Franklin Flats To Be Fully Occupied By End Of Year

Nov 13, 2008

The Franklin Flats in the Butchertown neighborhood have been complete for a couple months and will now be fully occupied by the end of the year. Two of the three units in the building have already welcomed new tenants. We’ve been following the construction of this project, and today we went inside for a look around the first floor flat.

Rendering of Franklin Flats (Rendering by arcumbra) — Rendering of Franklin Flats. (Courtesy arcumbra)

The project was developed by Graham Clark and John Bajandas of Shed Design+Build. The team is interested in urban infill projects and when the empty Franklin Street site became available, they jumped at the opportunity to redefine modern urban living on the edge of Downtown and the emerging arts district of East Market Street.

Faced with the decision to replicate a historic building or redefine the urban paradigm, the developers chose architect Michael Barry of arcumbra architecture to help with the project. Clark and Bajandas wanted quality construction and design to guide the building’s form. The front facade is a crafted composition responding to existing elements of the surrounding neighborhood. With the stark white and natural wood palette of the interior, large windows not only flood the space with light, but provide dynamic views of the historic neighborhood in an ever-changing work of art.

Functionality in addition to art was a major guiding force of the design. The interior spaces are wide open allowing light to filter throughout each flat. High ceilings and transoms over every door make the interiors feel even larger. Wooden sliding panels help define space further; the first floor unit was designed with an office that could double as a second bedroom.

View From the Third Floor (Photo courtesy Franklin Flats) — View From the Third Floor. (Courtesy Franklin Flats)

The three-story building contains one unit per floor, each designed to connect interior and exterior spaces with large balconies and windows. The first floor unit contains 1,700 square feet and has access to a private back yard from its deck. The second flat is also 1,700 square feet and includes a large south-facing balcony. The third floor unit is set back on the street side to respect neighboring building heights. It takes advantage of this by providing over 600 square feet of outdoor space wrapping around the entire unit. Graham Clark said even he was surprised with the quality of the views of downtown from unit, adding one could hear the crack of a baseball bat at Slugger Field relaxing on a summer evening. The unit has 1,455 square feet.

While all three units will be occupied in just over a month’s time, they are not sold yet. With the housing slump, interest in purchasing the flats, which range in price from $359,000 to $369,000, has been slow. Even when the price was misquoted by over $200,000 in the LEO recently, the economy still held buyers back. The developers decided to put a lease-to-own program together, and within 8 hours of posting the rental units online, the team received over 50 responses. The current tenants now have first option to buy the units, but another interested party could potentially purchase one as well.

With the completion of the Franklin Flats, Shed Design+Build is now looking to the Germantown neighborhood for future infill projects. The company currently has three single family houses under construction throughout the city, each in a similar modern vernacular as the Franklin Street project. One house Graham Clark plans to occupy is serving to develop a prototype for future projects. The team is interested in creating a modern shotgun house that would fit well with Louisville’s historic neighborhoods. The new model will ideally sell for under $200,000 and is intended to attract young professionals interested in modern design to existing neighborhoods.

Franklin House Brings Modern Architecture To Butchertown (Broken Sidewalk)

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Big Blank Thursdays: Chestnut Street Edition

By Branden Klayko -

Nov 13, 2008

This week’s blankness comes to you from the corner of Chestnut Street and Fourth Street. While it may not be as grand as the industrial behemoths of weeks past, this big blank wall is in the heart of downtown, so a little blankness goes a long way.

The wall belongs to the Chestnut Center office building, home to many of the city’s radio stations which you can hear walking down the sidewalk in front of the building on Fourth Street. The building was built in 1907, but you’d never guess it glancing at the structure today. The white-ish facade is generally uninspiring and flat, despite the window projections. There’s only one retail outlet in the entire building, and the radio offices face the sidewalk, so besides the blank wall, the building contributes little to the street.

The Atherton Building Re-Skinned as the Chestnut Center. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

The building didn’t always look this way, however. It was originally called the Atherton Building and then the Francis Building. It was once home to the Mary Anderson Theater, reportedly the oldest theater on Fourth Street and seated over 1,200. The building was designed by William J. Dodd, who was involved with the design of many Louisville landmarks such as the Seelbach.

The theater area has been converted to office space, so its unclear what’s actually left of the original building on the inside. It’s probably long gone, but if you walk around the alley, you can see the original theater volume still exists. It’s also unclear if any of the original facade still exists in any kind of salvageable shape under the new skin. Some re-cladding of other old buildings provided for later removal while others did not. Most likely, the historic building is just a memory under its mid-century veil.

The Original Building Before Re-Skinning. (Broken Sidewalk)

See more historic photos of the building from the University of Louisville archives here and here and here and here.

Scaffolding Watch: Marseilles Prepares For Stucco

By Branden Klayko -

Nov 12, 2008

Scaffolding on the Marseilles of Cherokee Road

The Marseilles condos under construction on Cherokee Road recently have been covered in scaffolding in preparation for its new stucco exterior. Sheets of “permabase” material have been installed over most of the building and the brick side-wall has been cleaned and awaits final repairs and preparations before the entire project will be coated in stucco.

Continue

Sons of the American Revolution Raising Funds

By Branden Klayko -

Nov 12, 2008

The Sons of the American Revolution are planning to convert the old Fulton Conway Building on West Main Street near Eighth Street into their Center For Advancing America’s Heritage which will include the national headquarters for the organization, a museum, and extensive genealogical library.

We recently sat down with Joe Harris, executive director of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution at their current 4th and Kentucky Street location to discuss the project. He explained the group is still in the midst of a capital campaign for the new downtown facility and needs to raise $5 million more in donations before construction can start. They already have raised $3 million; about half of that was used to purchase the Fulton-Conway Building. The SAR intends to pay for the entire project with cash.

The SAR also has put its significant land holdings in Old Louisville / SoBro up for sale. The organization will use the sale proceeds to fund an endowment to keep the downtown project’s operations funded. The 1.6 acre lot on the corner of Sixth Street and Kentucky Street is listed at $1.5 million, but the organization is prepared to wait as long as necessary to sell the property.

Its limestone headquarters will eventually be put on the market after the new building is finished, and ideally, the SAR would like to sell the properties together. (A Salvation Army property on Kentucky is also for sale, so a lot of land could be assembled in the area for a massive project.) The grassy lot once was filled with houses, but over the years they were abandoned and town down. It was once also the planned location of the museum.

One hope in the entire endeavor is for the Sons of the American Revolution to become a more prominent community player. Harris regrets that few people in Louisville know the headquarters of a national organization with research and museum resources is available to the community. Â Part of the decision to move downtown was to become more visible and enhance the current offerings of the West Main Museum District. In doing so, marketing will become a larger priority for the organization.

The genealogy library already attracts people from all over the country and serves as the regional ‘hub’ for genealogical research, but with the addition of the Center for Advancing America’s Heritage, the group will offer educational outreach to schools and the public at large. Only two years ago, a formal position was created to foster the education outreach components of the organization.

Some of the features of the new facility will include “revolutionary time walk” covering important events between 1775 and 1783 as well as classroom space for early American history lessons and outreach programs about U.S. rights. The SAR already participates in citizenship ceremonies for recent immigrants.

With its larger presence in the community, the SAR is hoping the community will also help support the downtown redevelopment plans. Currently, donations mainly come from SAR members and library visitors, but the group hopes the community can step up and contribute to the project as well.

The SAR’s Old Louisville location has been open to the public since it moved there in 1979 to be closer to the country’s population center. Their museum is free and full of important artifacts in American history and the research library is available for $5 for non-members. Hopefully the community will step up and contribute to the success of the new downtown project as it will serve everyone, not just organization members.

We’ve included new, updated renderings of the project designed by local firm Architection on Market Street below.

National Society of the Sons of The American Revolution (Official Site)
American Revolution Headed For Main Street (Broken Sidewalk)

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4th Street Live Getting Its Faux Irish On

By Branden Klayko -

Nov 12, 2008

The new Ri Ra Irish Pub planned for 4th Street Live is now under construction and sporting faux pilasters on its facade. On the interior, wood wainscotting can be seen covering the walls and columns. The bar will occupy 9,000 square feet and apparently uses salvaged materials from old Irish pubs, but we didn’t see any of that on site.

Another Irish pub is also under construction on Main Street. The locally owned O’Shea’s on Main restaurant, tea room, pub has recently been covered in scaffolding.

4th Street Prepares For Two New Venues (Broken Sidewalk)
Scaffolding Alert: O’Shea’s on Main’s Steel Jungle Gym (Broken Sidewalk)

Demo Watch: Phoenix Hill Tavern (Politely) Wants More Parking

By Branden Klayko -

Nov 12, 2008

One of the houses that may be demolished

The Phoenix Hill Tavern is looking to expand its parking options and two houses stand in its way. The two vacant houses could provide 30 to 50 additional parking spaces. You can see on the diagram below the surface level parking that already exists on the block (not all of it belongs to the Phoenix Hill Tavern). It’s a pretty substantial amount of parking. The pointers indicate the two houses under consideration for demolition.

According to the Courier-Journal, however, the Tavern is “seeking the blessing of the neighborhood” before it moves to raze the houses. The houses sit in the Phoenix Hill National Historic District but are in poor condition. You can see in the above photo, one of the houses is over-run with vines. Underneath the vines, however, wooden detailing can be seen on the portion of the house not covered by aluminum siding. The other house that may get the axe is in slightly better shape and is a camel-back shotgun house.

Current parking space on the block. (Broken Sidewalk / Via Lojic)

There is already a parking lot separating the two houses where a couple houses had previously stood. Portions of the parking area sit between houses on Rogers Street and Broadway. The Tavern owner also owns other property along East Broadway and the neighborhood association worries additional houses may come down in the future.

With nearly half the block already under asphalt, it seems unfortunate that additional houses might come down to be replaced by more cars only using the lot during certain evening hours. The rest of the day the spots remain mostly vacant as the Tavern has posted “Customer Parking Only” signs. The neighborhood association met yesterday, so we’ll see if they decide to formally oppose the demolitions.

Phoenix Hill Tavern (Official Site)
Tavern wants to demolish buildings (C-J)

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Clark’s Landing Project Brings New Urbanism To Waterfront

By Branden Klayko -

Nov 11, 2008

The deal for the old Colgate plant won’t close until the end of the year, but already the Town of Clarksville is aiming to create a vibrant new neighborhood, a city within a city, along the banks of the Ohio River based on the planning principles of New Urbanism. An unnamed out-of-state buyer is currently working through the sale of the 52 acre Colgate site and is collaborating with the city to maximize the full potential of the project. The Colgate property, however, will make up only one, central component of the larger plan dubbed Clark’s Landing.

Overall, the conceptual plan for Clark’s Landing encompasses 150 to 160 acres of prime waterfront land and the entire 10 to 15 year project could cost an estimated $500 million. Rick Dickman, Clarksville Redevelopment Director, hopes to see a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood rise on the abandoned industrial site including condos, restaurants, retail, hotels, office space, and even a convention center. He believes building in accordance with New Urbanism will create the most pedestrian friendly and environmentally sustainable project with activity in the morning, noon, and night, and will maximize the real estate values for the developers. Norton Commons, Liberty Green, and Park DuValle are recent examples of New Urbanism in Louisville.

South of the Colgate facility, several Marathon / Ashland Oil tanks sit next to the levee occupying some of the best real estate in Southern Indiana. Â Built in 1949, the tanks house a variety of fuels, from jet fuel to various blends of gasoline. At one point, Rick Dickman remembers 200 tanker trucks travelling through the area a day. Agreements over the years have ended those tanker trips as well as created Ashland Park. Clarksville is in negotiations with the company to relocate their fuel storage operations upriver to an industrial park in Jeffersonville.

The plan is only a concept to guide the development of the Clarksville riverfront. The next step is to approach the nation’s leading New Urbanist master planners to create a more refined vision with which to market the plan to investors. Dickman says the city wants the best plan available and expects 4 or 5 national firms to be approached for the job. With such a large land area and scope, the project will likely involve multiple developers acting under a coordinating agency, either a landowner or special Clarksville zoning regulations, much the same way Norton Commons is being developed. Clarksville will act as the facilitator in the process.

Old Colgate Plant. (Branden Klayko / Broken Sidewalk)

A special zoning district is being formed for the project and will be voted on at a town meeting November 17. Each block of the project will have building height requirements to maximize the view of the Ohio River and Louisville skyline. Transportation will also play a key role. The pedestrian is placed as the transportation model. Wide sidewalks are planned as well as many walking and biking trails. Trolleys are also expected to connect to the rest of Clarksville and to downtown Louisville. Parking will be kept at a minimum and hidden behind buildings to create a vibrant city-scape.

Dickman sees the project as a way to enhance the quality of life in Southern Indiana. He explains Clarksville has never had a downtown, and Clark’s Landing will become the epicenter of urban Clarksville. He expects young professionals working both in Louisville and Indiana as well as retiring baby boomers to be attracted to the residential nature of the project and the central location in the Louisville metropolitan area.

The project will undergo planning for the next three years or so, hopefully enough time to let the current economic problems run their course. The project looks to be one of the most exciting developments in years to come as hundreds of new residential units could be built as part of the project. The central location directly across from downtown Louisville will provide great benefits on both sides of the river.

The Town of Clarksville, Indiana (Official Site)
Clarksville Releases Colgate Plans (N & T)
Clarksville Town Board to get its first look at plans for the old Colgate plant (Fox 41)

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Broken Sidewalk

Franklin Flats To Be Fully Occupied By End Of Year

Big Blank Thursdays: Chestnut Street Edition

Morning News Roundup: Evening Update

Scaffolding Watch: Marseilles Prepares For Stucco

Sons of the American Revolution Raising Funds

4th Street Live Getting Its Faux Irish On

Demo Watch: Phoenix Hill Tavern (Politely) Wants More Parking

Morning News Roundup: Noon-time Update

Clark’s Landing Project Brings New Urbanism To Waterfront