Century-old Puritan Uniform Rental could be razed for another SoBro parking lot

Jul 6, 2016

A sturdy, orange-brick building has been keeping SoBro clean for almost a century. Puritan Uniform Rental’s simple yellow lettering above its doorway at 206–208 West Breckinridge Street near Second Street has long been a fixture of SoBro, playing off the building’s signature brick color.

But since the business closed several years ago and the passing of Puritan owner Ernest Carl Bowen, Jr., in 2014, that orange edifice began to collect dirt and grime. Last fall, the structure was acquired by Spalding University with plans for its demolition.

For Spalding, the building has become an eyesore that makes attracting students more difficult, but for a neighborhood already beset with surface parking lots, the building means a lot more.

“The dry cleaners actually did a lot of work for the Sisters of Charity,” Spalding President Tori Murden McClure told Broken Sidewalk on a tour of the property last week. “They did all the habits for the sisters who were working in the area, and they did all the linens for the residence hall.”

The structure has roots within the community.

Plans for the Puritan Building date back to October 1914 when the Benzole Garment Cleaning Company, headquartered at Third and Chestnut streets Downtown, announced they would build a new plant at the site, previously a residence.

The L-shaped parcel containing the Puritan Building. (Courtesy Google)

That structure was completed in 1917 under direction of architect Oscar Reuter¹. According to a report in the journal Domestic Engineering from that year, the 30-foot-by-200-foot plant was built of fire-proof brick and concrete at a cost of $5,500, or about $103,300 today. And walking around the interior today, it’s clear that this building was built to last.

Inside the Puritan Uniform Rental building. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

The site has operated as a cleaner almost consistently throughout its life. After the floodwaters of 1937 inundated the area, the Benzole company went bankrupt, and by 1939, Puritan Cleaners was listed at the site, formally incorporated in 1941 at 206 West Breckinridge Street.

A rapidly changing neighborhood.

The site of the Puritan Building in the larger context of SoBro. (Courtesy Google)

Shortly after the turn of the century when the Puritan Uniform Rental building was built, SoBro was undergoing distinct transition. The neighborhood was first developed following the Civil War as a residential enclave of Louisville’s top families, but according to the 2007 SoBro neighborhood plan, it was quickly changing with a greater mix of residents and commercial uses spilling over from Downtown.

The Puritan Uniform Rental Building. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

This push south also brought with it the neighborhood’s eventual decline. New businesses, including many of the city’s first car dealerships, converted or demolished housing for commercial use, the neighborhood plan continued. During this transition, the wealthy continued south to Old Louisville and old mansions were quickly converted into apartments and rooming houses. “Seemingly overnight, the neighborhood south of Broadway would go from being a handsome Victorian-era neighborhood to an amorphous commercial and tenement district,” the neighborhood plan reads.

Over the course of the next half century, SoBro would take on a reputation more for its barren parking lots than its historic architecture. Earlier this year, the neighborhood was named the country’s worst “Parking Crater” in a national competition held by New York–based Streetsblog.

Mother Catherine Spalding Square. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

“There’s the joke that we’re the giant parking lot between Downtown and Old Louisville,” McClure said. And Spalding has been trying to counter the plague of asphalt with fields and trees, most notably with the creation of Mother Catherine Spalding Square near the heart of its campus. The university also plans to convert a former used car lot at Second and Kentucky streets into a grassy play field for its students.

“The lack of architectural cohesion and the absence of continuity in urban form create a vortex effect for the SoBro neighborhood,” its neighborhood plan continues. “As a result, it has become a ‘placeless’ no-man’s-land that interrupts the connection between Downtown and Old Louisville/Limerick.”

SoBro shows signs of life.

Spalding University's new dormitory at Second and Breckinridge streets. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk) — Spalding University’s new dormitory at Second and Breckinridge streets. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

Today, most of SoBro’s grand mansions are gone, but the neighborhood still clings to its mixed-use heritage of proud housing and commercial space. Since 2007, several missing teeth around Second and Breckinridge streets have been infilled in with housing for the Louisville Family Scholar House, the Center for Women & Families, and with a dormitory for Spalding. Some older commercial buildings have been renovated for private and academic use. A Kroger grocery still keeps the neighborhood supplied with food. In many ways, the resurgence of SoBro is centered right around the Puritan Uniform Rental building.

But if Spalding’s plans advance, the Puritan building won’t play a role in that revitalization. President McClure said the university planned from the outset to demolish the structure because they consider the property an eyesore.

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The problem for Spalding, McClure explained, came when admissions tours would walk prospective families past new parks and renovated classrooms on the main campus east to the new dormitory nearby the Puritan. She said the sight of a vacant property was turning prospects away.

“Our admissions folks literally talk about how they have to be creative to get past this building without the parents just deciding, ‘No, our child is not coming here’,” McClure said. “It’s not an advertisement for our neighborhood.”

But, then again, neither is another parking lot. And as we toured the former Puritan Uniform Rental structure, a larger, and more difficult, challenge lay just across the street: a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk.

Questions over contamination.

The L-shaped Puritan parcel contains a vacant lot where underground storage tanks were removed years ago. (Courtesy Google)

Before Spalding closed on the property last November, the university hired Louisville-based environmental firm Micro-Analytics to test the site for possible contamination from its former use as a dry cleaners and to prepare a Property Management Plan to submit to the state for the site’s use as a parking lot, calling for capping the site with asphalt.

Our review of Micro-Analytics’s findings in its “Limited Environmental Site Assessment” did show groundwater contamination in excess of the EPA’s Regional Screening Levels. Four chemicals typically associated with gasoline, not with dry cleaning, were detected in groundwater deep under the structure. A source familiar with such contamination said these groundwater issues are not uncommon to urban parts of Louisville where industry has been polluting the community for centuries.

“These aren’t really even chemicals a dry cleaner would have used,” the source said. “This particular site might not be where these chemicals originated from.” The environmental report turned up no soil contamination. “For this property, the depth of ground water is so great, there’s really a small chance of any problems,” the source added. “It’s generally just a precaution.”

Still, the Puritan Uniform Rental building sits awaiting its day with Spalding’s wrecking ball, its yellow letters replaced with yellow Intent to Demolish signs.

A neighborhood opposed to demolition.

A notice of Intent to Demolish posted to the Puritan Building. (Courtesy Tipster)

But not everyone in SoBro finds the Puritan Building to be an eyesore. “The act of demolishing a handsome anchor building such as the Puritan is anything but sustainable or compassionate,” Stephen Peterson, a Limerick resident adjacent to the Spalding campus, told Broken Sidewalk. “Without these older commercial buildings we can’t welcome new investment into the area—at least not as easily.”

Peterson pointed to the successful renovations of the stylistically similar Milk Building into offices for Genscape and the conversion of a former LG&E structure, itself on a contaminated site, into offices for Metro Louisville and the Kentucky Agricultural Extension as examples of the type of development SoBro needs. “The neighborhood deserves better than another swath of asphalt,” he said.

Thomas Woodcock, an attorney and president of the board of Preservation Louisville, agreed with Peterson. “We don’t want to see the building demolished,” he told Broken Sidewalk. “We really hope there’s some way for Spalding to use the building in some capacity without removing it.”

The SoBro Planned Development District plan from 2011 backs Woodcock’s call for preservation, noting that “existing structures that are identified locally or nationally as having significant historic character should be retained” rather than demolished. The plan adds that sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places—and the Puritan building is eligible—should not be torn “for the creation of surface parking lots or open space.”

“The principles for development in the Neighborhood Core Subarea are to encourage an eclectic mix of modern development within the historic fabric,” the plan reads. “This could result in lively street activity, provide multi-family housing opportunities, allow for businesses that will support both the neighborhood and Spalding’s students.”

Woodcock and Peterson have watched too many buildings in SoBro succumb to parking lots over the years, adding nothing to the neighborhood’s vitality and contributing to Louisville’s Urban Heat Island problems.

“I grew up in Old Louisville,” Woodcock said. “People were talking 20 years ago about the SoBro area and how many buildings had been demolished. We want to see the building saved using adaptive reuse.” He added: “We’re willing to help.”

Can a compromise be reached?

Perhaps Spalding can reach a middle ground that would clean up the Puritan Building’s act, benefiting both the university, its students, and the neighborhood. After all, everyone agrees more parking lots are not the answer.

Could the Puritan Building, a complex of three commercial storefronts, be revitalized instead to create a real neighborhood asset? Sometimes it takes the threat of demolition to spur a community into action—and we certainly hope that might be the case here.

So far, President McClure has been open to discussion. While she said Spalding is not interested in developing the structure itself, it could potentially partner with a local entrepreneur to give the building new life. “We hoped for a long time someone would come along and buy it,” she said.

It’s now or never for the Puritan Building. “I’d sell the building for what we paid for it,” McClure said. “If someone assured me it wasn’t going to look like this, and wasn’t going to stay like this.” Spalding paid $255,000 for the complex last November, according to a deed on file with the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office.

But for McClure, the clock is ticking. “They have a couple weeks, sure,” she said. “I all but promised the students the building would be gone when they came back.” We’re hopeful this spirit of community improvement can help make an asset of the Puritan Uniform Rental building for Spalding and for SoBro.

Let’s make this work.

If you’re interested in working with Spalding to renovate or purchase the Puritan Building to improve the SoBro neighborhood, please get in touch with Broken Sidewalk right away and we can help make the appropriate connection that could save the Puritan Building. Just email us at tips@brokensidewalk.com. We’re always listening.

Transportation surpasses coal-fired power plants for most carbon-dioxide emissions

By Branden Klayko -

Jul 5, 2016

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The switch to cleaner energy has reduced carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants to the point that cars, trucks, and airplanes emit more CO₂ than power plants for the first time since 1979, Brad Plumer reports for Vox. Transportation makes up one-third of all CO₂ emissions, with numbers steadily rising since 2013. The main problem is that there isn’t a good substitute for oil, the dominant source of fuel for cars, trucks and planes.

Carbon emissions by sector. (Sam Ori / Twitter / Via Vox)

“Over the past decade, the U.S. has been using more corn-based ethanol instead of gasoline in its cars,” Plumer writes. “But ethanol is currently stuck at around 10 percent of the gasoline supply—a contentious issue known as the ‘blend wall’—and there’s a fierce debate over whether ethanol is actually an improvement, climate-wise, over gasoline. The Obama administration has also enacted fuel-economy standards that require cars to emit less CO2 per mile. Those rules have certainly kept a lid on oil consumption. But, right now, they’re being offset by the impacts of low oil prices. Americans are shifting back to gas-guzzling SUVs and they’ve been driving more miles over the past two years, which helps explain why transportation emissions have been nosing upward in recent years, despite efficiency rules.”

Many hope electric cars, which currently only make up 0.7 percent of the U.S. car fleet, will catch on, Plumer writes. “But even if we do get an electric-car revolution, that would still leave air travel and long-haul trucking, which are about one-third of transport emissions. For the foreseeable future, it won’t be practical for either mode to be powered by limited-range batteries, which means that engineers will have to figure out how to whittle down fuel use bit by bit. See here for an exploration of what that might look like for aviation.”

[Editor’s Note: This article has been cross-posted from the Rural Blog. Top image by Wade Morgen / Flickr.]

University of Louisville’s Pediatric Ambulatory Care Center unveiled at Preston and Chestnut streets

By Branden Klayko -

Jul 5, 2016

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09-university-of-louisville-pediatric-center — (GBBN Architects)

Seemingly out of nowhere, a major new building in the Medical Center will soon be taking shape. The University of Louisville School of Medicine announced Thursday that ground will broken on the so-called Pediatric Ambulatory Care Center on July 18, beginning with initial site work. The structure, to be built and owned by the University of Louisville Foundation on land owned by the university, will climb eight stories and cover 174,000 square feet.

The $79 million Pediatric Center will be built up to the sidewalk at Preston Street, but has been designed with a blank wall—with no building entrance or retail—facing the street. The structure’s main entrance faces an interior wrap-around driveway inside the block accessed via Chestnut Street.

Examining the Early Design

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An elevation of the blank wall facing Preston Street. (GBBN Architects)

Early renderings show a dramatic pedestrian bridge connecting over this driveway to the existing UofL Physicians Outpatient Center at at 401 East Chestnut Street on the corner with Preston. That bridge would then connect with existing bridges to University Hospital or to an enormous parking garage across Chestnut. But at least according to the rendering, a large stand of birch trees would be removed. (You may also remember way back in 2008 when the university proposed another structure in this area that was never built.)

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Working Behind the Scenes

But even though news of the Pediatric Center’s imminent construction sprang onto the scene suddenly, work has been going on internally at UofL for a year and a half. The press release from UofL, not its private foundation, said internal planning began at the beginning of 2015. By June last year, the architecture team had been named and a design begun. The local office of GBBN Architects and Atlanta-based architecture firm Stanley Beaman & Sears are handling the project. Messer Construction is serving as General Contractor, and engineering work will be handled by Atlanta’s Uzon + Case (structural), Louisville-based CMTA (MEP), and Louisville’s Carman Engineering (Civil / Landscape).

The University of Louisville owns the property covering the entire block, contains the Physicians Outpatient Center, University Hospital Ambulatory Care Building (550 South Jackson Street), UofL School of Dentistry, and a parking garage. In April, the university cut off a chunk of the parcel containing the Ambulatory Care Building to create independent 1.08-acre space for the Pediatric Center. That move (16MINORPLAT1046) was approved by Metro Louisville staff in June, with the stipulation that a parking lot in the new parcel disallowed by OR3 zoning within the building footprint be removed.

The project site is currently a parking lot. (Courtesy Google / Montage by Broken Sidewalk)

Limited Design Information

From the limited design materials available, it looks like the Pediatric Center will predominantly be clad in glass and metal panels. Windows on the colorful upper floors take on a random appearance that could give the building a more playful look, but their vertical proportion could also take on the appearance of a jail. Additionally, the structure’s massing is clearly an attempt to make the building appear more playful pediatric center, but additional details are needed to tell whether the structure’s masses will blend cohesively as a whole. Current More design information is needed to evaluate the structure.

One design quirk hinted at in the structure’s plans is a dramatic three-story lobby with what looks like a birds nest theme. Inside, what look like hanging, nest-like seating areas fill the ground floor, while above, a bird mobile soars through the open void and diagonal ropes further the next reference.

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According to the university, the Pediatric Center will round up specialty pediatric practices from around the area into one central location. Additionally, a ground floor general pediatrics center is planned along with labs, pharmacy, and radiological suites. Plans show a large multipurpose conference space on the top of the building connecting to a variety of rooftop spaces, that the university says will be landscaped with gardens.

Development Review Gray Areas

The project appears to be undergoing fast track construction, with foundation work taking place first while the architecture team finished up future phases to complete the building. That initial groundbreaking slated for July 18 is for foundation work. A permit (Case# 129045-000-0) for this first expedited phase was already issued by the state’s Department of Housing, Buildings & Construction on May 26 and another plan review from a late June submittal is still pending.

The development arrangement between the university and its private foundation appears to represent a sort of gray area in how the Pediatric Center project is being reviewed and permitted. The university can bypass local planning regulations and controls because of its state affiliation, but the foundation, as in cases such as at the Nucleus site, must go through local review with the city. This foundation owned building being built on university owned land apparently qualifies it to bypass local review and go through the state, hence the state permits lack of a development plan filed with the city.

For those keeping track, one tower crane is expected to rise during this initial phase. Also for those keeping track, a site plan indicates the sidewalk along Preston Street will be closed and temporary crosswalk indicated at the northern side shown, making this construction site better than some around the city.

The university’s press release says an “official groundbreaking ceremony” including “more details on the overall vision for the building” will take place in the fall.

One-Stop Shopping

The intent of the Pediatric Center is to create a sort of one-stop shop allowing “parents easy access to pediatrics specialists and primary care providers in one location, with everything designed specifically for children and their families,” according to a statement by Dr. Gerard Rabalais, chair of the UofL Department of Pediatrics.

That consolidation effort appears to have been a long-term goal for the university. In a June 30, 2014, report in Medical News, the university began consolidating offices, first closing its office at Floyd Street and Broadway, instead “creating a single expanded downtown practice, the Children & Youth Project (C&Y), located a few blocks away.” That program was rolled into the university’s UofL Pediatrics Downtown at 555 Street Floyd Street.

Another 2013 partnership between UofL and Kosair Charities combined pediatric care and dental at the Sam Swope Kosair Charities Centre, 982 Eastern Parkway, with a five year lease ending in mid 2018, the same time the new Pediatric Center of expected to open.

Action Alert! Deadline Tuesday, July 5 to submit comments to Move Louisville

By Branden Klayko -

Jul 4, 2016

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Ever since the draft Move Louisville plan was unveiled in April, the city has been collecting public input about the goals, priority projects, and policies laid out within its 100 pages. And this is one important document that will shape transportation policy in Louisville for the next two decades, so it’s important that you’re paying attention for this one. (Don’t miss Broken Sidewalk’s in-depth analysis of the Move Louisville plan here.)

After a couple extensions of the public comment period, the final deadline to submit feedback is quick approaching. You can still submit your own comments to the city through this Tuesday, July 5. And its crucial that you do, because the amount of public support for various components of the Move Louisville plan will help to get those projects funded.

Broken Sidewalk teamed up with Bicycling for Louisville and the University of Louisville Sustainability Council to submit our own response to the Move Louisville plan, and you can read it in full here.

We hope you take the time to submit a Move Louisville comment using the city’s handy online form. To make the process even easier, we’ve crafted five simple comments that you can simple copy and paste into the comment form after adding your own personal information. This couldn’t get any easier. Please sign your comment with your name and feel free to elaborate further if you’d like.

Thank you for taking the time to improve Louisville’s transportation prospects for years to come. This process is vital for shaping a healthy, multi-modal that improves the quality of life of all Louisville residents.

Two-way streets and Downtown walkability

Dear Move Louisville Team,

I am writing to support the Downtown two-way street conversion projects in the Move Louisville plan. In addition, I’d like to ask that your plan please consider adding curb extensions at intersections throughout Downtown and Nulu, similar to those that have been added on West Main Street in the Museum District. These curb extensions would calm
traffic on these busy roads, making downtown more walkable and inviting. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Butchertown, Nulu & Phoenix Hill Intersection Safety

Dear Move Louisville Team,

I am writing to support the redesign of the Main Street / Story Avenue intersection proposed in the Move Louisville plan. Making that intersection two-way in all directions and adding crosswalks would be great for creating a more walkable, vibrant Butchertown and Nulu. I hope, in addition, that you will consider doing similar redesigns on other problematic intersections in the neighborhood. I think Baxter Avenue / Jefferson Street, Baxter / Liberty Street, and Liberty / Chestnut Street could be redesigned as well to calm traffic, make the area more walkable, and enliven the neighborhood. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Shelby Park & Smoketown Complete Streets

Dear Move Louisville Team,

I am writing to ask that you consider adding Logan Street / Shelby Street, Preston Street / Jackson Street, and Oak Street / St Catherine Street to the list of streets that should be made two-wayed and redesigned as “complete streets” as part of the Move Louisville plan. The neighborhoods of Smoketown and Shelby Park would benefit greatly from more walkable, business-friendly streets with calmer traffic. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Russell & Portland Complete Streets

Dear Move Louisville Team,

I am writing to ask that you consider adding Portland Avenue / Bank Street and 15th Street / 16th Street to the list of streets that should be made two-way and redesigned as “complete streets” as part of the Move Louisville plan. The Russell and Portland neighborhoods would benefit greatly from more walkable, business-friendly streets with calmer traffic. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Aim for real change, ditch the status quo

I’m writing to express both strong support for the goals reflected in the Move Louisville plan, and frustration that the plan doesn’t go far enough for us to achieve these vital goals. If we are serious about tackling the challenges facing our city—reducing VMT, diversifying mode share, increasing health and livability, and increasing sustainability—then we need a transportation plan that points us in the direction of real change.

I urge you to remove from the priority list all projects that will not encourage dense development in our urban core, including: Urton Lane, East Louisville Connectivity, Louisville Loop, and Oxmoor Farms. I also recommend focusing the plan around five types of priority projects that truly will drive denser, healthier, more livable urban development such as Premium Transit Corridors, Complete Streets, Intersection Redesigns, Two-Way Conversions, and a focus on Walkability and Bikeability. If Move Louisville were framed explicitly around these type of projects, we’d have a real shot at achieving the plan’s goals. If not, our city will be stuck in neutral for decades to come.

Sincerely,

How to Submit a Comment

To submit a public comment, either of your own crafting or using a sample provided above, simply visit Metro Louisville’s Move Louisville Comment Form here. There are a few required fields indicated with an asterisk and a big box at the end for your comment.

But hurry, the deadline for public comment ends on Tuesday, July 5.

Thanks for your help on this very important issue!

Public comment period for Move Louisville ends July 5! Help stand up for real transportation change

By Branden Klayko -

Jul 3, 2016

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After a couple of extensions, the official public comment period for the draft Move Louisville plan ends on Tuesday, July 5. Move Louisville will help guide transportation policy and the projects that will change the face of our city for the next two decades. It’s crucial that we get the official plan right. And we urge you to get involved—we already did.

To submit a public comment to Move Louisville, simply visit Metro Louisville’s website here.

A redesigned River Road. (Courtesy Move Louisville)

Broken Sidewalk, Bicycling for Louisville, and the University of Louisville Sustainability Council sat down with the city’s Move Louisville team to get additional details about the document and we submitted a joint comment to the city highlighting the many good elements of the plan and a few changes we’d like to see implemented.

Below is our comment in full. Hopefully it will offer some inspiration to you in writing your own note to Metro Louisville.

Dear Move Louisville Team:

On behalf of Broken Sidewalk, the University of Louisville Sustainability Council, and Bicycling for Louisville, thank you for taking the time to meet with us in May to discuss the Move Louisville plan. We appreciated the chance to sit down with you and go over both the plan’s goals and the proposed projects that will serve as strategies for implementing those goals. Thank you as well for all the time and energy you put into creating this plan, which will steer transportation priorities in Louisville for decades to come.

Move Louisville’s goals are exactly what we would hope for in a plan aimed at creating a less car-dependent, more multimodal city. As you note in your report, there is a lot to be gained for our city in moving in this direction: improved health for our citizens, better air quality, a more sustainable built environment, and greater connectivity (p. 6). In the planning process, your team considered many projects that could help us achieve these goals. And ultimately, you chose 16 priority projects that scored highly across seven criteria: (i) promoting economic growth, (ii) providing choice for citizens, (iii) enhancing neighborhoods, (iv) improving safety and health, (v) ensuring environmental sustainability, (vi) maintaining fiscal responsibility, and (vii) assuring equity for all users (p. 7).

We can hardly argue with any of these goals. And Louisville’s ability to implement projects that meet this criteria will be vital to building our city’s future as a happy, vibrant, and healthy place to live for all residents.

It is critical that each priority project actively advance the goals of the Move Louisville plan. While we support the stated goals, we have concerns about the projects chosen to achieve them—and how they fit (or do not fit) your outlined criteria. Many of the projects are great, but a few appear to be contradictory to the goals of the plan, and others should be enhanced or shifted to more effectively move us toward meeting the plan’s goals.

The Good and The Bad

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To start, we’d like to make clear that we believe many, in fact most, of the priority projects listed in the Move Louisville plan will be fantastic additions to the city when implemented.

Urban complete street projects (Broadway / Baxter Ave, Lexington Road, Ninth Street) will enhance neighborhoods, promote sustainable growth, and vastly improve mode choice. Transforming Dixie Highway into a premium transit corridor promises to promote connectivity and safety.

A concept diagram showing River Road extended west. (Courtesy Move Louisville)

Expanding River Road into West Louisville and making it into a calmer, more accessible road in East Louisville will open up Waterfront Park and its surrounding neighborhoods. And two-way conversions in Downtown will be a great benefit, both in safety and economic development, to our central business district and core neighborhoods. These proposed projects should be pursued immediately.

Diagram showing a complete street and priority transit corridor along Broadway. (Courtesy Move Louisville)

However, there are a few priority projects included in Move Louisville that give us pause. The report makes clear that Louisville currently is, even by the modest standards of modern U.S. cities, sprawling, unhealthy, and car-dominated (p. 31). It is therefore troubling that some of Move Louisville’s proposed projects would further entrench this status quo.

The East Louisville Connectivity priority projects will only lead to more sprawl in the exurban hinterlands. (Courtesy Move Louisville)

For instance, two of the plan’s four “Regional Economic Development Projects” (Urton Lane and East Louisville Connectivity) would undoubtedly promote sprawl and auto-dependency, not diminish it. In your East Louisville Connectivity synopsis, you note, “It is anticipated that many of the larger projects will be focused on Interstate improvements” (p. 73). How does that meet any of the plan’s goals? These projects should be removed from Move Louisville so as not to establish precedents that undermine the plan’s efficacy moving forward.

The Louisville Loop priority project is essentially a recreational project rather than a transportation one. (Courtesy Move Louisville) — The Louisville Loop priority project is essentially a recreational project rather than a transportation one, and could distract from more important issues facing the city. (Courtesy Move Louisville)

Likewise, the Louisville Loop project meets none of the plan’s goals and should be removed. It is an expensive, time-consuming project that encourages suburban development, while delivering little in terms of economic growth opportunities, connectivity, sustainability, or neighborhood enhancement. It is purely a recreational enhancement which has no place in a transportation plan. In its place, we encourage extending the Beargrass Creek Trail to the Butchertown Greenway, which would connect Downtown into the inner East End neighborhoods and Cherokee Park.

Good to Great: Enhancing Existing Projects

Move Louisville's plan for a redesigned Baxter Avenue / Main Street / Story Avenue. This type of change should be expanded into surrounding neighborhoods. (Courtesy Move Louisville) — Move Louisville’s plan for a redesigned Baxter Avenue / Main Street / Story Avenue. This type of change should be expanded into surrounding neighborhoods. (Courtesy Move Louisville)

Our strongest recommendations come as suggestions to take some of the proposed projects further. Many of the 16 priority projects should be enhanced in order to maximize their benefits to the community. For instance, the Main Street / Story Avenue intersection redesign is a fantastic idea that would meet many of the plan’s goals. It should definitely be pursued. However, we would like to see this project expanded to include many of the other intersections on the edges of Nulu and Phoenix Hill—Baxter and Jefferson, Baxter and Liberty, and Liberty and Chestnut. A more ambitious plan to make all of those intersections people-friendly would go a long way toward unlocking the walkability of Nulu and connecting it to Butchertown, the Highlands, and Phoenix Hill, thereby enhancing all four neighborhoods.

Similarly, walkability in Downtown is a problem. And while the Move Louisville document acknowledges this, it does little to offer solutions beyond suggesting two-way street conversions. This project, too, needs to be enhanced: Downtown is Louisville’s most important neighborhood because it’s the one we all share. The curb extensions at intersections on West Main Street have been an excellent addition to Museum Row. They should be expanded to Jefferson Street, Market Street, and the rest of Main Street, from Ninth Street to Baxter Avenue. And for transit, premium corridors should be established on Main / Market for east-west connectivity and on Second / Third for north-south connectivity. As you note, these routes are already two of our most traveled (p. 40–41).

The project most in need of a shift in focus is the suggestion to turn Preston Highway into a complete street and premium transit corridor. If we are to maximize limited resources and capital, the Preston corridor is the wrong choice for these changes. A more viable alternative to Preston would be the Goss Avenue / Logan Street / Shelby Street corridor through Germantown, Schnitzelburg, Shelby Park, and Smoketown. Goss is already thriving with investment, development, and density. For the same reasons that Baxter / Bardstown is a good choice as a corridor, Goss would be too. And Logan and Shelby streets would be transformed by a two-way, complete streets redesign, extending the energy of Germantown north through Shelby Park and Smoketown.

As for Preston Highway, it certainly should not be left in its current condition. While it is not dense enough to sustain a premium transit corridor, reconfiguration of the intersections around Eastern Parkway would be a boon for walkability, calming traffic, and improving economic opportunity for local business.

Conclusion

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It is our opinion that although the Move Louisville plan points to vitally important goals for our city, it does not lay out a comprehensive enough strategy for achieving them. While there is certainly merit in many of the outlined priority projects, the projects described in the plan will, unfortunately, be insufficient to the task of reshaping Louisville around these common goals. What is needed is a progressive, ambitious plan that can help us reprioritize the way our city grows.

Louisville is faced with hard choices about where and how to prioritize investments, and, as currently constructed, the Move Louisville plan dithers on making those choices. The plan promotes a number of projects that are either contradictory to the goals of Move Louisville or too modest to achieve them. In essence, it is a plan that would do little to disrupt the status quo in developing our city. Today, we have an unsustainable system built on suburban sprawl, deferred maintenance, and car-dependency. Continuing this pattern will only make these problems worse and hinder Louisville’s ability to compete with cities that address these issues more aggressively.

Louisville deserves a transportation plan with projects and policies that will truly prioritize dense urban development and increase the safety and quality of life of all residents regardless of mode choice. We urge you to amend the Move Louisville plan’s priorities to more directly consider how we can achieve these goals.

Sincerely,

Branden Klayko, Broken Sidewalk
Justin Mog, University of Louisville Sustainability Council
Chris Glasser, Bicycling for Louisville

Submit your own comment to Move Louisville here before July 5.

New office building elevates design tone at Downtown’s Nucleus block

By Branden Klayko -

Jun 14, 2016

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There’s another large building slated for the eastern edge of Downtown Louisville. Last Friday, the University of Louisville Foundation‘s real estate arm and NTS Development Company submitted their development plan for the next project at the J.D. Nichols Campus for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, aka the Nucleus block.

The new 11-story, mixed-use structure at 350 East Market Street, known simply as “Building Two,” would sit next on the southwest corner of East Market Street and Preston Street.

The eight-story Atria Support Center at The Nucleus. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

This is the third structure the foundation has built on the site since Nucleus was formed in 2008. Directly east of the proposed building site is an eight-story building called Atria Support Center at The Nucleus, named for Atria Senior Living, which houses a variety of office users over its roughly 200,000 square feet. That structure was designed by Louisville-based Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Chovan and opened in 2013.

The garage under construction in early January. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

To the south of the 1.2-acre building site is a massive 832-space parking garage. That structure deviated from the original Nucleus master plan calling for a tower at the corner. Broken Sidewalk previously criticized the garage its poor treatment of urban edge conditions. The parking structure was designed by Louisville’s Tucker Booker Donhoff + Partners (TBD+ Architects), the same firm designing the proposed Cambria Hotel a block away, also notable for its lack of street life.

A conceptual rendering of the Nucleus Building Two looking north toward Market Street. (BHDP Architecture / Via Metro Louisville)

The foundation’s early thinking of the new structure can be elucidated from a Request for Proposals (RFP) for architectural services issued in March 3, 2015. That document imagined a structure of eight to ten floors, with a “grand lobby” and potential mezzanine. The foundation sought a distinctly more modern look than the first Nucleus building, with the new structure “designed to complement, but not imitate the Nucleus building,” according to the RFP. “A more modern architecture that emulates entrepreneurship and
innovation is preferred.” An occupiable green roof and other sustainable design elements were also required.

It appears from the newly submitted development plan that Building Two meets these requirements, expanding slightly on the building size. Plans show a series of conceptual designs for the new Building Two by Cincinnati’s BHDP Architecture (named the city’s top firm this year) with local engineers at Qk4. The structure’s 325,500 square feet houses ground floor retail with office space above.

Ground floor retail is a welcome addition to the Nucleus block. We’ve lamented the lack of retail on of all streets Market Street in previous development. Two retail spaces of approximately 8,000 square feet each are shown flanking the building lobby. Each features outdoor seating for a potential restaurant or cafe. For reference, the average size of a Starbucks tends to be 1,700 to 2,700 square feet while a CVS or Wallgreens ranges from 12,500 to 14,500 square feet. It’s likely these spaces could hold more than two tenants.

A 6,800 square foot rooftop restaurant with a large 8,400-square-foot terrace looking north toward the Ohio River is shown on the building’s top floor, marked by a sloped canopy / roof structure.

A conceptual rendering of the Nucleus Building Two along Market Street. (BHDP Architecture / Via Metro Louisville)

The new structure relates visually to the first Nucleus building via a precast concrete facade massing along Market Street and brick massing details on an interior courtyard. Unlike the older structure, Building Two eschews the traditional detailing on its facade, opting instead for a sleek look dominated by its chamfered curtain wall.

Viewed from the east, Building Two appears bisected by a large, vertical blade rising through the roof of the structure, and defining a boundary for the southern curtain wall treatment which features prominent horizontal banding. At both the fifth and 11th floors, the curtain wall is pulled back to reveal sheltered outdoor terraces, a notable amenity of the building.

Elevations for Building Two at The Nucleus. (BHDP Architecture / Via Metro Louisville)

At 11 stories rising to a peak of 180 feet, the new structure is taller than any building in the immediate vicinity, with only the tip of the nearby Preston Pointe a block to the north vying for space along the skyline. There are tall structures here, though, with hospitals to the south of Interstate 65 or Waterfront Park Place a few blocks farther.

It’s still hard to call the new building a tower, however. While 180 feet is a significant rise for Louisville, the proportions of the building are wider than tall, giving it a more grounded feel. Still, Building Two, at least in this early conceptual phase, offers a mid-rise design for this long-sleepy stretch of Market Street. It’s scale is sure to be felt and will help make the area feel more urban, closing off the windswept view of Interstate 65 that has long dominated the area.

We’ll look at the proposed ground plane design in a future story.

The Nucleus block historically was a mix of one- to three-story structures housing businesses related to farming and trade of market goods. Many remember this block as the Haymarket site, where fresh produce could be bought wholesale and retail. The original market site, Haymarket Square, was located just to the southwest, between Jefferson and Liberty streets where an offramp for Interstate 65 now sits.

The development of the Nucleus since it began in 2008 had been overseen until recently by Vickie Yates Brown Glisson, the first Nucleus president and CEO and an attorney at Frost Brown Todd. In February, WDRB reported that Glisson resigned her position with the foundation effective March 1 after she was appointed secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health & Family Services last December by Governor Matt Bevin.

A replacement for Glisson has not been named and there’s currently no timetable for announcing a replacement, but she remains listed in her former role on the largely out-of-date Nucleus website. Glisson is credited with launching the Nucleus, largely by helping secure a $601 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district in 2007 that helps to fund its construction.

[Top image shows an early conceptual view of Nucleus Building Two by BHDP Architecture / via Metro Louisville.]

KY Place breaks down the history and future of Louisville’s racist Ninth Street Divide

By Branden Klayko -

Jun 14, 2016

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It is like night and day once you cross over Ninth Street – you can see the difference in wealth, you can see the difference in investment than in other parts of the city, and you know that it literally stops at Ninth Street.”
—Haven Harrington III

Nearly every city in America has in some way grappled with the legacy of segregation. Often times, these battles would unfold in the public sphere, in areas where non-whites were not allowed in movie theaters, department stores, and—as was the case for a young Muhammad Ali—restaurants.

The Ninth Street Divide from the top of the Zirmed Tower circa 2009. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

In Louisville, that legacy exists in many areas, but none as noticeable today as Ninth Street, which was constructed in the 1950s and ’60s as a high-traffic expressway that served to expedite car travel across the city—and to separate black and white Louisville with a wide thoroughfare. In the process, we demolished a large African-American business district and created a physical scar that continues to divide Louisville between East and West, rich and poor, black and white.

The origins of this divide are both structural and complex, but the urban design element began in 1932 when series of racist policies were rolled out that were designed to “contain the Negro Housing Problem in Louisville.” Such policies have left the city with a set of deepening issues, both physical and social.

Left to right: Dana Duncan, Haven Harrington III, Joe Dunman, Attica Scott. (Courtesy KY Place)

In the third installment of KY Place, four panelists unpack the topic and break it down in new, thought-provoking ways. From the legal effort to prevent African Americans from purchasing certain properties to the media’s treatment of West Louisville, “Ninth Street Divide” is a history lesson as much as it is a social analysis. The conversation between Attica, Dana, Haven, and Joe circles around a common goal: to acknowledge our broken history and identify solutions to the problems that grew out of segregation.

Featuring: Dana Duncan (Instructor, Jefferson Community & Technical College); Haven Harrington III (President, Russell Neighborhood Association); Joe Dunman (Civil rights attorney); and Attica Scott (Representative-elect, Kentucky House of Representatives, District 41).

After wall shifts, scaffolding props up historic facade on East Market

By Branden Klayko -

Jun 13, 2016

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The rumors on this one have been swirling for about a month now, and we’ve received plenty of tips. Head over to East Market Street, and you’ll see what’s become somewhat of a common occurrence around Louisville in recent years: bracing propping up a historic building facade. Whiskey Row‘s got ’em, the old Fort Nelson Building had ’em, and now a two-story structure at 632 East Market Street in Nulu is sporting a set.

The structure in April 2016. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

“We were trying to do some renovations, and while we were working the east wall started to move,” building owner Chad Givens told Broken Sidewalk in a phone call today. He met with the city and their engineers to come up with a plan forward. “Everyone decided the wall needed to come down.”

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The problem likely arose when the first floor joists in the structure were removed, eliminating one level of bracing against a shifting wall. The interior, as seen in April, was a deep pit, exposing the structure’s stone foundation, brick walls, and generally the guts of the building.

The wall has begun to be disassembled. (Chris Harrell)

With the new bracing supporting the delicate masonry facade, Givens has begun taking down the brick, beginning at the top of the second floor. An elaborate system of scaffolding is keeping the building standing. In the meantime, use caution when walking along the sidewalk.

“We’re going to take down the wall, and put up a new wall,” Givens said. “We’re using the old brick as much as we can.”

He said the new wall will be clad with the brick crews are taking down, so the 19th century structure retains its original materials and look, although several windows on the side of the structure will be removed as part of the new wall. The front facade is not expected to change.

Givens has no tenants lined up for the structure, and had previously posted a for lease sign in the building window. “We have no plans yet, he said. “We’re just trying to get it fixed up to lease. New electric, new plumbing. That’s still the plan.”

The structure previously held the catering operation for the Bristol Bar & Grille but had been vacant for some time. An August 2015 report from Insider Louisville notes that Givens and his business partner Robert Gauthier purchased the 8,100-square-foot building from PBI Bank for $500,000.

[Top image courtesy Chris Harrell.]

CycLOUvia debuts new route through Shelby Park, Germantown, Schnitzelburg

By Branden Klayko -

Jun 13, 2016

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15-cyclouvia-frankfort-avenue-2016-louisville-open-streets — The scene along Frankfort Avenue.

CycLOUvia is no longer the new kid on the block, with several successful Open Streets events already held on Frankfort Avenue and Bardstown Road and another great event on Broadway. Open Streets is the international initiative that shuts city streets to motorists for a day and opens it up to people, whether they’re walking, biking, or anything else.

The next CycLOUvia route. (Metro Louisville)

And now it’s time to mark your calendars for the next CycLOUvia, and it’s going to be a big one. CycLOUvia is coming to Three Points!

That’s right, on Sunday, August 7, streets in Shelby Park, Germantown, and Schnitzelberg, will debut as a new route and a chance for you to explore even more of Louisville. (All three neighborhoods converge on a single point, dubbed Three Points by a citizen-led beautification group.)

Our “Eleven reasons CycLOUvia makes Louisville an even better city” still apply.

And Metro Louisville has another CycLOUvia innovation up its sleeve for event’s ninth iteration—the first ever circular route. The route covers of Goss Avenue north of Texas Avenue and Logan and Shelby streets connected by Mary Street and Goss.

CycLOUvia is scheduled for Sunday, August 7, 2016, from 2:00 to 6:00p.m. along segments of Goss Avenue, Logan Street, and Shelby Street.

Neighborhood associations have begun canvassing residents and businesses in the area. We hear that Smoketown USA and Scarlett’s Bakery will be open specifically for the event, and many other neighborhood favorites are sure to follow as details are worked out. CycLOUvia is free and open to the public.

See you on the street!

CycLOUvia is an initiative of the Metro Louisville Office of Advanced Planning. It’s part of a robust, international Open Streets movement that promotes transportation without a motor, healthy lifestyles, community engagement, and economic development. Louisville has successfully hosted eight CycLOUvia events since 2012.