November 5, 200915 yr Author Man! All of the good stuff happens to Lex when I move :) Esplanade idea has potential for success New plan for a small space By Tom Eblen, Herald-Leader, November 4, 2009 Maybe creating a vibrant downtown isn't so much about grand plans as small spaces. One small space with potential is the block of North Mill Street between West Main and Short streets. It retains most of its old buildings, which now house places to eat, drink and work. Developer Nick Ebbitt is converting the upstairs of several buildings into loft condos.
November 9, 200915 yr Author 2 old buildings getting new life By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, November 7, 2009 Two buildings that housed Thompson & Riley auction house and the company's real estate offices for many years are being renovated by Bob Cole, president of the Coleman Group, a commercial real estate and property management company. Cole plans to adapt the two East Main Street structures, which together have about 9,000 square feet, to new uses.
November 12, 200915 yr Author Lexington Mall at the mercy of out-of-town owners THE STATE OF RETAIL IN LEXINGTON | Part 3 of 3 By Scott Sloan, Herald-Leader, November 9, 2009 Ever since its slow death finally came in 2005 with the exodus of Dillard's, Lexington Mall has sat. And sat. And sat. It has become something of a riddle. Area developers look at the nearly vacant, 30-acre site and salivate at the location, an easily accessible corner of Lexington's busy Richmond and New Circle roads. But besides the Applebee's and Perkins restaurants, nothing but the empty former mall sits on the land owned by Saul Centers of Bethesda, Md.
November 13, 200915 yr Author New Lexington plan allows development of 52-acre family farm By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, November 12, 2009 After a 20-year battle waged by the Fritz family to get the city to rezone their farm at the corner of Nicholasville Road and Man o' War Boulevard, the Lexington Planning Commission cleared the way on Thursday for the land to be developed. The commission adopted the South Nicholasville Road Small Area Plan, which will guide future development along the corridor, including the 52 acre-Fritz Farm and the nearby 103-acre University of Kentucky Horticultural Research Farm.
November 23, 200915 yr Author History of CentrePointe block lives thanks to man's obsession By Amy Wilson, Herald-Leader, November 19, 2009 Richie Wireman saw the green shiny stone on a Sunday when he was 17 feet below street level. Wireman had been photographing the demolition of the businesses on the downtown block bounded by Vine, Main, Limestone and Upper streets for weeks. It was a documentary of destruction, at turns beautiful and eerie, tragic and luminous.
November 24, 200915 yr Author Retail survey to show what downtown needs group begins inventory of area's business needs, obstacles By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, November 23, 2009 The Downtown Development Authority has initiated a retail survey to find ways of encouraging more locally owned businesses to open downtown. As the first step, "We inventoried what is on the first floor of every building in the downtown core, whether it is food, office, entertainment, commercial or if it's vacant," Harold Tate, president of the DDA, told board members Monday.
December 4, 200915 yr Author Lexington council to file financing application for Angliana development By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, December 3, 2009 A proposed $70 million development on Angliana Avenue that would include a 12-screen movie theater, bowling alley, restaurants, shops and apartments will become the city's third tax-increment financing project. At its meeting Thursday night, the Urban County Council approved authorizing the city to file a TIF application with the state Economic Development Cabinet on behalf of Showprop.
December 5, 200915 yr Author Lexington council approves $68 million in bonds, including Distillery District By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, December 3, 2009 Urban County Council on Thursday approved $68 million in bonds for projects, including $2.2 million for infrastructure in the Distillery District and $12.5 million for sidewalks and rain gardens downtown. Most of the bonds, $48 million, will pay for projects that have already started, such as renovations to the Lyric Theater, overhaul of South Limestone Street and storm sewer repairs.
December 12, 200915 yr Author CastlePost was a partial castle constructed in the 1960s by a very wealthy individual. It was to be a gift for his wife. She died, he became depressed, and did nothing with the half-constructed castle until he died in the early 2000s. It has been completed and it is... beautiful. Neighbors go to court to slow traffic to Woodford's CastlePost By Greg Kocher, Herald-Leader, December 11, 2009 VERSAILLES — Some neighbors hope to reverse a November decision that allows an unlimited number of events at the CastlePost, the Woodford County landmark on U.S. 60 west of Lexington. They take issue with lifting some restrictions that had been imposed on the castle by the local board of adjustments.
December 13, 200915 yr Author City to get tough on 'vinyl-box' owners City seeks injunction against some boarding house owners By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, December 12, 2009 City officials will go to Fayette Circuit Court on Monday seeking a temporary injunction against homeowners who are operating six houses as boarding houses in single-family residential neighborhoods, a violation of the Lexington zoning codes. The houses, owned by James Michael Haley and Michelle Haley, are at 1113, 1115 and 1201 Crescent Avenue, 200 University Avenue, 231 Forest Park and 453 Oldham Avenue.
December 14, 200915 yr Author Health care built for this century $762 million plan for facility has long-range view By Ryan Alessi, Herald-Leader, December 14, 2009 The plan for the new $762 million University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital that towers over South Limestone is for it to remain relevant for a century — an ambitious long-range view. Rapid technological changes in medicine these days can make a new hospital seem dated as soon as it opens. But UK has built flexibility into its construction to allow for future needs in medical care.
December 15, 200915 yr Author Lexington hospitals building to be the best UK, ST. JOSEPH, CENTRAL BAPTIST RACE TO EXPAND By Cheryl Truman, Herald-Leader, December 13, 2009 In 2008, the payroll at Toyota in Georgetown was $537 million. At Lexington's three big hospitals — UK HealthCare, Central Baptist and St. Joseph — the combined payroll for a year is more than $1 billion. That's without benefits. A major engine of Central Kentucky's economy — health care is poised for even more explosive growth over the next decade. As each hospital builds new, more sophisticated facilities, the rivalry among them will intensify for patients, for awards, and for the best doctors as health care reform ups the ante on how the market is divided.
December 16, 200915 yr Author Gateway to Lexington's East End neighborhood opens Herald-Leader, December 16, 2009 A new gateway to Lexington's East End neighborhood was created Wednesday with the opening of Shropshire Avenue extension. Shropshire now connects East Sixth Street to Midland Avenue. Also, new street signs for the neighborhood, with the East End logo, were unveiled. Over the next several months, 518 street signs in the East End will be replaced. The $2.4 million Shropshire Avenue extension provides access to a neighborhood that been isolated from much of downtown, said Austin Simms, executive director of the Lexington-Fayette County Housing Authority. "This opens up all kinds of opportunities for the neighborhood to be reintegrated into the city," he said.
December 21, 200915 yr Author CentrePit, CentrePasture — what's next? By Tom Eblen, Herald-Leader, December 20, 2009 Efforts to build the 35-story CentrePointe tower seem to be as dead as developer Dudley Webb's mysterious financier. Since the project stalled more than a year ago, CentrePointe has become the ultimate Lexington irony: a block developed for more than two centuries that has been cleared, planted in grass and fenced like a horse farm.
January 18, 201015 yr About The New Law Quad Designed by the prestigious New York architectural firm, Robert A.M. Stern, the new Law Quad will provide ample space while qualifying for LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Silver status. The design also reflects traditional architecture and themes found on the University of Kentucky’s campus while incorporating the best space elements from the nation’s top law schools. The new Law Quad truly provides us with a preeminent facility as the College transitions to its second century. Robert A.M. Stern also designed the new Farmer School of Business at Miami which was photographed beautifully in this thread by ink.
January 26, 201015 yr Author 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.
March 26, 201015 yr Author Yes! What we need. A suburban CVS with two drive-through lanes! Demolition to begin soon for downtown drugstore By Scott Sloan, Herald-Leader, March 23, 2010 A deal is expected shortly to bring a drugstore back to downtown Lexington. A fence has been erected in anticipation of demolishing three buildings at the intersection of Main and Vine streets near Midland Avenue, where it's expected a CVS will be locating.
April 16, 201015 yr Author Central Baptist announces major expansion, delays Hamburg hospital By Jim Warren, Herald-Leader, April 15, 2010 Central Baptist Hospital announced Wednesday it will spend $200 million to expand its Nicholasville Road campus with a seven-story addition that will include a cancer center and a women's center. The addition, totaling almost 338,000 square feet, will be built just north of Central Baptist's existing hospital. Construction is to start late this summer, with completion expected in two to 21/2 years.
April 18, 201015 yr Author Pavilion in Cheapside Park opens By Patrick Sullivan, Herald-Leader, April 16, 2010 The Fifth Third Bank Pavilion in Cheapside Park officially opened Friday. The ribbon was cut by Fifth Third Bank Central Kentucky President & CEO Sam Barnes, Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry, councilmembers and representatives of the Downtown Lexington Corp., businesses and the Farmers Market.
April 21, 201015 yr Author Turning trash into treasure By Tom Eblen, Herald-Leader columnist, April 20, 2010 Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, so everyone should know by now that recycling is good for the environment. But here's something you may not know: it's good for your wallet, too. Thanks to Lexington's growing recycling program, everyone's trash is becoming everyone's treasure. Since Lexington began citywide recycling in 1991, the city has earned taxpayers more and more money each year by selling recyclable material to contractors. Recycling also has saved taxpayers money by reducing landfill costs.
April 27, 201015 yr Author Finishing touches appearing on South Limestone reconstruction nears completion By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, April 26, 2010 Finishing touches are starting to appear on South Limestone, and the overhaul of the street between Avenue of Champions and Vine Street is on schedule for completion by July 1, George Milligan, the city's streetscape project manager, said Monday. Between Avenue of Champions and Maxwell Street, sidewalks are finished, and decorative blue glass accent pavers are 90 percent installed, Milligan said. Paver work should be completed by week's end. Also, new streetlights are operational.
April 30, 201015 yr Author Outsiders appreciate our architecture more than we do By Tom Eblen, Herald-Leader columnist, April 28, 2010 One of the drawbacks to Central Kentucky's growth during the past half-century is that so much of its beautiful landscape and remarkable architectural heritage have been lost to unremarkable development. That fact was brought home this month by visits from two groups from elsewhere — a tour organized by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America and a regional gathering of the American Institute of Architecture Students. The first group spent three full days touring the Bluegrass's magnificent — or, at least, once-magnificent — classical buildings. Most of the tourists were architects, interior designers and other professionals from all over the country. To say they were impressed would be an understatement.
May 1, 201015 yr Sherman, thank you for sharing Lexington news here on UO. I read each story you post.
May 27, 201015 yr Author Messy downtown Lexington expected to be ready for WEG By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, May 26, 2010 Torn-up sidewalks and closed traffic lanes confront downtown pedestrians and motorists as Lexington attempts to remake its appearance before the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games this fall. Downtown's two major east-west streets — Main and Vine — are obstacle courses of destruction and construction, but the city expects the work to be finished by Aug. 20, more than a month before the Games begin. The city's ambitious $31 million Downtown Streetscape Plan, paid for with local, state and federal funds, includes Main, Vine, South Limestone and Cheapside Park.
June 1, 201015 yr Author This was initiated basically because of the CVS/Pharmacy that is locating on the site of the once-proposed Main & Vine urban development on the eastern fringe of downtown. Instead of a four-level mixed-use development, the city is pretty much receiving a suburban drugstore (much needed drugstore) with a drive-through and surface lot. Lexington planners take first step toward design standards By Beverly Fortune, Herald-Leader, May. 27, 2010 Lexington planners took the first steps on Thursday in moving toward establishing design standards for new buildings in the city. Chris King, head of the planning division, outlined for the Urban County Council's planning committee what it would mean for the city to adopt form-based guidelines. The guidelines would regulate such elements as the size and shape of a building, the distance it is set back from the street and the number of windows and doors. The guidelines would not regulate the building's use, King said. "These form-based codes are basically where you say, 'We really don't care very much what's in there, but we do care what the it looks like,'" King said.
July 10, 201014 yr I'm surprised you havent posted any updated renderings on this project, Sherman ;)
July 11, 201014 yr Author Eh, I have copies and articles but don't feel my contributions here are all that desired, so I haven't been posting as much. I can pm you a link to it all.
July 14, 201014 yr ^I always find your contributions in this thread, the Huntington WV thread, and the Xavier thread to be good. (For whatever that's worth.)
July 14, 201014 yr So it says, U/C. If it's under construction, that's great considering the hurdles that needed to be jumped through.
September 26, 201113 yr Author I have also re-added the Centrepointe article to UrbanUp and updated the last few paragraphs with new information on the proposal, which includes Jeff Ruby. http://urbanup.net/cities/kentucky/lexington-kentucky/lexington-kentucky-downtown/centrepointe/
September 27, 201113 yr What in God's hell? "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
September 27, 201113 yr What in God's hell? Who knows. Those box like structures on top are terr.i.ble.
September 27, 201113 yr Author I actually like this design. Compared to the original proposal, which was a phallic, oversized box - similar in mass to Queen City Square that did not open up much to the street, and the second proposal which was a flatter and shorter design with an auto loop, this one works out in that it has a ring of smaller buildings facing Main for offices and retail (Jeff Ruby will be one of the prime tenants), and a tubular inner core.
September 30, 201113 yr does not look like this version is on any better footing than the others were -- funding unknown except for one guy who would like to have a steakhouse in there.
October 21, 201410 yr Author http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/20/3491090/shriners-hospital-iconic-lexington.html Shriners Hospital: Iconic Lexington institution gets ready to move from longtime home BY CHERYL TRUMAN [email protected] 20, 2014 Updated 19 minutes ago Shriners Hospital has been a fixture on Richmond Road for as long as most Lexingtonians can remember — the 117,000-square-foot hospital sits atop a big slope on 27 acres where visitors gather to watch fireworks in the summer and to sled in the winter. The new $50 million, 100,000-square-foot hospital between Conn Terrace and State Street, a pedway's walk away from the main UK Hospital, will begin construction in February 2015 and should be ready for occupancy by May 2017.
October 30, 201410 yr Author http://urbanup.net/2014/10/30/construction-watch-university-kentucky-football-training-facility/ With the success of the University of Kentucky’s football program as of late, it was conceivable that a new facility would be built for indoor football training. In January 2014, the university’s Board of Trustees approved a plan to construct such a complex as an addition to the Nutter Indoor Training Center along Alumni Drive in Lexington, Kentucky. The privately-financed $45 million building will open in mid-2016.
October 31, 201410 yr ^^ I see UK just extended Stoops contract through 2019. Good move, they are making a big push. With the success the SEC has had in football, and UK's already rabid and devoted football fanbase, upgrading their facilities is a huge step towards being on the level in the arms race with the other powers. This will further help in their recruiting. They are already making in roads in Ohio with the Stoops brother's being from Youngstown (all 3 played college football at Iowa, :clap:). They are out recruiting many upper tier Big Ten schools and are getting some great athletes, and also have out recruited Ohio State on a few occasions. With the current success of Ole Miss and Mississippi State, it just goes to show that if you have that SEC emblem on your jersey, you can recruit with the best of them. I am rooting for UK to do well in football, and I think they are on the climb up. Exciting times in Lexington for the football fanatics.
October 31, 201410 yr Author You know, I'm not sure. UK Athletics keeps their information pretty tight. I can't find out when the darn building was even built. -- EDIT: Well, I'll be damned. They are for the same person. Fascinating read too: http://www.engr.uky.edu/alumni/hod/nutter/ mrnyc[/member]
February 2, 20214 yr Studio Gang selected to design the new College of Design at UK. To any other UK alums out there, get ready to be extremely jealous of this 160,000 sf space vs the cramped confines of Pence Hall. The space should be great, but I would miss being on the main academic campus I think, the Reynolds building and art building are kind of off on their own over by Broadway. https://uknow.uky.edu/campus-news/studio-gang-transform-former-reynolds-building-college-design
February 2, 20214 yr Author When I had my classes in Reynolds Hall, it was pretty run-down but fun to explore. I recall hearing a story about a stairwell that collapsed after it got overloaded before my time. I wonder what they will do with the streetscaping around it since it abuts Harrodsburg Road and has that funky drive-around: https://goo.gl/maps/JX4AB4AHSdAYLkQB9
February 2, 20214 yr There was talk for a while of extending Scott Street over Broadway to create a connection between Limestone all the way to the Newtown Pike extension (Oliver Lewis Way). Being next to Tolly Ho will certainly be nice for the late night culture of a design studio, but that area of town is extremely auto oriented and not great.
February 3, 20214 yr Author On 2/2/2021 at 11:47 AM, ucgrady said: There was talk for a while of extending Scott Street over Broadway to create a connection between Limestone all the way to the Newtown Pike extension (Oliver Lewis Way). Being next to Tolly Ho will certainly be nice for the late night culture of a design studio, but that area of town is extremely auto oriented and not great. At one time, they were going to build the new College of Law around the corner on Scott Street but instead chose to completely redo and enlarge the existing building. I noticed on my last trip down that the corner buildings by Reynolds are now gone, converted into parking for the time being. I'm sure this will eventually get infilled with campus expansion.
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