Lexington Development News

[madtony26.2]

Nobody posted the construction images yet. If they have been posted, then it must have been a long time ago, so we could all use a refresher. Sometimes it's easier to ask than sift through 200 pages of posts.

This was just an update on the construction situation.. showing that there is activity at this site.

[cartomanlex]

Originally Posted by madtony26.2

This was just an update on the construction situation.. showing that there is activity at this site.

The most recent building permit that I could find was dated 2007, and these things are only good for one year. Friends tell me that there have been NO drawings filed or permitted this year for this property. If this is the case, then there will be hefty fines imposed and work stopped until a permit is obtained.

A similar situation has also occurred in Beaumont, where Kroger has put up a shell of a building for their wine & cheese shop and a separate restaurant, without a permit.

Hey, times are tough.

[seicer]

Basically, the same article that ran in October with some new information. I like the idea, generally, but wish it was more urban. They plan on replacing the asphalt lots with impervious pavers, which would be interesting.

Owners have plans for Turfland Mall property
Want retail, office, residential tenants for site
By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, January 17, 2009

Owners of Turfland Mall are going forward with plans to redevelop the site of Lexington's oldest enclosed shopping center as a mixed-use project for office, retail and residential tenants.

Tentative plans also call for a 15,000-square-foot public art space to be used for exhibitions.

Rubloff Development Group has filed preliminary development plans with the city's planning staff and announced that they will seek tax increment financing to improve public infrastructure at the Harrodsburg Road property.

[Lexcity]

Construction fencing has been erected completely around Cheapside Park and I saw an excavator being pulled in. Looks like they are about to start on it...Anyone know when this is supposed to be completed?

The building at 117 North Mill St. is getting it's facade redone right now (this is the block between Main and Short). Looks to have a balcony sticking out from the 2nd and 3rd floor condos overlooking the street- should be pretty cool looking when finished.

I will try to get some pics of both next week when a little more progress has been made.

[Ian604]

Definitely post those photos if you get them.

The reopening of upper level housing units over 1st floor retail in these beautiful old buildings all over downtown is probably the most exciting and underrated accomplishment of the downtown revival.

[Ian604]

I'm assuming the research building is one of the proposed buildings in the Virginia Avenue area. I cant wait to see what that part of town will look like in 5-6 years.

Proposed budget packed with projects worth $1.8 billion
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Jack Brammer - jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear couldn't find more money to hire social workers or give teachers a raise, but he was able to scrounge up enough money to finance $1.8 billion worth of construction over the next two years.

About half of the proposed capital construction spending would go to universities, including $205.9 million for a science research building at the University of Kentucky.

Other large Central Kentucky projects include $129 million to replace Eastern State Hospital in Lexington, $65 million for Eastern Kentucky University to construct a science building and $10.8 million to rebuild the Northpoint Training Center near Danville, which was damaged last summer in a riot.

Statewide, Beshear wants to spend $150 million for new K-12 school buildings, $300 million for roads and another $112 million for road work in the Ft. Knox area, which is rapidly expanding due to the addition of 5,000 jobs at the base.

Beshear justified the construction projects by saying they will "create jobs in the short-term and invest in the long-term future of the Commonwealth."

About $1.06 billion of the proposed projects would be paid for out of the General Fund. The debt service on those projects would cost $26 million in the first year of the budget and $96 million in the second year.

The $412 million in proposed road projects would be paid for out of the state Road Fund and an additional $327 million worth of projects, mostly at universities, would be paid for with funds produced by the individual agencies. For example, UK would use housing revenue to fund a $30 million dorm project.

In all, about 7.6 percent of the state's General Fund would go toward paying down the state's debts over the next two years. If there were no new construction projects, 6.1 percent of the General Fund would go to debt payments.

Traditionally, lawmakers have tried to cap debt at 6 percent of revenue to avoid the ire of Wall Street analysts who rate the state's debt. A lower rating would mean a costly increase in interest rates for the state.

Lassiter said Tuesday that the state's debt level "is not the most important factor" in rating bonds and noted that financing terms are particularly attractive for states at the moment.

[Whosville]

Well, the gaming thing is not happening (unfortunately), so forget about most of these for now unless Beshear and the Legislature come up with a different revenue generating source.

I am sort of surprised that another medical research building got funded before the College of Business. I guess the College of Pharmacy is an academic building, but really it's part of the medical expansion. Just seemed odd to me as they have already been building out the medical side and the academic side is starting to really feel the stress.

The other night in the College of Education, History 101 or something was held (not my course at all). Anyway, the class was waaayy overcrowded and administrators were scrambling to find alternatives. Now, this is not out of the ordinary and really didn't matter all that much ... except ... all 4 of the fab freshmen were in that class. Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, Orton - trapped in a crappy, poorly lit, cinder block room overflowing with students. Here is Orton's tweet.

If the legislature and governor knew Kentucky's finest were being treated like this at UK, I wonder if they would have different priorities.

[Hey_Hey]

I think the reason is that medical research buildings have a tremendous return on investment. As opposed to classroom buildings, research buildings will bring outside money into the overall institution. That one building, when operational, may represent an infusion of money into the institution on the order of $40 million a year, employ 500 people, provide $20 million of income, and represent 10 or 15 spots on the national ranking list for the medical center.

Classroom buildings are obviously important, but from the state's perspective I think the research building represents a greater investment.

[Whosville]

Originally Posted by Hey_Hey

Classroom buildings are obviously important, but from the state's perspective I think the research building represents a greater investment.

Then I think they are missing the forest for the trees (of course, that would be normal).

I would agree somewhat with the idea that a medical research building would have a more immediate impact bringing new $$ into KY. But, a classroom building would have a more direct impact on Kentucky. The medical center may generate research $$, but the benefit of those dollars and the effect they have on Kentucky are relatively small. Most of that research money is coming from pharmaceutical companies and federal dollars, meaning the impact is directed nationally, not toward Kentucky (although of course we do see some benefits). But, compare that to if the business school were to admit an additional 200 students per year, with probably 150 of those students from and staying in Kentucky. The additional economic impact on Kentucky of those graduates over time it seems to me would vastly exceed the impact of the Research building.

I get the short-term vision here of trying to immediately pay for itself - and I am not against more medical research. And, I guess this recession is a time when people are more apt to think short-term. But, short-term thinking is a big problem in Kentucky, especially with the Legislature (I give the Governor a little more credit). I get the "money-grab" attitude of snapping up these federal and private research dollars while they are available, but that should take a back-seat to a committed, purposeful long-term plan to educate Kentucky. Until we educate Kentucky and raise the income levels of our residents, we are never going to "solve" our health-care issues - because even with that new medical research, 1/2 of our residents are still uninsured so they will never see the benefit of that research.

[Ian604]

While we're on the topic...

New UK Pharmacy College building bolsters learning, research
By Ryan Alessi
ralessi@herald-leader.com





For the last two weeks, University of Kentucky pharmacy students have been settling into their new $134 million digs, complete with spacious classrooms, two 219-seat auditoriums and gobs of research space.

"The old classrooms were pretty much just desks, and the new classrooms have tables that go all the way across and include speakers and microphones," said Alex Flannery, a third-year pharmacy student from Louisville. "So instead of being lectured at, our classes consist of very interactive student comments all throughout the lecture."

On Monday, UK leaders and state dignitaries officially dedicated the five-floor, 286,000-square-foot building on South Limestone. It is now the largest academic building in Kentucky.

"And it's filled on Day 1," UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. said in his address to more than 1,000 people who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Most of UK's 600 pharmacy students, wearing their white coats, lined the railings of the building's five-story atrium to watch the proceeding.

Todd noted that UK's pharmacy college is ranked in the top five nationally and its students have the highest first-time pass rate on the national pharmacy licensing exam since 2002.

"Walking in today, I was excited to see the future of Kentucky's medical campus taking shape," Todd said.

The pharmacy school is a key addition to that campus.

Approved in 2006 with $120 million in funds from state bonds and finished with $14 million in donations and university funds, the building includes research space for interdisciplinary medical and pharmacy work.

Much of its fourth floor has been dedicated for the work of Dr. Mark Evers, who came to UK in April 2009 to become director of UK's Markey Cancer Center.

Evers and his research team are leading collaborative research on cancer biology and experimental therapeutics, said Patrick McNamara, interim dean of the pharmacy college.

He said the building will house research in biomedical engineering, cancer and neuroscience.

It also is home to UK's Faith Pharmacy, a volunteer outreach effort to provide medicine and counseling to people who have chronic diseases but lack health insurance.

Both Todd and Gov. Steve Beshear, who also spoke at the ceremony, said development of more research space is necessary to UK's improvement and the economic development prospects of Kentucky.

Beshear recommended last week that the General Assembly approve the sale of bonds to cover the nearly $206 million cost of a science research building at UK.

"Those are the kinds of investments our state must continue to make a priority," Beshear told the crowd, which included six lawmakers.

Flannery, the student who also chairs the Kentucky Alliance of Pharmacy Students, said the biggest effect of the new building so far to boost students' energy.

"You go through pharmacy school and it's tough — you get worn out," he said. "But this new building has brought a fresh attitude to everyone and motivated us."

[seicer]

Streetscaping downtown Lexington
UrbanUp, January 26, 2010

Lexington, Kentucky has a deep connection with its thoroughbreds and is known as the "Horse Capital of the World" due to its acclaim for everything equine. To help preserve this ideal, the city has been actively engaged in land conservation, planning and development for almost a century, becoming a pioneer in adopting an Urban Service Boundary in 1958.

Click through to read more on this entry, and be sure to check out the newest UrbanUp article, Streetscaping Lexington.

[cartomanlex]

On Monday, February 1, while the news media were busily preparing for the evening broadcast and the next morning edition of the paper, some interesting things were going on.

WKYT recorded an interview with the owner of the former Julia R. Ewan school about plans for its possible adaptive reuse. A possible scenario would be some sort of mixed use on the ground floor and condos above. This may set well with the neighbors although they just wish to see NO business. This tape played on the 5:00, 6:00 and the 11:00 newscasts.

Tuesday morning, the Herald-Leader ran a similar story.

Monday was a filing deadline for plans to be heard during the month of March in the Division of Planning. One of the plans filed was for the property of the former Julia R. Ewan school. This plan shows 18 single family lots and an extension of Kingsway Dr toward a court and the existing building being removed. So much for adaptive reuse.

If the sale price is $1.8 Million and there are 18 proposed lots, then each lot should be worth $100,000 each, without any street work or other infrastructure work.

This is why I don't put much stock in the news articles posted here. They just don't tell the whole story.

[gt7834a]

I would guess decent sized lots in that neighborhood would be worth $150k simply because they don't come along other than to tear down a house which would obviously be way more than $150k. I don't have a problem with this. Frankly putting retail/business and condos in the middle of that neighborhood may not make much sense from a planning standpoint. I have seen schools turned into condos and they are often pretty cool so I hope they do that, but I wouldn't have a problem with them making it single family and I imagine most of the neighborhood would prefer this. It would make it more walkable as there is not much retail on that side of Richmond Rd where as the other side has Romany and all of the stuff on Euclid, etc.

I doubt anything happens for a little while considering the market is bad for pretty much everything, condos, single family, office, retail, you name it. Hard to start a big project in the middle of this recession.

[superflymike]

The new computer science building on Rose looks like it is topped out. They put up almost all of the steel this week, it is kind of ridiculous how fast they did it. I'll try to get some pictures of it tomorrow.

[Frenzy688]

No kidding, It couldn't have been more then a few weeks since I have driven past there and it was only a large hole in the ground. Now to hear it has topped out blows my mind. This is great news, I am really enjoying seeing that area become more dense. Now if they can just get started on the Business College, I am most excited about that. Any body know if thats going well?

Also, does anyone know if we are still a go on the transit center development? I remember hearing they had their financing but you never know when it comes to this project, its seems like it has been cursed since its beginning.

[Whosville]

Originally Posted by Frenzy688

No kidding, It couldn't have been more then a few weeks since I have driven past there and it was only a large hole in the ground. Now to hear it has topped out blows my mind. This is great news, I am really enjoying seeing that area become more dense. Now if they can just get started on the Business College, I am most excited about that. Any body know if thats going well?

Also, does anyone know if we are still a go on the transit center development? I remember hearing they had their financing but you never know when it comes to this project, its seems like it has been cursed since its beginning.

The Business School will have to wait at least another year because it was not part of the Legislature's funding package announced so far. Depending on how it all shakes out with new gambling revenue (hopefully they will reach some compromise) it could still be 3-4 years away from starting as higher education is the group that will see the short end of the stick without more revenue.

Yeah, the structure of the new computer building looks great. The slope of the roof that concerned me earlier doesn't look like it is going to standout that much, which is good.

[peyton]

Anybody been over to look at the progress of the Newtown Pike extension? Photos? I've been out of town and just saw on the HL website a picture of the "Signature" bridge I suppose. The HL does about as good a job reporting as Helen Keller does giving driving directions.

[Ian604]

Frenzy, I wouldnt hold out much hope for the transit center project. It's been four years since that announcement and i dont think we're going to be seeing anything come of it.

I drove by Euclid and Maxwell today too. That building is going up fast! It'll add a nice little touch of height to that area.

[gt7834a]

Heard there is a wine bar opening on Short St across from the Metropol by the same people that have the Wine + Market on 2nd St. I haven't seen anything official but it looked like they were starting construction on it. ALso, Dudley's looks like it is getting close to opening. When the Cheapside Park opens that area is going to be hoppin and is really turning into quite the entertainment zone with a nice mix of nice restuarants, college bars, and nice bars. A wine bar should do well when the Euros come in for the WEG.

[lexc5812]

yeah it looks like your right http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.asp...&recordid=4237 and the cheapside area will be a great hoppin' place when all the construction is done. there are also 2 or 3 more retail spaces over there that could be turned into restaurant or bars. With all this stuff happening around that area i wonder if that parking lot next to metropol will be developed in the future. it seems to me thats a great spot for a nice mixed use development. just a thought but that area is looking really nice.