CENTER CITY DISTRICT ANNOUNCED

Mayor Abramson and the Cordish Company have announced creation of the Center City District, a redevelopment area in the core of downtown – a four-block, 23-acre district that stretches from Second to Sixth streets, along Muhammad Ali Boulevard.  The four-block district represents a $250 million investment – a quarter of a billion dollars
 
The Cordish Company will be the lead developer in the district, building on the overwhelming success of Fourth Street Live, which has 4 million visitors a year. Their new investment, which is projected to open in late 2010, will provide enormous synergy with the new waterfront arena, Museum Plaza, and Iron Quarter.
 
The Center City District will be a neighborhood within downtown.  The development will be all-encompassing – a mixed-use district  that will likely include some combination of condominiums, offices, hotels,  cinemas, restaurants, entertainment venues, a number of national destination retail shops, as well as parking.   It will start at the old Water Co. Block and stretch west to the Louisville Gardens. It will include the upper floors of the Kaufman Strauss Building, the ground floor of the Starks Building, the Hilliard Lyons Building, the Fourth Street Live parking garage and two parking lots near the Gardens. Also included are the Metro Development Center and two buildings adjacent to it.
 
Louisville Gardens will receive a major renovation and potentially become home to a minor-league hockey team appropriate to the size of that venue. The city would likely lease the property to Cordish for redevelopment.
 
The development will be privately financed. Cordish Company will invest its resources in the redevelopment, and the city and state will be involved through a tax rebate (tax-increment financing) for those elements of the project that enhance the public environment.  The city and state tax rebate dollars will pay for public improvements that are part of the project — such as new sidewalks, signs, new parking garages, etc that will help tie the entire district together thematically. The city will rebate a minimum of 80 percent of the new taxes collected in the district; currently there is very little revenue accruing from the project’s properties.
 
Plans call for the development to begin next year, with substantial portions completed in 2010, in time for the downtown arena’s opening.

West Main Street Video

Louisville's West Main Street, with its extraordinary collection of Victorian cast-iron historic facades combined with striking contemporary architecture, has experienced a dramatic renaissance over the past decade, and has become one of the most creative arts-inspired cultural districts in the nation. With its unique streetscape program and a collection of museums and cultural institutions celebrating such icons as Muhammad Ali and the Louisville Slugger, West Main Street has become a true destination, and both residents and visitors are enjoying its vitality and creative energy, from its 120 foot bat to the red penguins roaming its rooftops.

Click here to view the West Main Street video.

Call (502) 584-6000 to order a copy of the DVD.