Louisville
A Revitalized Downtown, New Attractions & Hotels
By Angie Baldwin Home to the prestigious, Thoroughbred horserace, the Kentucky Derby, the city of Louisville, Ky., is said to be a place where pride and tradition are matched by hospitality and beauty. A place where visitors are drawn to horseracing thrills, green rolling hills and the appeal of knowing it’s still fashionable to enjoy a mint julep. Nancy Stephen, marketing communications manager for the
Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the city is proud of these characteristics and especially its horseracing heritage. At the same time, she noted that there’s much more to Louisville, especially as a meetings destination.
Over the past three years, Louisville has added signature attractions such as the Muhammad Ali Center and Frazier Historical Arms Museum and created a popular entertainment district with Fourth Street Live! Brad Walker, vice president and general manager of The Brown Hotel, emphasized, “There is more to do here now. Groups that might have overlooked us before, now see all we have to offer along with our meeting space.”
More development is planned; by 2010, Louisville’s downtown will be transformed, according to Stephen, who said attractions such as the City Center entertainment district and a 22,000-seat arena are being planned.
City officials announced the plans for City Center district in August. According to Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, the $250 million district is phase two of Fourth Street Live!, an entertainment district. City Center is set to have retail stores, restaurants, a movie theater, a boutique hotel and a 6,000-seat venue for minor league hockey. “The Center City District will be an epicenter of electricity that connects the high-energy areas of our downtown from the waterfront and throughout the heart of the city,” Abramson said.
Louisville, Kentucky’s downtown is in the midst of a large-scaled revitalization project that among other things will offer the 62-story Museum Plaza Tower in 2010. |
Plans call for the development of City Center to be substantially completed by 2010, the same year Louisville’s new $352 million, 22,000-seat arena opens downtown. The designs for this new arena are already set, although naming rights have not yet been secured.
Also set to open downtown in 2010 is the Iron Quarter, a pedestrian-oriented, high-end retail center, according to city officials.
And another piece of the downtown revitalization is the 62-story skyscraper, Museum Plaza, located along the Ohio River. According to Abramson, the 2010 opening of this skyscraper will bring about a road expansion, the refurbishment of a number of facades along West Main Street, a one-acre public plaza and park, a museum, retail shops, and a 246-room Westin Hotel complete with ballrooms, fitness center, spa and meeting space. “Museum Plaza will put the exclamation mark on a growing, exciting downtown,” Abramson said. “It will be an economic catalyst for our hometown and our commonwealth.”
Stephen said that these attractions complement the city’s existing draw for groups and have increased interest in Louisville as a national convention destination. “We have a nice, central location, easily reached by much of the country. We have the unusual advantage of possessing two convention centers in the
Kentucky International Convention Center and the
Kentucky Exposition Center. I don’t think any other city of our size has that.”
Located downtown, the Kentucky International Convention Center features 300,000 square feet of meeting space, 52 meeting rooms and a 30,000-square-foot ballroom. Located near the Louisville International Airport, the Kentucky Exposition Center (KEC) offers 1.2 million square feet of exhibit, meeting and public space. Stephen said the facility recently completed renovations to its east wing. Now called the north wing, the renovated space offers ‘Class A’ exhibit space.
Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, the oldest continuously run sporting event in the United States, recently completed a $121 million renovation and expansion, according to property officials. Known as the “Run for the Roses” or “the greatest two minutes in sports,” the derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred horseracing. In addition to the derby, Churchill Downs hosts spring and fall race meets and simulcasts throughout the year.
The city’s lodging assets are also increasing. Two new hotels, a SpringHill Suites and a Fairfield Inn, are opening this month near the airport. The 120-room SpringHill Suites will share its lobby with the Fairfield Inn and feature an indoor pool, a fitness center and wireless Internet access. The hotel will target business travelers who need “more room to spread out,” said Dan Fay, president of Commonwealth Hotels Inc., the Kentucky-based hospitality company that will manage the property.
The Brown Hotel, A Camberley Hotel, is a historic property located downtown near the convention center and Fourth Street Live! and features 293 guest rooms and more than 17,000 square feet of meeting space. Recent guest room renovations include new carpet, Italian marble bathrooms and Camberley’s dream beds. Also, the hotel will open a new 5,000-square-foot conference center in December. “We are realizing you can never have enough meeting space. The market is out there, and now, after converting this acquired space into meeting space, we will be better able to meet the demand,” Walker said.
Key Info · Sales Tax: 6 percent
· Hotel Tax: 15.01 percent (in Jefferson County)
· Transportation: The Transit Authority of River City (TARC) offers countywide bus service and operates downtown’s historic Toonerville Trolley. On the first Friday of every month, visitors can hop on a TARC trolley and ride along the Main and Market Street corridors to visit the more than 20 galleries in the ArtZone. |
The 1,300-room, riverfront
Galt House Hotel and Suites recently completed the final phase of an extensive three-year, $60 million renovation of its guest rooms, suites and meeting spaces, said Lisa Haller, executive director of sales and marketing. The focus of 2006’s final phase of renovation was the RIVUE Tower, including the debut of Café Magnolia, a new casual dining restaurant, along with the 648 deluxe guest rooms and 40 waterfront balcony suites. The renovated rooms offer views of the Ohio River and downtown and include complimentary wireless Internet access. “The goal of the renovation was to return the Galt House to being Louisville’s premier destination for conventions, business travel and leisure travel,” Haller said. The hotel features 120,000 square feet of meeting space and is connected by a pedestrian walkway to the Kentucky International Convention Center.
The
Executive West Hotel is currently undergoing a $25 million renovation as it begins a transformation to a Crowne Plaza. According to Director of Marketing Kevin Beckman, the 598-room Crowne Plaza, Louisville’s first, will open in late fall of 2008. With 50,000 square feet of meeting space, 20 breakout rooms, and an elegant 18,400-square-foot ballroom, the hotel will be one of the largest Crowne Plaza hotels in the country, he said.
The 287-room Holiday Inn Downtown recently completed renovations to its meeting space, adding new carpet, vinyl and lighting along with a new ceiling. The hotel also added a new business center and fitness center. Located in the hospital district, the hotel hosts mainly corporate meetings in its four meeting rooms and 5,000-square-foot ballroom. “Our meeting guests really appreciate our accessibility from the interstate and our free parking, something that is hard to find downtown,” said Director of Sales Fred Bishop.
