Don’t look now, but the downtown Louisville you drive through and around now is changing right before your eyes. It has always been a 
top priority for the city to be seen as a modern one, with plenty of attractions and hotel rooms to entertain visitors from around the world. Thanks to the vision of local investors and developers and designers from around the world, the skyline and attractions around downtown and the waterfront will be one to be celebrated and boasted about for the future.
Arguably at the top of the wish list for the city has been the much-anticipated Downtown Arena. The 22,000 seat 700,000 square feet arena will be the home of the University of Louisville men’s and women’s basketball teams with the hope of also hosting NCAA tournament games and other events. It is scheduled to begin construction in the summer of 2008 with completion in the fall of 2010. The cost is $252 million dollars and will be built at the LG&E riverfront site.
HOK Sport was chosen to design the arena and local designers Louis & Henry Group, Swope Design & Rangaswamy & Associates will provide additional planning and consulting.
Adjacent to the Arena will be a $50 million retail-office complex, Iron Quarter, proposed by local developer, Todd Blue. It will feature 120,000 square feet of retail space and an additional 110,000 square feet of office space. The title Iron Quarter comes from the historic cast-iron facades of the buildings that will be transformed into this development. It will feature shopping, restaurants & coffee shops along with the office space. Bravura Corporation designed the project, with construction beginning in December of 2007. The grand opening is scheduled for spring of 2010.
As you drive to the east of downtown, you’ll see a sales trailer up for the new residential/retail complex, River Park. Developed by Poe Companies in Louisville, it will feature two 17-story buildings of condos, restaurants and shopping. There will be 4 additional buildings of lofts in this development and will be the largest marina on the Ohio River. One of the towers and two of the loft buildings will be completed in the fall of 2008, with the remainder to be completed in late 2009.
The Louisville development that has drawn the most world-wide interest and acclaim is the planned 62-story skyscraper, also developed by Poe Companies, Museum Plaza. A mixed-use project with residential, retail & a hotel, the bold design will transform the skyline of the city. It will feature 65 luxury lofts on stories 6-19, and 97 luxury condos on floors 27-61. With its unique design, it also will house a contemporary non-profit arts center and will be home to four floors of studios and classroom space for the University of Louisville Fine Arts program.
Museum Plaza will also have a 250-room Westin Hotel, 12 stories of office space and a diagonal glass elevator, allowing visitors a view of the river as they travel to higher floors. The architect of record on this development is Kendall/Heaton Associates in Houston Texas while REX of New York is actively designing and executing Museum Plaza. Estimated costs of this project are in the $380 million dollar range, as preliminary construction is underway. It scheduled to be completed in 2010.
Louisville has always been known for special events like The Kentucky Derby and PGA events. Now, thanks to the creative foresight of local and national visionaries, Kentucky’s biggest city can also boast a bold and unique downtown to make even the biggest cities take notice. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles: Watch out for Louisville, Kentucky!
