Monthly Archives: January 2015

RiverPark Place continues to grow on multiple fronts

Posted on January 22, 2015

RPP AMENITIES
Poe Companies has been hard at work during the 14 weeks of this series to make the RiverPark Place development a reality. With that in mind, it’s time for an update on all that has taken place:

One of the biggest stories on the Louisville restaurant scene was the closure of riverfront Tumbleweed on Nov. 15. Falls City Hospitality Group, which plans to open a restaurant at RiverPark Place, also reportedly is close to a deal to operate a Mexican restaurant at the 12,000-square-foot riverfront site.

That would give the group two restaurants within less than a half-mile. It operates Doc Crow’s on West Main Street and had La Coop, a French restaurant, on West Market Street, though it closed that operation on Jan. 1.

Taking on the Tumbleweed site won’t affect plans for the RiverPark Place restaurant at all, according to investor and attorney Chip Hamm.

“We had sort of settled on the RiverPark Place concept and menu before the Tumbleweed opportunity came up. We were already believers in the waterfront, so the Tumbleweed opportunity was an easy decision,” he said.

The RiverPark Place restaurant will serve roadhouse type of food – buckets of seafood and burgers – sort of like the chain Yard House, Hamm said, along with about 120 beers on tap.

RPP-update-650

Here’s the latest on the development overall from marketing director Nicki Sibley:

  • Construction on the restaurant began during the last quarter of 2014; it’s expected to open in the third quarter of 2015.
  • The first half of the new apartment building, Waterside East, is ready for occupancy and the first renters moved in last weekend. The second half should be ready within the next 60 days. About 30 percent of the units were pre-leased. The existing apartment building, Waterside West, remains 100 percent leased.
  • Five condos in the planned 16-story condo tower have been sold, and interest remains steady.
  • Poe Companies is close to securing the financing for the apartment tower, likely to be called EdgeWater East. “It’s quite possible we could be breaking ground on both towers this year,” Sibley said.
  • The marina has been open for just over two years and is nearly 60 percent leased/purchased. She has fielded inquiries about reserving boat slips for Thunder and four major events are already on the schedule for the marina this summer.
  • The amenity/pool area will be open by Memorial Day. “We expect it to be quite the hotspot with residents and their guests especially on nights of Waterfront Park events,” Sibley said. “We’re even looking at providing some kind of shuttle between RiverPark and Big Four or the Great Lawn for special events.”

For Louisville, the planned 16-story, 85-unit condo tower at RiverPark Place among the few luxury high-rise developments in the works.

The $289 million Center City project, to be developed by Omni Hotels & Resorts, however, has gained steam. The 30-plus-story tower, expected to be completed by 2018, will be topped by at least 225 swanky apartments. The complex also will include a 20,000-square-foot grocery store, a badly needed amenity for bolstering downtown living.

InsiderLouisville

Botanical gardens to enhance riverfront

Posted on January 16, 2015

Children's Garden, courtesy of Botanica and the Waterfront Botanical Gardens

The master plan for the proposed Waterfront Botanical Gardens was unveiled in November to much excitement. While “everyone wants the gardens to be done by spring,” as board president Brian Voelker put it, there’s still much work to be done to make the vision a reality.

Nevertheless, it promises to be yet another gem in the revitalization of Louisville’s waterfront.

Plans call for a visitor’s center, children’s garden, a tropical conservatory, an elevated platform overlooking Beargrass Creek and an educational pavilion among the garden’s key features.

The board behind the project – the group’s known as Botanica, originally composed from The Louisville Area Iris Society, The Louisville Area Daylily Society and Hostas of Kentuckiana – is busy preparing to launch its capital campaign. That means deciding exactly what will be part of each phase of the project and firming up the cost estimates, Voelker said.

The board expects to spend two years raising the projected $10 million needed for the first phase, then two to three years building it, Voelker said. Three phases are planned, he said, though that might be compressed if there’s enough contributor support. The full project is expected to require around $35 million.

It’s not the first effort to create a botanical garden in Louisville. Voelker said he knows of at least two previous projects that ran into trouble with acquiring land. The proposed property for this project, at the corner of River Road and Frankfort Avenue, was used as a dump for building refuse from damaged homes after the devastating flood of 1937. The landfill was closed in the 1960s. Though previously considered a Superfund cleanup site, it’s been removed from that list. The property now has a dirt fill cap 25 feet deep.

Voelker’s confident this effort will materialize, with the board having taken a lot of time to choose the 23-acre property.

“We’ve found a lot of excitement from a lot of different people,” he said. “People are really jazzed about it. I think it will be an important feature for the community. We’ve gotten a lot of support from Metro government, which is really important. The community is really rallying behind the idea. … I think this is the time.”

He said the proximity to downtown was considered a major plus.

Site of Waterfront Botanical Garden

“Tourists who are in the area, people who are working downtown – they can drive out and see it. We just loved the location. It’s handy for residents in the area, too,” he said.

A major focus among botanical gardens these days, he said, is inspiring people to care for the environment.

“This land had just been thrown away for 50 years. Reclaiming this land will be a wonderful addition to the community. It will be inspiring people to live their values of caring for the environment.”

The project starts off with a Founders’ Garden planted around the Heigold Façade, the structure that looks like a brick doorway just across River Road from RiverPark Place. Volunteers to the project will be recruited for work days during the spring and summer, Voelker said, while other volunteers can help with fund-raising events, marketing and other tasks.

With its Buy a Brick campaign, donors of $100 or more, can have an engraved brick placed in the Founder’s Garden.

Supporters Emil and Nancy Graeser also have offered to match every gift to the garden up to $225,000

InsiderLouisville

A lot of good things happening on the riverfront for urban dwellers

Posted on January 8, 2015

Forecastle is one of many festivals a walk away for urban dwellers in Louisville.

The growth of Louisville’s riverfront events, such as Forecastle and the recent Centennial Celebration of Riverboats, is one of the biggest success stories in the city’s waterfront redevelopment, according to David Karem, president of the Waterfront Development Corp.

Forecastle, for instance, drew more than 70,000 people to the Great Lawn over the three-day music festival, and presale tickets for the 2015 event, to be held July 17-19, already have sold out.

Come time for Thunder Over Louisville, invitations from those living downtown with balconies or river views are some of the hottest tickets in town. But for the myriad other downtown events, a downtown residence means not having to fight traffic or find parking. It also eliminates the need for a designated driver if you’re hoofing it to the events.

The ability to produce a crowd – possibly as many as 400 people at a recent marina event on a Wednesday when the weather was not that great – was among the things that convinced Chip Hamm the new restaurant planned at RiverPark Place could be successful.

There’s an array of festivities within walking distance for the urban dweller in Louisville. “People [here] like to gather down on the river for any old reason at all,” as Ralph Ross, who rents an apartment at RiverPark Place, put it.

Among the possibilities:

Thunder Over Louisville Festivities – The myriad Thunder events would be just an easy walk from your front door. Indulge in a funnel cake at the chow wagons and catch an open-air concert. Another spectacular celebration and fireworks show takes place for Independence Day.

Waterfront Wednesdays –sponsored by radio station WFPK, these free concerts with a happy hour atmosphere take place on the last Wednesday of each month, April through September.

Hike Bike and Paddle — on Memorial Day and Labor Day, these events encourage local residents to be active as part of the Mayor’s Healthy Hometown initiative.

Abbey Road on the River –a five-day music festival honoring the music and spirit of The Beatles. This year’s event, May 21-25, will feature a stage dedicated to violinist Rachel Blanton, who passed away on Christmas Day.

WorldFest — one of the region’s largest international festivals, this three-day event at Labor Day celebrates global music, cuisine and culture. A similar event, Greekfest, takes place in June.

Humana Festival of New American Plays – downtown, but not on the river (you might have to catch the trolley), this nationally known event will feature six world premieres in 98 performances between March 4-April 12.

IdeaFestival – Held each fall at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts (you might need to catch the trolley for this, too), this series of thought-provoking talks celebrates innovation, imagination and world-changing ideas.

Ralph and Joan Ross enjoy walking to events or watching them from their apartment at RiverPark Place.

Charity events – An array of fund-raising walks, runs, and other events, such as Dare to Care Food Bank’sPaddle for Hunger, take place along the riverfront. RiverPark Place renters Ralph and Joan Ross said they enjoyed watching the Ironman Triathlon from their balcony.

Light Up Louisville – What could be more magical than the awesome light display that Louisville turns on each year the night after Thanksgiving? Though it might be a brisk walk, with a mug of hot chocolate, it can be an invigorating and inspiring outing.

 

InsiderLouisville

Has the rent versus buy dynamic changed?

Posted on January 2, 2015

Developer Steve Poe tells the story that around the time he mothballed the RiverPark Place project in 2008, potential tenants had to have better credit to rent an apartment in Louisville than to buy a home. He decided it wasn’t the right time to add more apartments to the city’s inventory.

Things have shifted more back toward buying since then, but it’s still a major decision whether to rent or buy.

While the tax incentives and freedom to customize the property to suit your tastes – not to mention the idea that home ownership is basic to the American dream – add up on the plus side for buying, thousands of Americans found themselves unable to wrest themselves from their mortgages during the recent financial crisis.

Ralph and Joan Ross, who now rent at RiverPark Place, took a beating on their Florida mortgage when he was offered the chance for promotion to district director for the Small Business Administration, involving a move to Louisville. Unsure of how many years Ralph will continue working – they plan to retire in a home they own in Omaha, Neb. – they weren’t eager to take on another mortgage.

The idea that Millennials, too, favor the freedom to move easily to change jobs has been much in the news lately. Indeed, the share of homes sold to first-time buyers dropped to 33 percent in 2014, down five percentage points from 2013. They make up the smallest proportion of the market in 27 years, according to the National Association of Realtors.

And a study by lending giant Fannie Mae found that among “prime” first-time buyers — married couples in their early 30s with a college degree, a child and household income of at least $95,000 — home ownership fell by more than eight percentage points from 2006 to 2012.

Pat Simmons, director of strategic planning in Fannie Mae’s economic research group, points to tight lending requirements, high student debt, an unsettled job market, but also a changing view of home ownership.

“Baby boomers saw a decline of nearly $1 trillion in home value during the bust,” Simmons told the Los Angeles Times. “Younger folks saw that experience among their parents. I think that’s going to leave an impression.”

Online real estate site Zillow, however, challenges the idea that young buyers eschew home ownership, pointing out that young people are marrying later and having children later – pivotal life events that often lead to home buying.

“It’s very difficult to come up with a down payment when so much of your monthly paycheck – especially on an entry-level salary – is going to your landlord instead of into your savings. Buying conditions are getting better every day, and in time the allure of fixed housing payments and building wealth through home equity will draw more buyers out of rentals and into homeownership,” Zillow says in a report.

house-dollarsignA recent report from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found 74 percent of renters have household incomes below $50,000 compared to 41 percent of homeowners, and 39 percent of renters are married compared to 63 percent of homeowners.

However, according to Zillow: “Our economists believe that 2015 will be an important year for first-time homebuyers, as Millennials who have delayed home ownership overtake Generation X as the largest generational group of homebuyers.”

Meanwhile, another Fannie Mae economist says consumers remain leery, saying 2015 “likely [will] not be a breakout year for housing,”

Zillow maintains that buying makes more sense than renting in most parts of the country – California and New England excluded.

A New York Times calculator puts the magic number at $961 – if you can rent the home you want for less than that, then renting makes more sense.

One bedroom apartments in Louisville rent for $922 a month on average and two bedroom apartment rents average $847, according to the site Rent Jungle.

That could explain the preference for buying in Louisville, in which 64.5 percent of households own their home, compared with 63.4 among 75 other cities, according to a report from Louisville’s Metropolitan Housing Coalition. Louisville’s ownership rate, however, was 70.3 in 2003, but dipped to 61.7 percent in 2011.

Housing prices have increased 6.9 percent in Louisville since 2009, the report states.

The site Mortgage Calculator puts the median price of an existing single-family home is $133,000, compared with the national average of $172,900.

With the apparent desire, and need, to satisfy both renters and buyers, RiverPark Place is now pre-selling condos in its Edgewater at RiverPark Place tower, adding to its luxury apartments for renters.

Insider Louisville.