Galt House Installing Colorful Glass ‘Tulips’

By Branden Klayko -
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New Dichroic Glass Installed At The Galt House

Finishing touches were being put on a new art glass installation at the Galt House today. Four new colorful “tulips” are now hanging from the glass Conservatory over Fourth Street. Originally, flags were installed here, but problems arose when the wind would constantly tangle them. The new glass installation was designed by Architectural Glass Artisans and is a type of glass called “Dichroic Glass” which contains metal-oxides that produce striking colors. The new glass flowers match the dichroic glass installed over the Main Street pedway connecting the Galt House to the convention center.

The glass Conservatory has been one our favorite projects downtown in the past few years, with great views of the Ohio River and Fourth Street. Also, if you haven’t seen the aquarium bar inside, you’d better hurry on over. The classic white lines of the Conservatory’s bridge-structure bring forth images of traditional Southern architecture.

Dichroic Glass on the Main Street Pedway
Dichroic Glass on the Main Street Pedway. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

8664.org by the numbers

By Branden Klayko -
3
$2 Billion, 23-lane monster Spaghetti Junction

The folks over at 8664.org put together a “By The Numbers” list of the bridges project. Here are a few highlights:

32,000—current average daily truck traffic through Spaghetti Junction
23—lanes of traffic in the proposed expanded Spaghetti Junction, years Mayor Abramson has successfully delayed the East End Bridge
75 feet—I-64 would be widened by this amount over the Great Lawn
1/2—the cost of 8664 versus the Ohio River Bridges Project (ORBP), the number of bridges 8664 requires compared to ORBP
$2,000,000,000—the cost for 23 lanes of Spaghetti Junction

Read the rest of the chart over at the 8664.org web site. They also brought to our attention a couple of videos the Build the Bridges coalition produced a couple months ago. There are a couple renderings of the the new bridges and PR piece with locals talking about their horror-story commutes. Many talk about crashes that shut down bridges, like the barge crash this morning. We wonder, though, how traffic will be any better if the new I-65 Bridge is shut down from a crash and everyone is still sitting in a huge Spaghetti Junction. Final note, the downtown bridge flyovers carefully avoid showing too much of the massive interchange behind, instead going for the green riverfront angles, instead.

Arena Mayhem: Walling Off Third Street

By Branden Klayko -
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Concrete wall on Third Street

Work continues at the arena site with a giant concrete wall rising on the corner of Third Street and River Road. Sure, there’s already been tons of concrete poured all over the construction site, but this one is right up on the street and begins to show what kind of mass and profile the future building will take.

Tower Crane parts arrive by truck
Tower Crane parts arrive by truck. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

Imagine this wall, but about 80 feet taller and you can see that this long-empty corner will be much more urban once the arena takes shape. More tower crane parts arrived by truck today, so hopefully soon, the two crane-stumps will climb high into the sky.

Evening News Roundup

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    (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
    (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

    River Madness

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    Metro Council’s Fear Of Museum Plaza Unfounded, Lawyer Says

    By Branden Klayko -
    1
    Museum Plaza construction site covered in snow

    Several million dollars of construction liens filed against Museum Plaza by contractors caused a panic among some Metro Council members last week as they worried public land on the construction site could be jeopardized. Council members Hal Heiner and Jim King asked for a legal opinion on the issue and demanded a report on the future viability of the Museum Plaza project, calling into question the developers’ business practices. Today, the Jefferson County Attorney’s office released a statement putting Heiner’s and King’s fears to rest: city land won’t we taken and the developers must assume full responsibility for the liens.

    Attorney Craig Greenberg, partner in the Museum Plaza development, wasn’t all too pleased, however, that the issue was brought up at all: “It’s unfortunate that Councilman Heiner continues to put roadblocks in the way of progress and job creation… There are enough challenges today outside of our control and community to get this project under way.” The team reassured the public, again, that they will be moving forward with Museum Plaza when the credit markets improve. Meanwhile, the power lines the developers paid to have buried should be completely switched over in the next month or so and two large electrical towers will come down. Crews already removed the riverfront dinosaur for just such an occasion.

    Small Business Incubator Headed For SoBro

    By Branden Klayko -
    3
    Small Business Incubator on Second Street

    The Community Ventures Corporation is in the process of renovating a commercial building on Second Street into an 8,000 square foot small business incubator. Work has apparently been going on for about six months and involves a complete interior overhaul and a new brick facade covering the 1960s or 1970s era building.

    Small Business Incubator before renovation
    Small Business Incubator before renovation. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

    Here’s a bit of information from the CVC website:

    Founded in 1982, Community Ventures Corporation (CVC) is a community-based, non-profit organization that exists to improve the quality of life for urban and rural residents throughout central and northern Kentucky. CVC’s central mission is to provide individuals and families with the skills, income, and assets, they need to achieve financial independence. CVC helps people increase income and build assets with three main strategies: small business ownership, home ownership, and job creation through business expansion.

    The organization already operates two small business incubators in Lexington. The old facade (seen below) comprised of skinny “Roman bricks” is underneath the new brick and doors to individual office suites (we presume) have been added to the once blank, jagged half of the building. The new doors are very white right now, but we hope they might get a coat of paint at some point down the road. The building permit lists the construction costs at around $450,000. It’s good to see another existing building elevated to a greater use in SoBro.

    Evening News Roundup

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      (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
      (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)
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      John Norquist on the Stimulus Bill

      By Broken Sidewalk -
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      Back in December at the 8664.org Annual Public Forum, we had a chance to talk with distinguished guest John Norquist, former Mayor of Milwaukee who successfully removed a highway in his city and current President of the Congress for the New Urbanism. The CNU actively supports freeway removal as a viable tool for urban regeneration. Last year, the group ranked Louisville’s downtown stretch of Interstate 64 as the 7th worst highway in the nation in the Freeways Without Futures campaign.

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      The Green Convene Looks To Change Public Policy

      By Branden Klayko -
      0

      green_convene_01

      In just a few weeks, the Glassworks building should be teeming with ideas about how to “green” Louisville’s public policy. The inaugural Green Convene, set for February 20th and 21st, hopes to unite a coalition interested in affecting real change in local policy and government. A second event is scheduled for July to coincide with the Forecastle Festival. Registration for the event is $10 and can be done online at the Green Convene web site, but only 250 seats are available, so act fast to get your ticket.

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