100 to $189, van der Meer said.)

An adjacent building has been converted to a 64-room Best Western.

"It's certainly a very positive step for the overall hotel industry in Lexington and just reinforces our ability to develop citywide conventions," said Bill Owen, who serves on the board of the Bluegrass Hospitality Association and is president and CEO of the Lexington Center Corp. "I grew up here. It's nice to see it back to the way I remember it."

Seeking a broader clientele

Montgomery and Dawahare met while working for the now-defunct PurchasePro in Las Vegas.

On returning to Lexington, Montgomery, a longtime contractor and developer, and Dawahare, an investment portfolio manager, teamed up to restore the inn to its former glory.

"Our hotel embodies Lexington," Montgomery said. "It resonates with people."

Much of the owners' work has been focused on bringing in a broader clientele.

They have used a new bar, Bogart's, to introduce a younger crowd to the hotel. The watering hole offers a trendy, old-Hollywood ambiance and live music on weekends.

The renovated restaurant, now known as Kilbern's, offers white tablecloth service and a buffet and menu that draws local families for Sunday brunch and couples for romantic evening dinners.

The owners have also been looking to the business world for more traffic.

Kilbern's draws a steady business crowd to its weekday lunch buffets, but the hotel also wants to bring in more corporate events.

"What this hotel needed was more focus on meetings and bringing the corporate traveler here," said van der Meer.

The Campbell House provides complimentary space and other services for non-profit organizations and charity events, such as United Way.

Those events have helped draw in people who can, in turn, spread the word of the hotel's turnabout.

"As you give, you will receive," van der Meer said.

This fall, Montgomery said, he plans to hold a grand opening event to introduce even more folks to the changes.

'The best general manger'

The hotel also needed someone like van der Meer, who spent 14 years at the Hilton Suites at Lexington Green, to run it, Montgomery said.

"We wanted to have the best general manager that we could find," he said. "The name that kept consistently coming up was Gerry van der Meer."

He's known around Lexington not only for his work in the hotel industry, but also for his work on various boards, including the YMCA board and the advisory committee for the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games.

Van der Meer said he sees his role as that of a coach, encouraging staff to take customer service up a notch every day.

"It's really re-energized me," van der Meer said. "A hotel's like a ship. It's just so neat to get her afloat again."

Reach Karla Ward at (859) 231-3314; 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3314; or kward1@ herald-leader.com.

'Ghost town' ready for razing and rebirth
BLUEGRASS-ASPENDALE SEES LAST RESIDENTS PACK UP AND DEPART
By Sarah Vos
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

The basketball courts at Bluegrass-Aspendale are empty, as is the playground, and most of the parking lots. Here and there, chairs grace a patio or a porch -- signs that a family may still live there.

A handful of kids ride around on bikes. Occasionally a car zooms down the street. An eerie quiet hangs over the housing complex, once home to 389 families.

"I come through one time; it looked like a ghost town," said Leota Parker, who lived at Bluegrass-Aspendale for 39 years and now has an apartment at Shropshire and Breckinridge.

By the end of the month, the complex will be a ghost town, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority officials say. Demolition is scheduled for October, and over the next four years, a new neighborhood will grow in its place.

Already, where Parker lives, 32 new town house apartments have been opened and 24 more are under construction. New streets connecting Race and Shropshire have been built. Plans call for a new elementary school, 260 public housing rentals and 103 privately owned homes.

The redevelopment is funded by a $20 million federal grant that the housing authority won last fall. By the time the grant was announced, 248 families lived at Bluegrass-Aspendale. Since then, residents have found new homes, either on their own or with help from the housing authority.

Approximately 44 families are still living at Bluegrass-Aspendale. All but five to seven families are in the process of moving, said Dot LeSage, a housing manager for the housing authority.

LeSage's staff is working with the remaining families to find new homes. Many of those still there have qualified for federal rent subsidies and want to move into the surrounding neighborhoods in Lexington's east end. But even if they can't find a privately owned apartment by the end of the month, there are enough openings at housing authority properties for all of them, LeSage said.

On Withrow Way, Jackie Smith, 35, dreams of a house with a yard for her three children.

"I want my own place, a real home," Smith said, as she sat on the front porch of her barracks-style apartment, where she lives with her husband, Richard, and her children. "I want to get away from public housing."

Smith has lived at Bluegrass-Aspendale for more than 13 years. The yard in front of her apartment was bare dirt. Garbage cans near the road, and around the complex, overflowed with household belongings, broken furniture and rusted bikes -- the detritus of those who had moved.

These days the neighborhood is more peaceful, Smith said. There are fewer kids, the cops come by less often and noisy neighbors are gone.

Smith's two youngest children are at Morton Middle School, and they will probably have to change schools, a transition that worries her. She wants them settled in a new home before Aug. 16, when school starts.

The search has been difficult, she said, but on Monday she found a place she likes and put in an application. It has three bedrooms, a basement and nice back yard.

"It's somewhere that I really like," she said. "It's somewhere I would like to stay."

Just down the block from Smith, Meichelle Miller was loading up her car and moving out of her Withrow Way apartment. Miller said she wasn't sad to leave.

"My street was the street everybody was shooting on," she said.

On the other side of the housing complex, Peggy Higgins, is ready to move, too.

"After everybody left me, I'm ready to go," Higgins said. Higgins, 60, lives with her daughter and two grandsons in an apartment on Breckinridge Avenue.

She would have made arrangements to move earlier, she said, but she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The doctors are treating it with chemotherapy, and she is often too sick to even sit on the back porch.

Higgins has lived at Bluegrass-Aspendale for 14 years. Before she got sick, she cleaned her patio every morning. It was so white it looked like she used Clorox, she said.

But the patio has grayed, and most of the neighbors are gone. Last weekend, Parker, 62, walked over from her new home, where she's been since December, to visit Higgins.

Parker likes her brand new apartment, but coming back is bittersweet.

"In a way, I miss living down here," she said.

Not all the memories are good. There were shots fired nearby, loud music, drug dealers and firecrackers set off too close to children.

Still, Higgins and Parker have fond memories of the neighborhood.

Higgins' daughter, Tonya, plans to take pictures of all the buildings before the housing authority tears them down. She has lived at Bluegrass-Aspendale since she was a teen-ager.

"I'm going to miss it," said Tonya Higgins, 30.

She plans to come back, when everything is rebuilt, and see how it has changed.

"It'll look like a whole different neighborhood," she said.

You know what Lexington needs to do RIGHT NOW? Get a more mainline airline to fly into LEX. Something like a Southwest or a Airtran (God forbid). I emailed Tom Tyre about it and told him that Lexington is a perfect city for Southwest, they just need to get them. I have yet to hear back from him though.

I agree, while I think it would be difficult to get Southwest to service the area right now I think people would certainly welcome it. Speaking of Southwest I'm in L.A right now and It cost me 279 for a round trip on Southwest. They are running some very very good rates right now into LA, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. I have a friend who is a Manager for Southwest and last I heard Southwest didn't have any plans to expand into any more markets at this time, but I will certainly check to see whats going on.

I agree, while I think it would be difficult to get Southwest to service the area right now I think people would certainly welcome it. Speaking of Southwest I'm in L.A right now and It cost me 279 for a round trip on Southwest. They are running some very very good rates right now into LA, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. I have a friend who is a Manager for Southwest and last I heard Southwest didn't have any plans to expand into any more markets at this time, but I will certainly check to see whats going on.


Yeah, WN isn't expanding anytime soon(they gotta get the new Dulles routes going first). But it would be good to "get in good" with those that count at WN. Lexington could use a good LCC that could offer flights to cities like Orlando, NYC, Dallas, Nashville etc. All places that Lexingtonians frequent quite often.

We definitely need to beef up our airport and add more flights. There was a boom of new flights last year and the year before. 6 or 7 cities were added but with airline cutbacks all but the DC flight and maybe one more have been scaled back. However Bluegrass Airport is one of the fastest growing in the nation in terms of customers flying in and out so hopefully we'll see something like Southwest showing up.

I drove by the Shelbourne Plaza site yesterday and saw construction fencing and crews doing demolition work. I'm glad this one is going to happen. 200 more residential units.

Yeah, WN isn't expanding anytime soon(they gotta get the new Dulles routes going first). But it would be good to "get in good" with those that count at WN. Lexington could use a good LCC that could offer flights to cities like Orlando, NYC, Dallas, Nashville etc. All places that Lexingtonians frequent quite often.

I'm sure SW will add service to Bluegrass in due time, as the airport traffic picks up and the demand grows then it shouldn't be a problem getting service.

I drove by the Shelbourne Plaza site yesterday and saw construction fencing and crews doing demolition work. I'm glad this one is going to happen. 200 more residential units.

Demand for this type of housing will only continue with gas prices being ridiculously high. I'm glad I only live a mile away from my job, you just don't understand how much money I save a month not having to drive 30-40 mins to work like I used to have to. While these places can get a little costly, I think in the long run you save money. Living in the suburbs is cool and quiet, but the commute can really dip into your pockets. I expect to see more and more folks in Lex move closer to downtown, alot of these older folks who have retired don't really need to the McMansions anymore, they are looking for something much smaller with all the amenities.

This is interesting news for my hometown of Winchester. Winchester is the next town east of Lexington and a significant amount of commuters work in LExington everyday.

Clark could get National Guard facility
400-500 JOBS COULD FOLLOW, OFFICIAL SAYS
By Steve Lannen
CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

WINCHESTER - A military facility could become Clark County's biggest employer, but for the moment it appears to be emerging only as a large topic of speculation.

Clark Judge-Executive John Myers said yesterday that he has discussed with National Guard Bureau officials in Washington, D.C., the possibility of locating a "support facility for military operations" near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Ky. 627, across from the county industrial park.

However, specifics of what would occur at the facility are sparse.

Myers said he was told the facility could include an airstrip and might be constructed on 450 acres. He said he has been assured that the facility, which would be on land near the Royal Oak housing development, would not include bombs, hazardous chemicals or other weapons.

But, Myers added, "We've not gone far enough along that they will give me details of what will transpire on this property."

If the Guard does build a facility, Myers guessed that perhaps 400 to 500 jobs could be created. But that number could grow if contractors or satellite companies locate nearby to supply materials, he said.

"We could be at 3,000 jobs, but they have given me no numbers to substantiate something like that," he said.

Myers is under the impression that other locations are also under consideration, but he said he was not told where.

A spokesman at the National Guard Bureau's office outside Washington, D.C., referred questions to the Kentucky National Guard in Frankfort.

After checking with Adjutant General Donald C. Storm, a Kentucky National Guard spokesman said he had no information about the proposed project.

"I have no information about any projects or the discussion of any projects in Clark County at this time," David Altom said.

That's not far from the status of people in the Royal Oaks neighborhood.

The idea of new jobs is exciting, they said, but they want more details before deciding how they feel about any project.

"I don't know where it's going to be or what it's going to be with," said Teresa Hibbitts, a treasurer for the homeowners association. "I like the idea of the jobs. I think that's kind of exciting, but we don't know what it's going to do for the values of our home or what."

A few houses away, Doug Charles said he first heard rumors months ago, but those rumors included building underground bunkers to protect the president during an underground attack.

He doesn't know if that's in the works, but he said he welcomes any military facility if it creates good-paying jobs.

"I wouldn't care if it started right at the edge of my property," he said.

LexTran's chief lauds 'new' transit system
CHANGES OCCURRED AFTER NEW TAX OK'D
By Jennifer Hewlett
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Lexington Transit Authority board members got to hear a success story last night, as LexTran general manager Terry Garcia Crews compared the bus system as it was 18 months ago to how it is now.

The main point of the story, which Crews had already told to other officials in town this week, is that bus service provided by LexTran, come Monday, will have grown by nearly 50 percent.

"It's really a tale of two systems," Crews said.

LexTran has undergone dramatic changes since voters agreed to a new tax to help support it in 2004. And on Monday, several new bus routes and services will begin operating.

Board member Ted McCormick thanked those responsible for helping LexTran move from a "very, very poor" to a "very, very fine" public transit system.

On Monday, LexTran will begin offering two neighborhood circulators -- one in north Lexington and one in the south end of town -- a jobs bus, service to Keeneland Race Course and Blue Grass Airport, a senior citizens bus and bus service in the Masterson Station area.

On Aug. 25, LexTran employees are invited to a party at LexTran headquarters on Loudon Avenue, which will include lunch and music, in celebration of the new services.

At last night's board meeting, board members agreed to extend the Keeneland-Blue Grass Airport route to weekends when there is racing at Keeneland. The board also approved operating the southside circulator on weekends between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. Initial plans were for those buses to operate only on weekdays.

In other action, the board agreed to the purchase of seven new 40-passenger buses. After the new buses are added, plans are for seven leased buses, which are 1992 and 1993 models, to be placed in reserve, said Dwight Maddox, a LexTran special projects coordinator.


Breaking out the shelters

For years, 30 bus stop shelters have been, well, sheltered, instead of providing shelter.

Spending money to set up and maintain the shelters wasn't possible as the city bus service, LexTran, struggled to provide bare-bones service with a shrinking budget.

But now, thanks to the tax overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2004, the metal and Plexiglas shelters will emerge from storage to provide cover for bus riders this winter. Surveys at the time of the vote showed that shelters were a critical issue.

LexTran officials have fought through a maze of requirements -- rights of way, permits, approvals from utilities -- but six are slated for installation this month and next, with the rest to be in place before winter is over.

The shelters join LexTran's other improvements since the tax was passed, including redesigned routes with more frequent stops, weekend service and more flexible service.

No city will thrive without a workable public transportation system. Lexington voters agreed to pay for one, and it's great to see we're getting what we paid for.

I was lurking over at UrbanPlanet and came across a thread with this information, taken from Wikipedia. At first I though it was a mix up with Museum Plaza, mentioning Lexington instead of Louisville, but that doesn't seem to be the case.


Wikipedia stated:

In July of 2006 Lexington based Sherman Carter Barnhart [3]. began preliminary work on designs for a proposed 65 story 900,000 square foot high rise funded jointly by an anonymous Lexington entrepreneur and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. This proposed mixed-use skyscraper would combine 270 luxury apartments with 30 floors of office space, shops, restaurant, pool and a health club with a clear differentiation between the apartments and offices. This is currently the tallest building planned or under development in the state.



I'm very skeptical because this would probably over-saturate the downtown market as well as violate the current height restrictions 3 times over, not to mention it would stick out like a sore thumb.

However it could kick some ass as well.

Can anyone verify that this is actually under consideration?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington,_Kentucky

270 is the number of lofts in MP. I think someone just has their info SERIOUSLY confused... Lexington really doesn't need a 65 story tower. I'd rather see a lot of nice residential highrises to beef up the already nice skyline.
EDIT: I had that wrong. I dunno why I remember 270, but its 150.
I really have a bias in believing this was made up because I DO NOT believe ANYTHING on wikipedia.

I checked the website that was referenced on Wikipedia and it doesn't not mention anything like this. Unless they are hiding this from the public I am very doubtful. I agree that Wikipedia can't always be trusted to be right.

I sent emails to the architect named in the blurb and the downtown development authority. Neither of them are aware of any such project. So someone on wikipedia is a bastard.

You never know really, either Wikipedia had the inside scoop on things or they received some wrong info. However if this development is true then i'm sure the Herald will be all over it soon, or even the Lex news stations. Plus it said something about the proposal being made in July of 06? Can they atleast link some pictures of something. Why wouldn't the media in Lex know back then? Ian you might have just opened a can of worms if they were trying to keep this secret.LOL If true where would such a large development locate?

Lexington should zone for progress
By Rob Snyder
Guest Writer

“It’s by learning that we are able to do better on purpose, and it is when we do things on purpose that we are able to realize our values in our actions. In other words, we become capable of making value-driven choices, rather than allowing ourselves to be governed by assumptions concerning processes over which we have no control.”
- David Brain


The physical form of Lexington today, urban and rural, is what it is because of the collective decisions of the people of Lexington.

In the sense of the quote by David Brain, our successes and our failures, the challenges we face and the physical form of our responses, are the result of our purposeful action, with the intent of realizing our values.


From time to time, it is helpful to study and learn from our own actions, to look at our city and learn from it, to understand again what values are driving our actions and decisions, to question again whether we are doing all that we can do and should do collectively to imagine, and collectively to decide, what our city and what our county should look like, and be like.


Consider the following photos:


Most of us would consider this street scene appealing and desirable, successful as a place to live and visit, to window shop while walking down the street, to have offices, apartments, and condominiums. It is also conceivable that such a street scene made of density and mixed-use could be surrounded by neighborhoods of lower density, with detached houses and yards. From those homes, people could walk here, do whatever they need to do, and - this is important - just enjoy being able to get out and walk around in an environment that offers the things we need every day, in an arrangement that is truly urban. It would give us a sense of a real place, a durable place that is truly our home, our street, our town, our place where we live and where, because of the synergy of so many things coming together in one place, we deeply care about it. We take ownership of it. We do all that we can over the long term to keep it home, to make it better, to keep it alive, vibrant.


This physical armature then of a city, a street, a neighborhood, is, I think we know, something that kind of needs to be there in the first place, as, well, it gives us a place “to be.”


By that I mean all kinds of things that could be discussed, ranging from the significance of the city as the place where, as people come in contact with each other, the opportunity presents itself to exercise and develop our culture. A place where because we see each other and interact in a place that accommodates numerous functions, we necessarily utilize the intellectual equipment we’re all born with, the use of which produces the very nature of our culture and civilization.


This kind of discussion could also develop along the lines of what some Catholic intellectuals I know describe as the “liturgical city.” I mention this because this conception of the city as a sacred place, which of course is not exclusively a Catholic idea, is also based on the importance of the ability to bring people together in a common place. This ancient knowledge and art-form of the making of urban place has been with humanity since the beginning of civilization. It’s a concept of the sacredness of society and its formation in a public realm of dignity, significance, and durability realized through our communal efforts at mutual care, understanding, and love for each other.


It is time for us to take note of these things again, and it would be right for us to question why it is then that almost everything in the pictures above is currently illegal in almost all of Lexington, except for parts of downtown.


There are trends in the development industry that have been with us for 60 or 70 years that kind of guide things along. There also are numerous other factors, not the least of which are things that people often point to: the abundance of land in our country, the desire to expand and grow, the habits of car use and highway infrastructure, post-WWII suburban development practices, and so on.


Underlying those trends though, is at least one major source of codified legal structure that sets the allowable parameters for the physical placement and arrangement of buildings and uses: zoning codes.


Zoning codes of the suburban model we know so well and grew up with spread like wildfire across the United States in the 1930s and ‘40s. Almost all American municipalities adopted one form or another of the national model zoning code. The essential premise of these codes is the division of the city into various categories of defined “uses,” and the separation of these uses from each other. So residential is separated from commercial. Commercial is separated from office. Office is separated from educational. Educational is separated from ecclesiastical, and so on. Connection then is provided by - cars! (Please make no mistake. I am not anti-car. I love cars. Italy, by the way is among the most urban of nations, yet also leads in per-capita ownership of cars.)


The result of these codes we can see all around Lexington. We have shopping centers, surrounded usually by many acres of parking, and subdivisions, and office parks, and schools out on the highway, all separate from each other.


The suburbs then, as we know them, are not bad, but they can not, 70 years later, still be thought of as a one-size-fits-all solution. It is time for Lexington to take meaningful, purposeful action to learn, and to modify or append the underlying legal structure that currently allows only use-separation, based on conventional zoning. Lexington should allow both conventional zoning and what otherwise used to be known as conventional urbanism.


We need to move decisively on that point now. Real urban streets, mixed-use, density, building up to the sidewalk, on-street parking - all of these things make for the possibility of beautiful and functional urban place in streets narrow and wide, in squares large and small. We need to decide now to stop making them illegal.


A city the size of Lexington should develop its urban physical capital not only in the downtown, where current efforts at development are admirable and should be encouraged, but also elsewhere, in many other areas throughout the city. There should be, conceptually, a network of smaller areas of density at appropriate places throughout the city, each neighborhood with its own specific character and qualities.


What would it take for us as a city, our leaders, everyone involved in the building process and all of the people of Lexington to do this?


Why don’t we try to find out?


Let’s find ways to develop a process to define our city’s vision of itself, of ourselves - a vision of our place.


Why should we do this?


Because we want to raise our quality of life, improve the quality of building, improve the quality, beauty and function of our public realm, our public places. We want to raise our property values, create a stronger sense of community, and create streets and places that we truly care about for the long term, places we take ownership of and responsibility for. We want more parts of our city to be a sheer joy to live in and be in, because of the physical beauty of the buildings, their arrangement together, and the places that are made there because of that arrangement of buildings and uses.


Finally, we need also do it because we need a good solution that protects our rural and agricultural landscape as much as possible, without ruining economic development.


Let’s have a framework within which it is possible for us not only to have a more beautiful, more functional, and more valuable city. Let’s also have a city that builds on land that is already occupied as much as possible. Let’s use the ancient arts of urbanism and architecture to find ways to have what we want in our city. By doing so, let’s reduce this continuous pressure put on our rural countryside and on our horse farms, pressure that is put there inescapably by the current zoning rules that require single-use, very low density building everywhere (thus maximizing land consumption and expansion). Let’s modernize/update the rules of development, and let’s get a win-win for everyone.


We need a win-win, mostly because it is far better than a lose-lose, where urban development is not nearly as inspired as it should be, and at the same time more and more valuable horse farms are pressured by continuous outward expansion of the city.


There is no reason, though, for this to be a never-ending battle between two opposing forces that have nothing in common. If we do things carefully, both the city and the country can be better, and they can, in fact, co-exist harmoniously in proximity. We just need to change the rules of the game to make it so.


Further information, and a specific alternative to conventional municipal zoning codes can be found here: h


On this Web site can be found the SmartCode (and its prefacing commentary), a new code that has been adopted in numerous American cities in the last few years. Most notably, SmartCode has been implemented citywide in Montgomery, Ala., now, marking their move away from zoning, toward a more integrated form of urbanism.


Rob Snyder is a 31-year resident of Lexington, and a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Architecture. Currently taking his professional Architectural Registration Exams, Rob is a founding member of McKay Snyder Architects in Lexington.

^^Where was this posted..would love to see the pics.

It was posted in business lexington www.bizlex.com

A photo of the 500's progress as well as site prep happening at the Shelbourne Plaza site (Looking East toward Broadway (UK's Patterson Office Tower in the background.)

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ianandveronica036.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ianandveronica035.jpg

Ian thank for keeping us updated on the construction efforts. I spent so much time in Patterson office building I'm still sick of seeing it.LOL

More construction updates...

The Nunn Building at Short and MLK being converted to condos
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ian001.jpg

CenterCourt. Its a large site and I couldnt get the whole thing in one shot. So two photos.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ian003.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ian002.jpg

Awesome!
Things are looking great. Thanks for the updates.
I really like the Nunn Building. :okay:

Portion of East Third Street undergoes a renaissance
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/3rdstreet.jpg
The brick building on the right, 120 East Third Street, is undergoing renovations that will turn it back into a single-family home. The one on the left will be renovated next. Both are owned by Linda Carroll and John Morgan, whose business is in the middle

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/3rdst.jpg
The buildings at 147 East Third, left, and 151 East Third are among those that are being or have been restored.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/238376553344.jpg
Laurella Lederer has lived on East Third Street between North Limestone and Martin Luther King Boulevard since 1973, when she began to turn a condemned property into her home. The neighborhood leader's latest project: Build two houses where the former Ashley's Wheel and Brake Service now sits.
The Ashley's Wheel and Brake Service building at 139 East Third Street used to be as nice as any house on the block, former owner Stan Eldridge said.

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When Linda Carroll and her husband bought 122 East Third Street, they didn't know it had a basement until renovations began. Now it is office space for their consulting firm.


But as restoration of old houses between North Limestone and Martin Luther King Boulevard picked up in recent years, Ashley's was outclassed. "We didn't fit in anymore," he said.

Since 2004, about seven dilapidated buildings in this stretch have been transformed into handsome offices and living spaces. Work is under way on three more. Six remain untouched.

In October, Eldridge and his brother Dan sold the Ashley's building to Laurella Lederer, who lives across the street and plans to raze it and build two single-family houses. The Eldridges moved their business a block away, to 235 East Second Street, in July.

Residents give Lederer credit for sparking the neighborhood renaissance.

"She's more of a driving force in this neighborhood than anyone," said Mark Williams, who is restoring 110 East Third, a former pawn shop. Williams said it will become a law office.

Lederer bought her house at 138 East Third Street in 1973, after it had been condemned. She moved in but did not have workable plumbing for three months.

She said she took a gamble on her fixer-upper because she liked old houses and couldn't afford one in good condition. In 1985, the former church musician and stockbroker bought the house next door. She sold it five years ago to her niece Kimberly Comstock, who is helping design the houses for the Ashley's site.

The East Third Street block turned a critical corner 10 years ago, Lederer said, when John Morgan and his wife, Linda Carroll, bought 122 East Third for $40,000 and spent $180,000 to restore it as an office for their business, Morgan Worldwide Consultants Inc., a mining engineering company.

"It was in such horrible shape," Carroll said. "There was a basement we didn't know even existed until we tore out a wall and saw the opening."

Three years ago, the couple bought the houses on each side of the business. They paid $90,000 for one, which Carroll said was a former crack house, and have spent more than $400,000 to restore it to a single-family residence. "That will be the test for success of the block," she said. "Can we sell it?"

She hopes it will be on the market by year's end. A price has not been set.

The area around East Third and North Limestone is "an up-and-coming neighborhood," Williams said. "Historic houses are a scarce commodity in this town. Not many good ones are left."

Neighbors credit Lederer with leadership in turning a shabby block into a stellar example of high-quality restoration.

"Laurella has been the catalyst" for the neighborhood upgrading, said Greg Martelli, owner of Fox Hill Construction.

In May, Martelli bought 147 East Third Street from Lederer for $225,000. The house was "structurally compromised and on the edge of its active life," he said.

Martelli gutted the interior, replaced floor joists, and rebuilt the chimney and all the window openings. The construction and architectural divisions of Fox Hill will move to the second floor. The first floor will be leased.

Three brick cottages that have not been restored are owned by Gene Mullins, owner of United Grafix at East Third Street and Martin Luther King. The houses, and United Grafix commercial buildings with 17,000 square feet, are for sale as one parcel for $2.5 million.

Architect Greg Fitzsimons has stirred controversy on the street with a plan to build two townhouses in the back yard of a house he owns next to Lederer. Last week he said he was ready to resubmit his design to the Board of Architectural Review for the two carriage-house style condos.

Lederer is fighting the project. "I don't want to go in my garden and look at a solid brick wall," she said.

This block, anchored on the two Limestone corners by Whitehall Funeral Home and Doodles restaurant, which is not yet open, is architecturally noteworthy, said Bettie Kerr, director of the city's division of historic preservation, because it has survived intact. "There are no gaping holes where houses have been torn down," Carroll said.

Lederer credits this to being in a historic district where property owners need approval from the Board of Architectural Review before demolition can occur. The block has been part of the Constitution Historic District since 1976.

Last week, Lederer met with Kerr to talk about the project and architectural styles for the houses she plans to build on the Ashley's Wheel and Brake site.

Lederer hopes to build environmentally sensitive houses using geothermal heat or solar panels. "Whether you can pull that off in an historic district and meet all the requirements, I don't know," she said.

The review board "can be a hassle to deal with. It slows things down. It costs more money to do things," Lederer aid. "But it's worth the trade-off."

Exterior changes must follow the board's design review guidelines. "The good about that is you can't add monstrous additions on the back," she said. Even though there are additions on some buildings, including the small brick one that houses Morgan Worldwide Consultants, they were added discreetly and are not detectable from the street.

Improvements on the block have had a positive effect on the surrounding area as well as downtown, Kerr said. "Any time one historic building is restored, much less a span of buildings, it's important."
News researcher Linda Niemi contributed to this article. Reach Beverly Fortune at (859) 231-3251 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3251, or bfortune@herald-leader.com.

Hidden treasures my friends, hidden treasures. That, to me, is Lexington.

By Michelle Ku
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/Lyric.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/krosejr/151447738226.jpg

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A renovated Lyric Theater could feature an auditorium with stadium seating or one with seats following the historic building's original plan.

Space for an African-American museum, gallery and meeting place could be spread throughout the theater, or it could be kept together in one location by building an addition.

Restrooms are planned for the first and second floor, but they could also be added to the basement, where the building's only restrooms were located when the theater closed in 1963.

Members of the community are being asked to help make those decisions at a community meeting tonight to bring back the Lyric, which was once the entertainment hub for Lexington's black community. The Lyric has been vacant since 1963.

The city's Lyric Theater Task Force will present two conceptual designs for how space in a renovated Lyric should be used.

There are some similarities between the two plans. Each calls for creating a 500-seat theater, restoring the Lyric's original lobby -- complete with terrazzo flooring -- and constructing an outdoor reception area that could feature a sculpture garden. Both options also call for installing an elevator, making the stage larger and expanding the building.

But how programming space in the building is used will depend on what option the community likes.

In one option, the building would be expanded slightly by adding performing arts production support space such as dressing rooms, a green room and a rehearsal area. The expansion would be done on land the city already owns.

In this option, stadium seating would be added to create more room in the Lyric's first floor for a museum. A gallery and multi-purpose meeting space would be on the second floor.

The second option would add performing arts support space as well, but also calls for purchasing adjacent land to construct a building for a museum, gallery and meeting space. Gallery space also would be added to the second floor of the existing structure.

By placing the gallery and meeting space in a new building, the existing Lyric building could be devoted to use as a performing arts facility. The seating would be installed on the sloped floor that is original to the Lyric.

Cost estimates have not been worked up for either option.

Input gathered at tonight's meeting will be used to refine the two concepts, said Charlie Boland, an official in the city's chief administrator's office.

The refined concepts will be presented to the community during a a follow-up meeting at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at Greater Liberty Baptist Church.

The task force will take suggestions from the follow-up meeting and make its recommendations to the Urban County Council in October.

The task force will probably forward both options to the council while noting the one that the community preferred, Boland said.

But "if there's overwhelming support from the public, then we'll throw one of them out."

Located at the corner of East Third Street and Elm Tree Lane, the Lyric once hosted entertainers such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie.

Driving out Newtown Pike and back into town on W. Main I saw two projects of interest are getting underway.

Newpast: A unique four story condo development is getting underway on a thin, long strip of land. It looks like steel is rising to about 3 floors now.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Newpast.gif

Lexhold: Two five story buildings in Coldstream are going up. This one had stalled but it looks like dirt is moving and the buildings should rise soon. Both these buildings will be full of high-tech jobs.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/lexhold.jpg


My batteries are dead in my camera. As soon as i get some new ones ill get some pictures on here.

Instead of Main Street being a one-way street, picture Main with two-way traffic, the way it was more than 30 years ago.

Last night, the Downtown Development Authority unveiled a transportation study looking at the impact of converting downtown's one way streets to two-way. Would there be traffic congestion? How much would travel time increase?

"We're here to discuss ideas, alternatives to (vehicular) traffic like more bikeways," said Harold Tate, executive director of the authority, at the outset. "Keep an open mind. Share your ideas with us."

The transportation analysis on the impact of converting one-way streets to two-way is the major component of the soon-to-be unveiled Downtown Master Plan, said transportation engineer Tom Creasey.

Tate said he hopes the master plan will be released in its entirety in the next 30 days.

Creasey stressed that his job was to determine "if one way streets were two-wayed, what would happen, like traffic, delays and travel time."

Eight one-way streets in the city's core were studied by Creasey with American Consulting Engineers, of Lexington. What would it be like if Maxwell and High, Main and Vine, Short and Second, and Upper and Limestone were two-way streets?

Lexington's downtown streets were made one-way in the early 1970s, Creasey said. "Traffic efficiency was the big reason." Suburbs were growing, "people wanted to get downtown in the morning, and home quickly in the evening," he said in an interview before his community presentation.

Converting streets back to two-way is a trend being seen in cities throughout the country as downtowns are being revitalized and becoming destinations, he said.

The traffic study will be presented to the Planning Commission and Urban County Council for approval. However, with the exception of Short and Second, all the streets are state roads and any changes in direction must be approved in Frankfort.

Creasey said the switch-over could be expensive.

Linda Godfrey, a member of the Planning Commission attending the meeting, said that more than 35 years ago, Lexington officials wanted to move people through downtown. "Today our goal is to move people to downtown," she said. "Traffic congestion is not so much the issue as making downtown more pedestrian friendly."

Two-way traffic travels slower, Creasey said. That's a safety benefit for pedestrians and bicyclists -- and it makes getting around easier, especially if you're a visitor.

Creasey used computer simulated traffic for a typical weekday rush hour -- morning and afternoon -- in the year 2030 when the projected population living downtown will be 24,000, and 40,000 people will work in the central city. But many more people will walk, bike or take the bus to and from work.

Some of his findings include:

• Travel time on Vine, Main, Maxwell and High streets would increase significantly, especially in the afternoon.

• Travel time from one end of Maxwell and High to the other would be about 20 minutes. Traveling on Vine from Broadway to Midland would increase about 40 percent.

• With Maxwell and High being fairly narrow, there would not be adequate room for left turn lanes unless on-street parking was cut back.

• No significant impact on conversion to two-way would be felt on Second and Short streets.

• One congested spot would be the triangle where Maxwell, High and Woodland come together. Another would be in the vicinity of Rose, Main and Vine.

• With two-way streets, getting around downtown would be "more intuitive," Creasey said. "If streets are laid out on a grid, if you miss a location, it's easier to get back on your route."

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Downtown2-way20map.jpg

The Lexington Gameday Center may not be dead afterall. Not to add to the already heavy downtown rumor mill but it's right there in the article.

The orignal plan for a 15 story condo tower was killed by neighborhood opposition but the developers apparently haven't given up and are looking at another site near Rupp Arena.

Height issue kills plans for condos across from Rupp
By Scott Sloan
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

Plans to build a Gameday Center across the street from Rupp Arena to give University of Kentucky basketball fans a home near their home floor have been scrapped.

Gameday Centers Southeastern had planned to build a 126-unit center on a 1.3-acre lot at Broadway and High Street, across from Rupp Arena, that now includes a vacant lot, a historic home and a one-story office building.

But last June, a board that oversees new buildings in historic areas voted down the planned 10-story structure, noting it was three stories taller than an earlier proposal. The initial proposal called for 15 stories.

Gary Spillers, CEO of Gameday Centers Southeastern, based in Atlanta, said the company went back to the Board of Architectural Review with a plan for seven stories but the board then asked for the building to be five stories.

"It was the most frustrating experience I've ever had trying to get something zoned," Spillers said.

Opponents of the development say it would be out of place in a neighborhood where the majority of the buildings are less than three stories tall.

But Spillers said high-rise buildings along the north side of High Street and the west side of Broadway should be considered when deciding an appropriate height for the condo complex.

Spillers said the company also encountered problems when proposing its development near Clemson University, but that spat involved retail and residential zoning instead of historic districts, he said.

Spillers said the company is looking at an undisclosed site close to Rupp Arena and hopes to have something planned in the near future.

More than 50 people had made deposits on the condos. The deposits have since been returned, Spillers said, though some customers asked the company to keep them for the potential new site.

How silly and small town minded. 15 stories is "too tall" for a downtown? Lexington is not THAT small!

It's a little more complicated than that. (thank goodness) The tower was proposed in a historic district, that's how some of the neighbors were able to kill the tower.

^^ It still is silly. Lexington has reached that point where it can support highrise residential IMO.

Anywho, I will be in town this weekend for the opening of Keenland (and specifically for the fine ladies that will be there for it :) ) Any ideas or recs for hot new restuarants or bars? I haven't been in lex in a yr.

Hmm... I've been out of the social scene for a little while, work is killing me. But as far restaurants are concerned I'd recommend Charlie Brown's in Chevy Chase for a cool atmosphere, Ramsey's at High and Woodland for good and relatively cheap food, Atomic Cafe at Third and Limestone for spicy mediterrean, or Mai Thai (the best Thai Food on Earth in my opinion) at Limestone and Conn (near UK hospital).

Bars/Clubs

The Dame at Main and Upper for Live Music local and indie groups, Buster's next door is a pool hall with a punk rock kind of atmosphere, the Horse and Barrell if you want a more upscale Brittish Pub atmosphere. If these dont suit you walk around the area bounded by Vine, Limestone, Short, and Broadway and you should find something.

Have fun!

Thanks, I think I will try Mai Thai. Ironically there is a Mai's Thai in Louisville (well actually Jeffersonville). I wonder if its the same people? Anyways, I love Thai food. Maybe I will check out a show at the Dame, I haven't been there in a while.

Anywho, any must see development? I won't be with any development fiends like me but are there any must see new developments around Gratz Park or downtown?

All midrises,

-The 500's are on Main across from Rupp Arena, next to Victorian Square.
-CenterCourt Is at Upper and Bolivar in the UK area.
-Shelbourne Plaza is a block west but they are still doing site prep so not much to see. The same is true with Main & Rose and the Nunn Building.
-There are some recently completed condos on MLK between High and Maxwell.
-A 5 story office building with the ugliest facade in town (in my opinion) is nearing completion at Vine and Mill.
-Newpast is starting to raise steel between Jefferson and Newtown on Main.
-If you're in to smaller projects check out the Kimball House at Maxwell and Limestone, and Third St. between Limestone and MLK, that entire block is being renovated.
-Right next to Mai Thai is the site of the new UK hospital and medical campus. The construction they're doing now is for the parking structure, when that's complete they'll tear down the one across the street to make way for the new hospital.

That's all that comes to mind right now. If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

UK seeks changes to boost research and economic development
By Art Jester
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER


University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. wants to reorganize UK's administration to boost its efforts in research and economic development.

On Tuesday, Todd will present to UK's Board of Trustees for its approval a two-part plan for reorganization:

• All university research would fall under the direct authority of the new provost, or chief academic officer, Kumble Subbaswamy.

• UK will create an Office of Economic Development and Commercialization that will report directly to Todd.

In a release, Todd called the proposed reorganization part of UK's plan to become a Top 20 public research university and a "catalyst for a new commonwealth."

"Moving Kentucky's economy forward by conducting cutting-edge research and then translating that research we do in labs into viable commercial products and businesses is a critical part of that mission," Todd said in a written statement.

Previously, research fell under the purview of a vice president, or more recently, an executive vice president.

However, Wendy Baldwin, the former executive vice president for research, left UK to take a job with the Population Council in New York City. She had reported directly to Todd.

"We've had tremendous success in research under Dr. Baldwin's leadership, with five years of research expenditures in excess of $200 million, including $290 million last year," Todd said.

The proposed Office of Economic Development and Commercialization will focus on helping university research make its way into the marketplace, according to UK.

The office will work with federal, state and local economic development officials and will seek potential investors for startup companies that would capitalize on UK research.

UK noted a report issued last month by the Milken Institute, an economic think tank in Santa Monica, Calif. The report ranked universities by their ability to transform research into economic development and business enterprises.

UK ranked 23rd among public universities in the United States and 35th among all U.S. universities in its success at transforming research into technology and commercial activities.

Its been a while since I've posted some construction photos of downtown projects so I took a few today Enjoy.

Nunn Building
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9012.jpg
You can see some work has been done to the interior. They are starting site prep for the new addition as well. I'll get some photos of that as soon as the structure starts to rise.

Main & Rose
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9018.jpg

CenterCourt
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9013.jpg
I took this shot from a distance so you can see most of the project in one shot. They've started work on the facade and are installing windows. Here's a close up.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9015.jpg

UK Hospital
It looks like the parking garage will start rising soon but I could be mistaken. By the looks of it site prep is almost complete. This crane represents the first stage of the complete transformation of South Limestone.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9007.jpg

Shelbourne Plaza
They're still working on site prep. But I thought I'd get a photo for the fun of it.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9009.jpg

I still havent gotten down to Woodland to photograph progress on The Mark and for some reason it didnt occur to me to get a picture of the Kimball House. I'll try to get both of those soon.

Enjoy!

Grocers might return to downtown
Developer says one food store has signed letter of intent
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Mark Cornelison/Staff

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/shelbourne2.jpg

The South Broadway site "qualifies for a grocery store," because it's on a major, four-lane road.
More photosDreams of a downtown grocery store have eluded Lexington mayors and downtown boosters for years. Now the developer of Shelburne Plaza, a mixed-use development at the corner of Pine and Broadway, says he has a letter of intent signed by a grocery store chain to locate in his development.

Two other Main Street developers say they are also actively trying to recruit a store for their projects.

Guy J. Totino, developing Shelburne Plaza, said he is in discussion with two grocery stores chains. "We have actually signed a letter of intent with one of them," he said in a telephone interview last week.

Totino would not release the name until a lease has been signed, closer to the time the project will open, probably in early 2009. Retailers are focused on the stores that are going to be built first, he said. "While they're trying to fill their funnel for future years, their priority deals are the ones that are in '07, '08 and then '09."

Retailers can be skittish about committing publicly too far in advance, said Julian Beard, the city's director of economic development. But Beard also said that a grocery was "100 percent." He declined to name the store since "nothing's been signed on the dotted line quite yet."

Desire for a downtown grocery has been so high that Mayor Teresa Isaac, running for re-election against challenger Jim Newberry, says in one of her TV campaign ads that the city has made progress in downtown development, with "a grocery to come." Beard confirmed that Shelburne Plaza is the store Isaac refers to in her ad.

Shelburne Plaza will have 230 apartment units and 80,000 square feet of retail space. Construction is expected to start in the spring.

Totino, owner of Polaris Real Estate Equities in Cleveland, said market studies done by two grocery companies indicated that the South Broadway site "qualifies for a grocery store in their eyes." It's on a major, four-lane road traveled by almost 50,000 cars a day. A traffic light has been approved for the site and, "it's on the going-home side of the street," an important factor to any retailer who wants to attract shoppers on the way home from work. Proximity to the university and the hospital "all make it very attractive," he said.

Bill Lear, with several projects in nearby South Hill, said because of Shelburne's letter of intent he's not trying to get a grocery store. Even with a full-size grocery, he thinks there's still room for a small market downtown, "not close to Shelburne Plaza, but toward the east end of downtown near where Phil Holoubek's project is."

Holoubek is developer of Main & Rose residential-retail complex at East Main Street and Elm Tree Lane and said if he could get a grocery store, it would have "a huge positive impact on our project and on downtown in general," Holoubek said. The four-story building will have 96 condominium apartments and 25,000 square feet for businesses, such as restaurants, day spas and other retail.

With 25,000 people in the downtown work force and 9,000 residents, the city is "on the border line of having enough people for a grocery store," said Harold Tate, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority.

Robin Schneider is pursuing smaller, "boutique grocery stores" like Trader Joe's, a Boston-based high-end specialty store for 500's on Main, his mixed-use development that encompasses an entire block of West Main Street opposite the Lexington Center. Downtown doesn't have the land for a "Kroger supercenter with 600 parking spaces," he said, adding that it's "not out of the question for somebody local" to do a grocery.

Walt Barbour, former manager of Randall's on Romany Road, has been approached about opening a downtown grocery by more than one developer. "I spent a lot of time with Bill Lear" about a possible store in the South Hill area. "But at the end of the day, the numbers just didn't work," Barbour said. "There are not enough rooftops downtown to support a supermarket."

"A grocery is a very low profit-margin business," he said. When he figured start-up costs combined with rent, possibly $20 a square foot, "You've got to sell a whole lot of groceries at a high margin" to pay for that space. In major cities like New York, many residents don't have cars so they shop at their local grocery stores. But people who live in downtown Lexington have cars, Barbour said, and can drive to Wal-Mart, Kroger or Meijer.

Holoubek said grocers have told him a necessary element to locating downtown is having two-way streets. Seventy to 80 percent of the grocery business is drive-home business. "So they want to be in a location where people who are working downtown are driving home past that site," he said. "If we have two-way streets, I'm 80 percent sure we can get a grocery at our site."

Converting all downtown one-way streets to two-way has come up recently in a downtown traffic analysis. The plan is part of the the Downtown Master Plan, soon to be released,

"If the city is serious about economic development, there's no alternative other than two-way streets in downtown," he said.

wow this is great news. Are there even any small grocers in downtown Lexington? How far is the closest grocery say, from Victorian Square?

Also, it is somewhat surprising that Lexington has 9,000 downtown residents. I am guessing the definition of downtown is fairly liberal. I was just there and explored around, and while there were a few good developments, I think the city has lots of work to do downtown--but also lots of potential with UK students/faculty really eating up the whole urban living thing.

That is a fairly liberal estimate. They include the historic neighborhoods around the core into the number.

The nearest grocery store is at Euclid near it's intersection with High St. Definitely not comfortable walking distance. This grocery will be three block from Victorian Square.

I passed by Main & Rose today and steel is beginning to rise there. The construction on this project is moving ahead very quickly! I'll have pictures soon!

A blurb from Business Lexington
www.bizlex.com

This will likely be the biggest infill project we've seen so far since the trend began. Exciting stuff.

Field narrowed to one for Transit Center development

The Lexington Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) has narrowed the field from three contenders to the Dallas–based global development firm Trammell Crow in discussions on the construction of a mixed-use project above the Transit Center on Vine Street.


In June it was announced that the LDDA had received proposals from several developers for a mixed-use development project, combining entertainment, retail, and residential into one structure. The transit terminal and 770-space parking garage, built in the late 1980s, was designed to support a multi-story structure on top.


LDDA Executive Director Harold Tate confirmed that talks are continuing with Trammell Crow, but added, "nothing else has been decided at this point."

A blurb from Business Lexington
www.bizlex.com

This will likely be the biggest infill project we've seen so far since the trend began. Exciting stuff.

Field narrowed to one for Transit Center development

The Lexington Downtown Development Authority (LDDA) has narrowed the field from three contenders to the Dallas–based global development firm Trammell Crow in discussions on the construction of a mixed-use project above the Transit Center on Vine Street.


In June it was announced that the LDDA had received proposals from several developers for a mixed-use development project, combining entertainment, retail, and residential into one structure. The transit terminal and 770-space parking garage, built in the late 1980s, was designed to support a multi-story structure on top.


LDDA Executive Director Harold Tate confirmed that talks are continuing with Trammell Crow, but added, "nothing else has been decided at this point."

They keep teasing us with this development. Could they atleast give us some sample drawings of the proposals? Is that asking for to much? They are taking a long time. The renderings it better be awesome(which I'm sure they will be).LOL I've been checking quite often to see if the drawings or atleast proposals were out in the public. I guess they keeping these plans behind close doors for crediblity purposes which I understand. As a fan of urban development I guess I'm just a little antsy.

I know what you mean. I scoured the developers website today for any hint of details about the project. Since the general public doesnt get as excited about this stuff as we do there's really no incentive to publish renderings. I'll send the DDA a email tomorrow and see when we can expect some news.

WEEE.. about time...but as stated they love to tease us on this one! ;)

Good to hear from you Krose I was wondering where you've been.

Good to hear from you Krose I was wondering where you've been.

I would just like to see something on this. I'm just hoping that they do this prime piece of land right. I would love to see a high rise go up here. Or even like a 12-16 story midrise would be cool. Lex could certainly use another upscale hotel downtown. Hopefully they don't get conservative and give us the wow factor that we have been waiting on for years. I think the fine folks in Lexington deserve a signature downtown. This is the perfect spot downtown to just do it big. My fingers are crossed for a high rise. Given the politicians in Fayette County you never know.

well the good thing is that the company is so large they can afford to go high. However there is a 15 floor max right now (stupid) but the development is two pieces of land stradling MLK I'm personally hoping for twins!

Steel is starting to rise at Main & Rose:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/construction/october9027.jpg

Sorry for the smudges on the photo. They're from my nasty windshield. I've got to clean my car in the worst way.

well the good thing is that the company is so large they can afford to go high. However there is a 15 floor max right now (stupid) but the development is two pieces of land stradling MLK I'm personally hoping for twins!

Twins would be great too. Having two midrises would look good because it would add to some infill downtown. It would fill out the skyline downtown perfectly. I kinda like that idea of having multiple midrises. If they do it that way atleast they will get good use out of that property.

Good to hear from you Krose I was wondering where you've been.

Hello all! thanks man...it has been a while...been so busy with redoing the house, work, my Masters, etc... just been crazy!

This is interesting, found it on the planning commision's website. It looks like a mixed use (office, residential, retail) development that also includes regular housing units as well as assisted living units for seniors.

Several buildings ranging from 2 to 7 (The lower two floors are a parking structure.) stories in a depressed part of town just north of the Main & Rose devlopment under construction now.

Could be very interesting.

http://www.lfucg.com/AdminSvcs/Planning/Plans/200610/DP2006-146.pdf

MADISON, Wis. - A look down on southern Wisconsin shows a landscape shifting from massive farms to rural homes, to neighborhoods, to a brightly lit city between two large lakes. That's Madison, home to 222,000 people, about 150 miles of bike trails, more than 50 live music venues, at least two specialty cheese shops and the University of Wisconsin.

From a comparable perspective, Central Kentucky's rolling acres of bluegrass give way to horse barns, subdivisions and then, our own city, with 268,000 people, 19,000 campus parking spaces, nine movie-theater complexes, two racetracks and the University of Kentucky.

The view from the air shows two mid-size college towns, but on the ground, they're different. Madison, the home of a Top 20 university, has a lifestyle that includes entertainment for everyone, whether you're a teenage indie rock fan, a stay-at-home dad or a theater-going businesswoman. It's known for high-tech jobs, artistic opportunities, local activism and statewide pride. It has ethnic restaurants next to mid-priced boutiques. Smooth Wisconsin ice cream, chilled Wisconsin beer, and bright red Wisconsin sweatshirts are its hallmarks, along with Saturday mornings at the farmers market on the Capitol lawn and Saturday nights on the Wisconsin Union's lakeside terrace.

Madison has been called the Berkeley of the Midwest -- and it's a place where people want to live.

UK wants to move from 35th among public research universities to crack the Top 20. To do that, it needs to attract more and better students, faculty and other creative minds. But it needs a Top 20 university town to keep them here.

"If you want that school in Lexington to be a major university, what is going to be its claim to that title?" asks Michael Goldberg, interim president of Madison's Overture Center for the Arts. "To change the university, you may have to change Lexington."

So far, the plan for the university is on track. Backed by $25 million from the state government for the 2006-08 biennium, the Top 20 plan calls for 7,000 more students, 625 new faculty members and the infrastructure and community to welcome them.

By 2020, Lexington could look more like Madison than the city you see today, but it's up to its residents to make it feel like a top college town.

The Top 20 plan bolsters the university, says UK President Lee Todd, but its point is to improve the quality of life for the entire state, starting in Lexington, even if you never set foot inside a math lab or a humanities lecture hall. "The campus of the university is really the commonwealth," he says. "We've got to regain it."

Bluegrass and basketball

With UK and Transylvania University snuggled inside Fayette County, Lexington is a center for education, student life and some of the special perks and problems that come with them, such as a focus on downtown housing, as well as a proximity to noisy, beer-fueled house parties. It has the colleges, but it doesn't compare to the feel of Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan; the high-tech operations of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; the politics of the University of California-Berkeley; the music of the University of Texas-Austin or the lifestyle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"When you say Lexington, people say bluegrass," Todd says. "When you say UK, it's basketball that comes up. There are many people who assume it's in Louisville. We have to build a reputation.

"What you notice in a college town is how integrated the town and the universities are. I love Madison and Ann Arbor -- those are two towns we should attempt to emulate. You can walk out of class, go across the street and have many places to eat and shop. UK and downtown were only three blocks apart, but 50 miles apart, mentally."

College and city officials have different ideas about why Lexington hasn't thrived like other college towns, such as Madison. The blame, they say, could go to history. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Lexington was the "Athens of the West," known for top education and vibrant culture. But some in Lexington clung to the past instead of developing for the future, and education wasn't as great a priority around the state.

Others blame development that drew people away from downtown, traffic patterns that encouraged driving instead of walking, and community organizations that were competitive with university groups for arts patrons. Many students returned home for the weekend, never bothering to connect with their college town. Some argue that UK's sports reputation overshadowed innovative academic and arts programs, suggesting that the borders of the university didn't go beyond Rupp Arena.

The Wisconsin Idea

While college towns such as Madison grew into bustling centers of art and science, health care and retail, UK and Lexington officials say each developed separately, without tapping into the energy of the other.

"I think everybody recognized that there was this entity over here," says Julian Beard, the city's economic development director, gesturing toward the window of his downtown office and the campus that lies beyond it. "It'd been that way since 1865. But in a marriage of that length, you take each other for granted. You think you don't have to work at anything."

The town-and-gown relationship in Lexington might have faltered because of complacency. Until economic considerations called for change, as they do now, people were content without a top-ranked university, a bustling college town and the financial progress that combination can bring.

"There are many people who would prefer it stay as it is, that we don't make any changes," said Harold Tate, executive director of Lexington's Downtown Development Authority. "If you bring in a lot of college students to an area, it makes people in mixed neighborhoods nervous. Everybody is just cautious."

Todd's theory: Kentuckians need convincing that we deserve a Top 20 university -- and the life that goes with it.

"People didn't think that goal was achievable," says Todd. "When you talk about this Top 20 concept, you have to win your own institution. You've got to win your city, get people in town thinking this is possible."

While Kentucky fell behind, other public universities competed for top rankings and reached out to their communities and alumni, whether by booking a famed dance troupe, encouraging students to dine at a local bagel shop or patenting new medical technology to serve the people of the state.

"What makes Wisconsin different is that it's a 100-year-old value here," says Peyton Smith, an assistant vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1904, then-UW president Charles Van Hise declared he would "never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state."

That statement transformed into what is know as "the Wisconsin Idea," the philosophy that the university border is the state's border and that UW should serve all its people. It translates into campuses throughout the state, research aiding Wisconsin's key industries and partnerships between the campus and the city. It also means the university has experience reinventing itself to spur progress or keep up with changes around the state.

Even universities practiced at change have a hard time keeping up. "We have to constantly figure out better ways to do this," says Smith, at the University of Wisconsin. "If we fall asleep at the wheel, we fall behind."

Not just UK

No matter how forward-thinking a town-and-gown movement is, change is tough and results uncertain. Longtime Madison residents still grumble about the traffic mess created when State Street, a main thoroughfare in the city, switched from a busy car-filled street to an entertainment-heavy pedestrian-and-bike street in the late 1970s. The opening of a $205 million downtown performance center in 2004 brings top-quality touring groups and state-of-the-art facilities, but increases competition and costs for small arts groups. A notoriously crazy Halloween celebration draws 80,000 people downtown, but has led to riots and damage in recent years.

In Lexington and Frankfort, there isn't always agreement about what's best for the university and state. Tempers are already flaring about domestic partner benefits that the University of Kentucky might offer to same-sex and opposite-sex unmarried couples. The benefits, which the University of Louisville already approved, could attract creative minds to the state, UK officials say. But state Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, sponsored a bill that would prohibit the benefits at the state's public universities and community colleges; he says the benefits could overload costs and go against Kentuckians' wishes. It's an early argument in what's sure to be "a lot of talking" during the Top 20 changes, Todd says.

UK says its Top 20 plan will increase graduation rates, engage the university with communities, schools, farms and businesses and increase patents and start-up businesses. Lexington already has a lush natural landscape and a storied history that make it special, says Lisa Higgins-Hord, UK's community relations director, but we're not sure if we're a city of movie lovers or live-music fans; a car culture or a bike town; early to bed or staying out late. Defining the lifestyle in this potential Top 20 town is up to us.

UK "is not saving the day," Higgins-Hord says." We have to work together to do that."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

City hall has key role in cooperation

Although Lexington's mayoral candidates agree that turning the University of Kentucky into a Top 20 school could do great things for the city, they differ about the city's role in the plan.

Mayor Teresa Isaac said in an e-mail sent from her staff that Lexington "compares favorably" with other college towns, but residents and UK need to continue building a relationship. The city's relationship with the university is "excellent," she said, noting city support to bring the pharmacy building to the Coldstream Research Campus, provide infrastructure for the new residence hall and help colleges attract new businesses.

"I often speak informally with (UK President) Lee Todd," Isaac said. "In all these ways we communicate and collaborate. My expectation is that these arrangements will continue."

Challenger Jim Newberry said he'd like the government to work in Frankfort and Washington to assure the university reaches Top 20 status. He also said that he'd like to improve transportation between campus and city, create more pedestrian areas and improve the area between

^^I read this on Sunday....I was really impressed...I have been to Madison and it is great...Lexington can learn so much.

I just stumbled across rendering for Phase II of CenterCourt. 76 units in Phase I, 80 units in Phase II bring the total project to 156 units. Phase II will be four stories and built in between ceder, mill, and bolivar. Without further ado...

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/centercourtphase2.jpg


By the way my girlfriend thinks we're all nerds.

It's all good my girlfriend thinks the same.

More on Phase II of CenterCourt.

It already appears to be 20% reserved and this is without even publicizing it.


Bolivar elevation:
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/bolivar.jpg

Ceder elevation:
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/ceder.jpg

Mill elevation:
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/mill.jpg

^^I read this on Sunday....I was really impressed...I have been to Madison and it is great...Lexington can learn so much.

You are right krosejr. Madison is a beautiful college town and easily one of the top 5 best college towns. I think Lexington should model after Madison and probably take a little from Durham NC. Those are two fantastic places with lots to do without the overcrowding and traffic. You can tell University of Wisconsin does alot for the city and the cities image. Same as Duke in Durham, these colleges bring high paying jobs with them and attract major companies. I'm actually happy the herald ran a story on that, because I believe Madison is one of the cleanest places I've been to.

These photos are courtesy of seicer over at UP. This is his website:
http://www.abandonedonline.com/seicer/

Both are taken from the top of UK's parking garage at Transcript and Upper.

Constrcution progress of CenterCourt.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/289718808_99558d2a4bcentercourt.jpg

Looking down Bolivar we have (clockise from bottom right.) South Hill Station Lofts then University lofts accross the street is the site for CenterCourt's Phase II directly behind Phase I of CenterCourt currently under construction. Across Broadway (where Bolivar dead-ends) and to the right a bit is where Shelbourne Plaza will be built.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/bolivar-1.jpg

Almost the entirety of this little collector street has been redeveloped. Two warehouse-to-residential conversions and new construction have entirely changed Bolivar over the last two years which was virtually abandoned after Southhill Station closed as an entertainment complex a couple years ago.


Thanks Seicer.

Another progress photo on Main & Rose. Steel is rising pretty quickly on this project.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i120/Iandependant/Library001.jpg

This comes two weeks after the announcement that a local artist group is going to turn all LexTran's bus shelters into public art!

LexTran talks about 2010 games
CHAMPIONSHIPS AT HORSE PARK TO NEED EXTRA BUSES, MORE
By Shawntaye Hopkins
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER


An official with the World Equestrian Games visited the LexTran board of directors' work session last night to discuss how the bus system can help get thousands of fans to and from the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010.

About 500,000 tickets will be sold for the equestrian games -- world championships for eight equestrian sports -- when the event comes to Lexington. That means a lot of folks will be coming and going from hotels and other locations inside and outside the city, said Rob Hinkle, chief operations officer for the games.

More buses or shuttles will be needed. But officials of the Lexington Transit Authority want to create changes that will benefit residents after the games.

Board chairwoman Mary Fister said she would like to see permanent changes in the infrastructure of the transit system.

Some possibilities tossed around by Fister: cell phone text messaging to customers, wireless Internet on buses, and electronic timers at stops that indicate when the next bus is to arrive.

Hinkle said he will be looking to Lexington leaders "to provide guidance of what we can do in 2010."

"We don't want to build things that aren't needed after 2010," he said.

LexTran General Manager Terry Garcia Crews said she plans to seek advice from the president of the American Public Transportation Association, Bill Millare, and others in the industry about how to handle the games in Lexington.

The games might be years away, but "it's time to start thinking about how we're going to position ourselves," she said.

The board plans to create goals for the games at a retreat in January.

Before discussing projects that are under way for the games, such as roadway enhancements at the Kentucky Horse Park, a new stadium, and widening of Newtown Pike from the interstate to Iron Works Pike, Hinkle showed a video of the games in Germany this year and noted those games' success in transporting people, often from more than an hour away. Free transportation tickets were given to people attending the games.

Other issues to be discussed include parking and security, he said.

World Equestrian Games officials want to keep most vehicles, except those of officials, participants and news media, away from the park.

Hinkle said he hopes security will be left to Lexington authorities with some federal help.

Newberry's game plan in the works
MAYOR-ELECT SAYS INCOME GROWTH IS GAUGE OF SUCCESS
By Scott Sloan
HERALD-LEADER BUSINESS WRITER

Horses, health care and high-tech. It was an economic development campaign catch phrase that resonated with the public, who resoundingly elected Jim Newberry as mayor last week.

Now Newberry faces the task of converting a largely abstract plan into a strategy that can be assessed with firm measurements. Although much is still unknown about how the mayor-elect will gauge his administration's efforts, he said income growth will be key in future evaluations.

"I want to make it clear Lexington is doing materially better than the rest of the country," he said this week.

Also under consideration is how Newberry will structure his economic development efforts. Will he rely on mayoral staff members, outsource it to existing business groups such as Commerce Lexington or form a combination of both?

Newberry said this week he has not yet made decisions on many of these issues, but elaborated on his economic development initiatives and emphasized the city's potential.

"I think we can compete with cities anywhere in the world," he said. "Lexington has a quality of life that is second to none ... ."

Measuring success

Read through Newberry's plan, and several overarching goals emerge.

He wants to link the mayor's office more effectively to the University of Kentucky and Commerce Lexington, saying this week there was not enough collaboration between them under Mayor Teresa Isaac's administration.

To be successful, though, observers say measuring the mayor's efforts are critical.

"You can't manage what you can't measure," said Bob Quick, president of Commerce Lexington, who called Newberry's plan "well thought out."

Newberry said he plans to use a variety of measurements to gauge the success of his administration's efforts. He points to statistics such as job counts and said he hopes to see the city beating the national averages on many standards in the future.

"Income growth is about as significant a one as I could point to," he said. "I don't want us necessarily to be the cheapest place to do business in the U.S.

"It's a good selling point, but it's not a positive thing for our community to say we're an inexpensive place to do business because what that means is our incomes aren't where I'd like for them to be."

"It will probably be more of a beginning because ... (raising incomes across the city) is a long-term process," Newberry said. "You don't change course overnight."

Observers like Len Heller, UK's acting vice president for economic development, said the university plans to gauge its own efforts by creative means such as tracking the amount of revenue generated from companies who license UK's patents, he said.

Heller added that he expects the city and UK will cooperate on much of the measurement of economic development success and not do much "dual reporting."

A group process

Determining how to change the status quo may be the task of a work group set to convene during Newberry's first week in office.

The group will include representatives of the business community, equine and health care industries, and area universities.

Newberry said the members have not yet been chosen, but he's looking for "big thinkers, strategic thinkers who can help us chart a course for Lexington's economic future, and I'm confident I can find those."

The work group, which Newberry sees as a permanent fixture throughout his administration, would serve as a way to prevent already existing groups such as Commerce Lexington from duplicating efforts on economic development initiatives.

Julian Beard, economic development director under Isaac, said he was skeptical of the kind of role a committee-like group could take in economic development.

"Most anything's better than a committee," Beard said, adding that Newberry's work group could be effective in taking a pulse of the economic efforts every six months or so but "it couldn't drive the effort."

Newberry said he is also examining whether the city would be better served by having the mayor's staff direct many of the initiatives or if business groups such as Commerce Lexington should head the efforts.

Currently, the city has only one employee dedicated to economic development, Beard said, and that's himself.

"I don't even have a secretary," he said. "I'm sharing part of a secretary who actually works in the mayor's office."

Beard blamed the Urban County Council for not providing more money for economic development, saying "they've got to get realistic about the dollars necessary to do anything."

Newberry said he has not yet chosen his economic development director.

With Beard and businessman Jim Gray elected to the council last week, Newberry said he expects the group will be more open to funding economic development initiatives.

What can be accomplished with improved funding is critically important to not only the prosperity of the region but also the economic health of the government, which sees the bulk of its revenue come from payroll taxes, Newberry said.

"If we are going to provide the level of governmental services that Lexington needs and wants, we're going to have to have the job base in place to support it," Newberry said. "And by that, I mean we've got to have lots of high-paying jobs in Lexington."

Center Court is really interesting. Believe it or not I lived in that neighborhood, on top of a little factory buildng, back during my Lexington days.

Some argue that UK's sports reputation overshadowed innovative academic and arts programs, suggesting that the borders of the university didn't go beyond Rupp Arena.

The problem is the good old boy mentality in Kentucky meant a lot of donor money was going to the Atheletic Association and sports programs and not so much to endowments supporting academics or research. That what I always disliked about "UK Basketball"...it was (u)K Baskeball.

The discussion on Madison is interesting....Madison is also the state capital and has a great natural setting between to natural lakes. Hard for Lexington to beat that.

The "Wisconsin Idea" should not be so novel.

The purpose of land grant colleges, which Kentucky is, was to provide agricultural and mechanical (ie engineering) education + the classics, to the working people of the state. The purpose was to develope what we call "human capital", to permit upward mobility but also to improve social and economic conditions by via increasing knowlege and the application of knowledge to praticial things like engineering, industry and farming.

Students Get New Health Facility
Media Contact: Ann Blackford
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 15, 2006)

University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr. and other officials broke ground today for the new University Health Service (UHS) building, the preventive and primary health care facility for students. UHS also provides screenings and immunizations required for medical center employees as well as workers compensation care for injured UK employees. The new building will have more than five times the amount of space available in the current UHS location. The facility is expected to open in March 2008 or sooner.

"This is a great day for health care at the University of Kentucky,” said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. “The new University Health Service facility will forever change how students receive care, as it will provide our students with the type of modern, state-of-the-art services that they deserve. Combined with the new Chandler Hospital and new College of Pharmacy, this facility will help form the Commonwealth’s Medical Campus of Future – a 21st century academic medical campus that is prepared to meet the health care needs of all Kentuckians.”

The projected $24 million facility will be located adjacent to Kentucky Clinic and the UK Charles T. Wethington Jr. building. It will have over 72,000 square feet on four floors which will allow for 120,000 patient visits per year. The 2005 budget passed by the Kentucky General Assembly authorized the university to sell bonds to pay for the facility. Those bonds are backed by student fees.

The new facility will feature:
Primary care
Gynecology
Nursing/Employee health
Mental health and prevention clinics
Nursing triage
Retail pharmacy
Medical student and resident library
Conference/meeting room
Sports medicine training room
Electronic medical records area
Snack shop
Partial basement and mechanical penthouse

Currently, UHS is located in a 13,000 square foot space in Kentucky Clinic and conducts about 72,000 patient visits per year. Compared to its 19 benchmarks, UHS has the lowest clinical square footage per enrolled student. Significant physical space limitations in the existing space hampered efficiency, highlighting the urgent need for a new and updated clinic. Nonetheless, a record number of students and employees were seen this past year.

Despite space concerns, UHS received a full three-year re-accreditation this year through the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAHC).

"As the only accredited student health service in Kentucky, and one of a very small number nationwide, students and employees can be assured that UHS maintains the very highest standards in the provision of cost-effective, quality health care," said Dr. Greg Moore, director, University Health Service. "The expanded space in this new facility will allow for increased productivity, improved privacy and expanded health programming for the university community."

Construction management services will be provided by Turner Construction Company's Lexington office. Turner is the leading general builder in the U.S., ranking first or second in the major segments of the building construction field. Founded in 1902, the firm is a subsidiary of HOCHTIEF, one of the world's leading international construction service providers.

Sprawl will be checked... at least for 5 years!

Urban border won't be expanded
Some land might be put in 'reserve'
By Beverly Fortune
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

A divided Planning Commission decided yesterday not to expand the Urban Service Boundary in Fayette County, but instead tentatively identified 7,500 acres as a "reserve" for possible expansion.

The commission will hold public hearings in January after the city's planning staff, which came up with the reserve category, drafts guidelines to determine when the land could be included in the Urban Service Area.

Not all commission members thought a reserve area was desirable. They contended that the land would be targeted for development any time that the city felt landlocked.

Ann Ross said she feared that, if land was placed in reserve, developers would press to have it opened for development. "We know the areas outside the Urban Service Area where we want to possibly expand" sometime in the future. "So why do we need to put a reserve on it?"

The areas in question include 2,000 acres bounded by Interstate 64, Winchester Road and Royster Road, and 5,400 acres along Athens-Boonesboro Road and Interstate 75, south of Old Richmond Road to Tates Creek Road.

Commission Chairman Dal Harper said that, over the past 50 years, 30,000 people have moved into Fayette County. Looking to future growth, vacant land available for primarily residential development "is the lowest it has ever been," he said.

Harper said Lexington should be realistic and plan for future growth. "The question is, do we do it in 2006? If we expand, where will it be and how much?" he said.

The commission did not take an official vote yesterday, but members expressed their preference by a show of hands. Opposing expansion were Ross, Lyle Aten, Frank Penn, Jim Mahan and Lynn Roche Phillips. Favoring were Harper, Joan Whitman, Randall Vaughn, Neill Day and Michael Cravens.

Plan has been around for 50 years

The Urban Service Boundary, in place for more than 50 years, is an imaginary line surrounding the city, beyond which there is no development.

Jim Shropshire, who has a farm on Royster Road, said at yesterday's meeting that he was disappointed, "considering the community has spoken several times that they do not want expansion, yet the Planning Commission does not seem to be getting that message."

He said putting land into a reserve category was "another way of having expansion. It will always be looked at as land for future development. Once it's designated, it will never go back."

Whitman said she was disappointed at the no-expansion vote. She said she would like to bring 1,100 acres at I-75 and Athens-Boonesboro into the Urban Service Area to create "an attractive major corridor" into the city.

Whitman said construction on a new sanitary sewer pumping station near Winchester Road and I-75 is set to begin at the start of the new year; bids for a diversion line will be awarded sometime in early 2007. Whitman said "There is still time to change the size of the diversion line if it's done now" to accommodate development in that area, which could become part of the reserve.

Charlie Martin, acting commissioner of public works, told the commission earlier that it was doubtful the pumping station project could be stopped now, rebid and be completed before the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Martin said he didn't think city officials wanted a large sewer construction project under way during the Games.

'Reserve' concept to be defined

Chris King, director of planning, said his staff would immediately start writing the land-use element of the comprehensive plan based on the direction from the Planning Commission that there be no expansion of the Urban Service Boundary.

The staff also will have to draft a reserve zoning category and "clearly describe that concept," King said.

A public hearing on this issue is scheduled for Jan. 18 in the council chambers of the Government Center.

Lexington is doing some great things. I really think Lexington is among he most beautiful mid-sized Southern cities.

I would LOVE to see Lexington try to emulate some of the atmosphere found in Madison or Ann Arbor. It could become the premiere college town of the South and be a catalyst to push ALL of Kentucky out of the dark ages.

I hope so anyway. Louisville will always be the states larget catalyst for growth barring some sort of natural or economic calamity. But hopefully Lexington can do more in our role as the state's second economic engine.