LouisvilleJake

LA is TRASH! ;-) AWESOME pics ColDay!

DT Indianapolis has a large affluent population. It has a mall that rivals the suburban malls and people shops at it...it actually has unique stores to the metro and easy, cheap underground parking. The city has a convention trade that puts it in the second tier of conventions cities, only beaten by cities like New York, Chicago, Las Vagas, et cetera. The downtown is clean, and has a perception of being very safe by suburbanites. Did I mention a large population in downtown and immediately around it?

After reading the discussions here and in Indianapolis about this topic...I have to say, both sides are completely blind to what the other has to offer. The question itself is loaded... :shoot:...but I would have thought that perhaps some good camparisons could have been made. However, the hometown boosterism in most people goes on autopilot in these cases. BTW, downtown Indianapolis is light years ahead of Cincinnati in terms of vitality, cleanliness, and ease of use. HOWEVER, Cincinnati has much much MUCH superior architecture and just "looks" more like a downtown. Cincinnati has the potential to get the vitality of Indianapolis someday, but Indianapolis will never be able to get the architecture of Cincinnati. So, in it's current form, if I had to show out-of-towners one or the other, I would want to show them downtown Indianapolis. However, if downtown Cincinnati is someday able to get it's act together, then Cincinnati will win.

An extraordinarily attractive campus.

I really enjoyed your your spread of pictures Jeff. I hope you do another expose in Louisville soon. BTW, that bridge is being converted into a pedestrian bridge between Louisville and Indiana. The lastest story about it was just last week. It will be complete in Spring/Summer 2008.

The article was never meant to be an article about the financial mechanics of the building...it was in the alternative newspaper for god's sake! The article was about the artistic "whatevers'' of the building and it's main backers and the architectual firm. When an article about the firm financing becomes public knowldge, I'm sure it'll be posted.

What baseball stadium are you talking about? UofL just built a brand new baseball stadium on campus, along it's athletics corridor. If you're referring to old Cardinal Stadium that is owned by the Fair Grounds and is old and highly visible from I-65, the answer is no. It was never used by baseball anywaay, it was a football stadium. That stadium is being torn down in either 07 or 08, with a large music venue, a la Verizon/Deer Creek in Indianapolis, taking it's place. However, i have to say that hte UofL area was very sketchy only a few years ago, and even now that area still has a long way to go. With that being said, UofL has gone on an unprecidented building spree on campus and is investing heavily in the community around it. There are several loft conversions directly around campus, and abutting the the stadium parking lot they are building "sports condos" in an old pasta factory. Would I call the UofL area nice? No, not yet really. But is it up and coming? Yeah, they're doing a ton of work in that area.

Lafayette has a fantastically preserved downtown. Even since these pictures were taken there has been a flurry of activity, culminating in the downtown Renaissance Apartment and condo building near the Wabash River. Like Rob said, Indiana sure could learn a lot from Lafayette has done to preserve itself.

Well, I don't have a lot to add to the discussion on this whole issue, but I just wanted to address some of the comments I've read. About the downtown Louisville arena: The main tenant will be the University of Louisville men's and women's basketball programs. The arena was designed only after the NCAA sent representatives to Louisville to explain their expectations of the arena if Louisville wants to host their events. Louisville has already stated they would take all the NCAA recomendations and incorporate them into the design. During the 60's and 70's Louisville was a favorite of the NCAA to host major events, such as the Sweet 16 et cetera. However, Freedom Hall, the current home for UofL and the city's largest arena, is now 50 years old. Louisville lost all those types of events decades ago. The arena was last renovated nearly 2 decades ago. It is past time for Louisville to have a new venue. Freedom Hall has been paid off for decades and is nothing but a cashcow for the Kentucky Fair and Expo Center. Freedom Hall currently is used hundreds of times a year by U of L, different conventions and trades shows, and concerts and family shows. Freedom Hall will still be used for the convention and trades shows (which is already a huge chunk of business) Louisville has fewer concerts and family shows, per capita, than any other top 50 market in the US. This arena promises to finally bring in the many shows that have skipped Louisville due to the dated and dilapidated facilities. With the UofL games, family shows and concert, NCAA events which have been discussed, et cetera, the arena authority expects to have around 110 events during an average year. To take advantage of the new arena, and to try and lure in new meetings, a 425 room hotel tower is being connected to the arena with the expectation of adding yet another amenety to the market will make the city more attractive to the convention industry. In regards to Waterfront Park: The park represents a seismic shift in the landscape of Louisville. It has become the posterchild of the downtown Louisville renaissance. The park is now completing phase three of the project which includes a pedway to Indana via an abandoned rail bridge. Work is already well underway. The park begins at the Louisville Belvedere and terminates at the new RiverPark Place development which has masterplan that includes 5 condo towers, as well as several other mid and low rise buildings. This project is already underway as well. The park stretches nearly 2 miles along the waterfront from the Belvedere to RiverPark PLace, which will also add an esplande to their project to continue the park setting. Beyond RiverPark Place there are plans by the City of Louisville is create a recretion area with a soccer complex for regional events, as well as nature parks on the river. As for Museum Plaza: Whether the building is ugly or awesome, I leave that up to the viewer to decide. However, I do have to say that while we know of the general design of the building, the developers have been pretty mum about their detailed plans for the facade. In my opinion, how they construct the facade will be a huge piece of whether or not this building is attractive or less-than-hoped-for. They developers have a real passion for Louisville and it's urban environment, and they have the city's best interest at heart. Apparently, they are very close to an agreements with a luxary hotel chain that is basically a larger version of the already completed 21C Boutique hotel only a block away from the complex. Whatever that means, we will have to wait until they announce. But also they are somewhat behind on leasing their 300k feet of office space. Downtown Louisville currently has a Class A vacancy rate of less than 9%. That is a very good number, and because of this fact, many office buildings in downtown that are Class B are being renovated to Class A. Rent rates have been slowing creeping up for the past 2 years and the CBD has been outperforming the suburbs in absorbtion rates. While MP doesn't seem to have fallen into a huge tenest immediately, they also have several years to find tenests for the new space. That is why MP can join the downtown mix and not blow it away. Vacancy rates are very low, and the building will only add 300K feet of new office space. It will add 400 new hotel rooms. It will add something like 100 new residences. It will not flood any one aspect of the market...and the Louisville CBD is performing better than it has in 50 years. And about the cries of preservation on West Main Street We're not so silly as to destry these awesome buildingson West Main only for a new tower. The buildings are beyolnd repair--in fact they're falling apart--last year bricks fell and nearly struck passersby. The facades will never be romoved, they're only being renewed. The rest of the building will be torn down and rebuilt--you'll never know the difference between a "new" building and a rehad/remodel. This will basically be nothing more than an extreme remodel of the building. In the end, MP is not set in stone...all indicaters point to the fact that it will be built as currently proposed and by 2010...but nothing is for sure about this project. The arena and Waterfront Park are basically set in stone, barring an all out depression.

Great pictures of downtown. You really showed off downtown's strongest asset, West Main. The buildings you photographed with the extremely cheesy wood covered windows and painted people are going to become the main public entrances for the quite controversial Museum Plaza skyscraper. Towards the end you also picked up on one of the biggest disappointments in downtown Louisville - Whiskey Row. Thankfully though, a group of investors are forming a plan to bring those buildings back to life as residential and office space. Thanks for the flattering pictures of my fair city. ;-)

Jeffersonville has a generally clean, quiet and plesant downtown. It is slowly transforming for the better with restaurants and such along the riverfront; but nothing like NKY. The developments patterns are so completely different, there is no comparison.

Frankfort is a beautiful little town. Been awhile since I've visited...thanks for the photos.

Personally, I really like them... When will these buildings really get off of the drawing boards and off the ground?

Madison is a fantastic old river town. It's about 45 minutes from downtown Louisville and I know you have *some* people commute, but not a huge number. I've been several times and I am always amazed at the city. Great pictures. Thank you.

I like Dayton...I really hope things turn around for downtown!