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Louisville is investing more than $60 million in private/public funds to acquire thousands of acres of green space and parkland in rapidly developing areas. This long-range initiative, the largest urban parks expansion in America, will expand the legacy of Louisville's nationally renowned system of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (N.Y.'s Central Park), and will complement Louisville's 6,200-acre Jefferson Memorial Forest - the largest municipally owned forest in the nation. The project is being praised by the Trust for Public Land as "…path-breaking land conservation efforts that put Louisville in a league of its own nationally." |
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Overlooking Louisville's waterfront, this $60 million, one-of-a-kind facility is drawing visitors worldwide by celebrating the deeply rooted values and worldwide influence of Louisville's most famous native son - Muhammad Ali. |
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3
Louisville's Expanding Skyline
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Two new projects will dramatically alter Louisville’s skyline and riverfront and add to the $1.5 billion investment downtown since 2003. A 22,000-seat arena for University of Louisville basketball, major concerts and other events will replace aging utility generating towers along the waterfront. Museum Plaza – a bold and visionary 62-story skyscraper designed by internationally-regarded architectural firm, OMA – will include luxury condominiums, loft apartments, offices, a hotel, retail shops and a contemporary arts museum. The $465 million project will share a public plaza with the Ali Center. |
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4
Waterfront Park |
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Replacing scrap yards and sand piles, this 85-acre park has become the welcome mat for Louisville, with a 27-mile oval bike path to be developed along both sides of the river. Designed by noted architect George Hargreaves, the $94 million park is attracting 1.5 million visitors yearly and has been named one of the nation's Top Ten Urban Parks by the Urban Land Institute. |
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Celebrating 51 years, the Festival turns the 'greatest 2 minutes in sports' into a two-week extravaganza that attracts 1.5 million people. Recognized as one of the premiere events of its kind in the world, it includes more than 70 special events requiring 4,000 volunteers - including the world's largest fireworks display. |
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6
Downtown Housing Boom
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Reversing decades of decline, downtown Louisville is becoming the hot spot to live with $420 million in condos, apartments and other new and renovated housing underway. Having completed an award-winning Hope VI public housing redevelopment just west of downtown, another $233 million Hope VI initiative - Liberty Green - is now revitalizing an entire neighborhood and surrounding areas, transforming the eastern gateway to downtown Louisville.
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Expanding for the third time in recent years, UPS is investing another $1 billion in its global air hub, creating more than 5,000 new jobs. The WorldPort facility serves more than 200 countries and territories, making Louisville International Airport the 10th largest cargo airport in the world, 4th largest in the U.S. The latest expansion will nearly double the capacity of WorldPort which already has 4 million square feet and sorts more than 300,000 packages an hour. WorldPort has been an economic development magnet, luring dozens of companies seeking a logistics edge. |
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An historic 19th century train depot welcomes visitors to the sparkling Slugger Field baseball park - a $39 million project that has been the catalyst for nearly $150 million in private investment in the surrounding area including housing, retail, offices and hotels. |
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A $72 million investment has turned a struggling urban mall into a thriving entertainment and retail mecca, attracting 4 million visitors in its first year. Developed by the Cordish Co., it has been selected as one of the best projects of its kind in America by the Urban Land Institute.
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From a humble start a half-century ago, the Festival now turns the 'greatest 2 minutes in sports' into a two-week extravaganza that attracts 1.5 million people. Recognized as one of the premiere events of its kind in the world, it includes more than 70 special events requiring 4,000 volunteers - including the world's largest fireworks display.
A $121 million luxurious renovation of Churchill Downs - the largest in its history - has forever changed the face of the world's most legendary racetrack for the better. The Kentucky Derby is the longest continuously staged sporting event in the world. |
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As the first large city to merge in 30 years, city leaders coast-to-coast are calling and visiting, from Buffalo to Fresno, from Des Moines to Albuquerque. Led by one of the nation's longest-serving mayors, Jerry Abramson, Louisville has reduced the size of local government without cutting services or raising taxes and combined scores of agencies under a new management structure.
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Home to the most famous product of its kind in the world - and the official bat of Major League Baseball - the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory began in Louisville as a simple woodworking shop in 1856. The thousands who now visit yearly are welcomed by the 120-foot World's Largest Bat, which leans against the building along Louisville's historic Main Street. |
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13
Louisville’s Cultural Corridor |
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An expanding historical district and cultural corridor along downtown’s West Main St. now includes the $32 million Frazier International History Museum, the only facility in North America housing a collection from Britain’s Royal Armouries, and the Kentucky Art + Craft Gallery. The stretch also contains a collection of 19th century cast-iron front commercial buildings second only to New York City. |
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14
World-Class Arts
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From performing to visual arts, Louisville shines. It's one of a handful of American cities with resident professional ballet, orchestra, opera, children's and repertory theatre - the renowned Actors Theatre, with its Humana Festival of New American Plays, which draws critics from around the world. Louisville has also become a Midwest mecca for art glass: A landmark downtown building, Glassworks, has been renovated to include galleries and hot-glass studios busy with a steady stream of young glass artists inspired by Louisville's Ken Von Roenn and Centre College's Stephen Rolfe Powell. |
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To better respond in a post-9/11 world, Louisville is investing in a $70 million-plus, state-of-the-art emergency communications network to connect thousands of emergency responders throughout the region. The first-phase operation center is now open, and work is underway on the eventual nerve center - to be housed in the former financial fortress, the recently vacated U.S. Federal Reserve Building. |
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Known for pioneering achievements including the Abiocor artificial heart and the world's first hand transplant, Louisville's thriving downtown medical research campus includes a new $88 million rehabilitation center, and a health sciences research and commercialization park that, in partnership with the University of Louisville, will undergo a long-term, 30-block transformation with $2.5 billion of capital investment in expansion, renovation and infrastructure projects including the Haymarket Business and Research Park. |
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