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BS Exclusive: Take A Tour Of The ZirMed Towers
ZirMed Towers Penthouse & Roof Deck
The ZirMed Towers aren’t planned to open until this summer, but considerable progress is being made towards completing the building. The glass curtain wall is set to be finished by the end of February and, once the building is water-tight, interior spaces can be fit up for the mixed-use project. The first floors of offices could be open as soon as late March or April. With the building currently showing several level of completeness, we went inside the structure to check out the views from the top level penthouse and see just what’s in store for the building and the surrounding Glassworks area.
We luckily made it through just before Ice Storm 2009 rolled through town and we snapped quite a few photos. Leading the tour, Ken Brown of City Properties Group helped portray an image of what the finished product might look like. Starting at the top penthouse level stunned us the panoramic views and offered a bird’s eye view of surrounding blocks and what might be in store for future development.
The rest of the block on which the ZirMed Towers will be developed incrementally after the towers are complete. Initial plans call for a landscaped courtyard at the interior of the block, sidewalk retail along Market Street and a 285-car parking garage. Tentative plans call for another tower at the opposite corner of the block that could potentially house a hotel. Ken Brown notes that City Properties Group, led by Bill Weyland, keeps it’s plans flexible and able to respond to changing market conditions, so the master plan for the block is still a work in progress. The real estate group has amassed a substantial amount of property in the Glassworks District, most of it surface level parking lots, and plans to eventually transform it all with future development.
In time, City Properties Group plans an expansive and vibrant neighborhood stretching south along Ninth Street that will significantlyenlarge the existing Glassworks district. Redeveloping a district is a challenge Ken likens to a game of “urban chess.” A small one-story building on the corner of Market and 8th Streets will eventually be torn down, but finding homes for existing tenants and shifting spaces around is a time-consuming process.
Looking down from the Penthouse roof terrace, it’s hard to imagine a sea of cars suddenly transformed into a dynamic urban environment, but looking beyond at the rest of the city, we are easily distracted. Check out the rest after the click below.
- Snapshot: ZirMed Towers Nearly Covered In Glass (Broken Sidewalk)
- ZirMed Towers Terminate Ninth Street (Broken Sidewalk)
- Topping Off At ZirMed Towers (Broken Sidewalk)
- Special Report: Inside The ZirMed Towers (Broken Sidewalk)
Go inside and tour the ZirMed Gateway Towers after the click.
PrintSnapshot: ZirMed Towers Nearly Covered In Glass
ZirMed Gateway Towers
Work at the ZirMed Gateway Towers on the corner of ninth Street and Market Street continues to progress. The glass curtain wall has almost reached the top of the north tower and are more than half-way up the taller, south tower. The tower crane has also disappeared since the building topped out in late November. The building was designed to act as a gateway to the central business district and the growing Glassworks district with its highly visible location.
The mixed-use 10 and 12 story towers, connected by a common lobby, are also marketing about 30,000 of its 140,000 total square feet. The available office space is going for $18 to $24 per square foot depending on options. The ZirMed corporation will occupy the rest of the commercial space with their headquarters. On the ground floor, 12,000 square feet of retail space will bring much needed sidewalk activity to the area. Last we heard, Jarfi’s will be moving their catering operations to the building.
And of course, at the very top of the structure, 20 condos will have some of the best views of the city and the river behind floor-to-ceiling windows. The ZirMed Towers also sit atop underground parking. There are 22 spaces under the building and 285 more planned in a garage.
- ZirMed Gateway Towers Terminate Ninth Street (Broken Sidewalk)
- Topping Off At The ZirMed Gateway Towers (Broken Sidewalk)
- Special Report: Inside The ZirMed Gateway Towers (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: ZirMed Gateway Towers Get Glassed (Broken Sidewalk)
ZirMed Gateway Towers Terminate 9th Street
Terminated Vista on Ninth Street
One of our favorite urban design techniques is the terminated vista. It’s that rare occurrence where a road’s view ends on a focal point, often a church or a monument. It’s difficult to achieve in a grid where streets tend not to dead-end, and near impossible in the suburbs. There’s a newly terminated vista in downtown, though.
If you travel north on Ninth Street / Roy Wilkins Avenue, you will see that a bend in the road allows the new ZirMed Gateway Towers to stand tall at the focal point of the tree-lined street. Now that the towers have topped off, we can see the full effect of the building keeping watch over the street.
The perspective allows for a heightened architectural effect and helps to close off the “infinite view” of a really long, straight, linear street with no end. For a view looking from inside the tower back down Ninth Street, you may want to check out these photos from the 8th floor.
- Topping Off At The ZirMed Gateway Towers (Broken Sidewalk)
- Special Report: Inside The ZirMed Tower (Broken Sidewalk)
Terminated Vista on Ninth Street
Pre-Construction: Inside The Whiskey Row Lofts
Historic Photo of Whiskey Row Lofts
Located on the corner of Second Street and Main Street, the Whiskey Row Lofts mixed-use project is still moving ahead despite the economic meltdown. The development will include retail space on two floors, Washington Street and Main Street, offices on the second floor, 23 apartments just above that, topped off with 4 penthouse condos with excellent views of the Ohio River, downtown, and the adjacent arena.
Two historic buildings, formerly the headquarters for the L & N railroad and the Burwinkle-Hendershot store, will be renovated by partners Bill Weyland, of City Properties Group, and siblings Valle and Stephen Jones, owners of the two buildings. We went inside the 130-year-old L & N Building to see what the project has in store and came away with a couple dozen photos of a gilded-age structure with nearly all its details still intact.
Grand Stair at Whiskey Row Lofts
The Whiskey Row Lofts partners hope to fill the retail space with restaurants and entertainment venues that will compliment the new arena and create a “vibrant” and living community. Bearno’s Pizza will retain its current corner location. Offices on the second floor will serve as a sound buffer for the residential units above. Construction is still expected to begin this Spring with about a 15 month construction schedule that will allow for a grand opening in the Summer of 2010.
We went through the entire building to reveal its secrets as a gilded-age office building to an artists’ colony to the vacant masterpiece it is today. We’ll take you through the building in text and photos after the jump.
- Breaking: Whiskey Row Development Plans Outlined (Broken Sidewalk)
- Development Watch: Burwinkle-Hendershot Apartments (Broken Sidewalk)
- Video of the press conference back in September (Access Louisville / Google Vids)
Topping Off At The Zirmed Gateway Towers
Zirmed Gateway Towers Top Out
A ceremony was held this morning at the construction site of the Zirmed Gateway Towers where the top floor was poured marking the end of vertical construction on the site. Our photos are from sunny but cold last Friday (today’s photos are a little dreary), but they show the building in all its glory. The 12-story $25-million facility will house ZirMed Inc. on the first 8 floors and will include condos on the upper floors.
The Zirmed Gateway Towers reflect the growth of the business behind them: the company has grown 456% in the last five years and has employs over 220 up from 40 just four years ago. The company will begin moving into their new building next March. The project was developed and designed by City Properties Group, but the mayor wants a little credit, too:
“Zirmed is a homegrown company that is expanding rapidly…and when it needed a signature building downtown to call its own, the city was glad to step up and help with items like improving the sidewalks and offering New Market Tax Credits to help the financing”
Meanwhile, we get to watch the glass curtain creep up the concrete skeleton for the next couple months. Already, there are some nice reflections of the Glassworks (also by City Properties Group) on the Market Street curtain wall (photo after the click). Now that the towers are at full height, expect the tower crane to disappear in the next week or two as construction continues on the facade and interior.
In honor of the day’s special events, we’re taking a look back at out construction updates of the Zirmed Towers. You can find them here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here. Yeah, we love the Zirmed Gateway Towers. We’ve also dug out several photos of the tower site before construction and during its early construction days. There’ll be many more updates to come as well, this thing’s not done yet.
Zirmed Gateway Towers
- Topping Off For Louisville’s Newest Downtown High-Rise (Metro Lou)
- ZirMed Charting Path For Growth (C-J)
- Special Report: Inside The Zirmed Towers (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Zirmed Tower Gets Glassed (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Zirmed Tower Keeps Climbing (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Zirmed Towers Get Curtain Wall Structures (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Zirmed Tower Update (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Another Zirmed Tower Update (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Yet Another Zirmed Tower Update (Broken Sidewalk)
- Snapshot: Zirmed Tower Rises (Broken Sidewalk)
More photos after the click. Bonus pre-construction photos as well.
Special Report: Inside The ZirMed Tower
South & Southeast View From The ZirMed Tower
As the ZirMed Gateway Tower inches ever skyward with a topping-out ceremony looming nearer, a Broken Sidewalk tipster sends us a few views from inside the tower. These photos were taken on the 8th floor (shown on the building after the click) and show some of the views of the newest high-rise offices in town. The top floors of the tower will feature modern condos with floor-to-ceiling glass, balconies, and, as you can see, some of the finest views of the city. Keep your tips and photos coming to the Broken Sidewalk tip-line or directly to tips@brokensidewalk.com.
North & East View From The ZirMed Tower
- ZirMed Tower Gets Glassed (Broken Sidewalk)
Development Watch: Wright-Taylor Building
Wright-Taylor Building
The Wright-Taylor Building on Fourth Street near Chestnut Street is, for the most part, complete. City Properties Group purchased the two-story building along with the adjacent Henry Clay from the City of Louisville in 2005 for $850,000 and has since successfully renovated both properties. The Tudor-Revival style commercial building dates to 1928 and was likely build for the Wright & Taylor distillery, makers of Old Charter Bourbon, who are known to have had offices in the vicinity in the 1920s. The building has been vacant for nearly two decades, but with a newly restored facade and the resurgence of the Fourth Street corridor brought about by the Henry Clay among other projects, the building shouldn’t be vacant for much longer.
In 2006, an upscale Japanese steakhouse called Kaiwa Moru (meaning “Ocean Ring”) was signed to operate a giant restaurant filling the entire two-story space. The restaurant was the brainchild of Ray and Dee Balmorez who operate Jeffersonville-based Kobe Steakhouse. Plans called for an atrium with a giant sailboat doubling as a sushi bar, fountains reflecting its ocean theme, and outdoor balconies on the second level for additional dining. In all, the restaurant would seat around 400 and cover all of the structure’s 13,500 square feet. Plans for the restaurant fell through and another tenant has not yet been found. Kobe Steakhouse still displays Kaiwa Moru as “Coming Soon” on their web site, but it appears it hasn’t been updated in a while.
City Properties Group, headed by Bill Weyland, has already signed a diverse retail selection for the Henry Clay, including Road to Morrocco, Kentucky Backroads, Dooley’s Bagels & Deli, and the Bunbury Theater. Weylan is interested in creating a lively street atmosphere filled with shops and restaurants that enhance urban living. Rumors arose earlier in the year that CPG was planning to move their offices from 8th Street to the Wright-Taylor Building but have proved false. Weylan is more concerned with finding the right tenant than an easy spot for offices. The space is shelled-out now, so it’s ready for any use that comes its way, but it seems likely given its size that two retail uses could be accomodated, one hopefully a restaurant as the property is two-doors-down from the Palace Theater and other attractions. We’ll see where this one goes.
- The Henry Clay (Official Site)
- Kobe Japanese Steakhouse (Official Site)
- City Properties Group (Official Site)
- History of Old Charter Bourbon (Straight Bourbon)
Construction photos all the way back to boarded up days after the click.
Breaking: Whiskey Row Redevelopment Plans Outlined
(Rendering courtesy City Properties Group)
The long-awaited announcement of the redevelopment project planned for the corner of Second Street and Main Street is finally here, and Broken Sidewalk has the scoop. City Properties Group will begin construction this Spring on the development being called “Whiskey Row” occupying the Bearno’s Building and the Burwinkle-Hendershot Building next door.
The development is located literally next door to the new arena and on the same block as the ever-in-limbo Iron Quarter proposal. The new O’Shea’s development also sits next door to the project. Whiskey Row will offer 23 rental apartments going for around $600 to $1400 per month based on size, four penthouse condos, and office space. Retail and entertainment venues are planned along both Main Street and Washington Street to create a vibrant 24-hour mixed-use neighborhood.
The project is expected to cost $18 million and will occupy 100,000 square feet. Completion is expected in the Summer of 2010, well before the opening of the arena. Whiskey Row is officially being developed by Bill Weyland of City Properties Group and property owners Valle and Stephen Jones. Plans call for incorporating many of the buildings’ unique original features including hardwood floors and large windows offering views of downtown, the arena, and the Ohio River.
“We are excited to [be] part of the rebirth of this block,” Valle Jones said. “Our vision has always been an historic renovation that would create a pedestrian friendly, mixed-use environment with river views in the heart of downtown.”
Both buildings making up Whiskey Row date to around 1875 and once housed bourbon for fine Louisville distilleries and the headquarters of the L & N Railroad. The westernmost building was designed by Henry Whitestone and sits on the original site of the Galt House. The eastern building was designed by John Andrewartha, the architect of Louisville’s City Hall. The building was home to such distilleries as Bonnie Bros., Old Times Distillery, and Glenmore Distillery.
- Development Watch: Burwinkle-Hendershot Apartments (Broken Sidewalk)
- City Properties Group (Official Site)
Whiskey Row Development
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