D.W. Wilburn wins Asbury contract for communications center
D. W. Wilburn, Inc., of Lexington has been awarded the construction contract for the Andrew S. Miller Center for Communication Arts at Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky. The total project is expected to cost $12.1 million for construction, equipment, furnishings and fees.
The College broke ground for the 52,220-square-foot center in June during reunion weekend. This center addresses the program's needs for additional lab, classroom, training, production, performance and office space. It will feature a 6,050-square-foot television studio and a 5,122-square-foot "black box" theater. To reduce operating costs and promote energy efficiency, the building is designed with a geothermal heating and cooling system. The Center will be named for Asbury College alumnus and former Board of Trustees member Andrew S. Miller, retired commissioner of the Salvation Army. He is remembered for his lifelong example of servanthood and leadership.
Construction work on the new facility is expected to begin this month with completion slated for December of 2010. The School of Communication Arts anticipates occupying the facility in time for the spring 2011 semester.
KBA chooses Arison health and benefit plans
Louisville-based Arison Insurance Services, Inc. has been selected as the exclusive provider of health and benefit plans for members of the Kentucky Bankers Association (KBA), a not-for-profit trade association of the bank, thrift and trust company industries in Kentucky.
KBA member institutions represent more than 12,000 employees across Kentucky who are eligible to participate in the association's benefit plans.
EKU lands grant for algae-based biofuel research
The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved Eastern Kentucky University for $200,000 in state and $10,000 each
in Clark and Madison County Agricultural Development Funds for the evaluation of biofuel feedstock forages for livestock consumption and biofuel production.
The project will look at the establishment and management of biofuel feedstocks to be used in algae-based biofuel production.
The primary feedstock to be studied will be switchgrass.
Keeneland's new traffic calming device: Jazz
Concerned about contributing to the Versailles Road friday evening rush hour following its popular opening day, Keeneland will experiment with an idea to encourage people to linger at the track after the last race of the first day of the annual fall meet.
The first race of the day has been scheduled approximately one hour later than usual. After the final race, a mobile stage will roll onto the track in front of the grandstand to present "Swinging at Sunset," featuring classic American jazz performed by the 17-piece Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra. Food and drink specials will be offered.
"Starting an hour later gives our customers a greater opportunity to enjoy more of opening day, which features two important graded stakes races and a variety of fun events," said Keeneland President Nick Nicholson. "There will be more racing when people aren't working."
"The later post time has other advantages," he added. "Out-of-town guests will have additional time to travel to Keeneland for the weekend and our customers won't be exiting into rush hour on Friday, the most challenging traffic day of the week."
Kinko's/FedEx changes name, moves to Main & Rose
Not only is Kinko's/Fed Ex now in the process of a name change - to FedEx Office - the office services chain will soon relocate its downtown Lexington operations from 145 Rose Street to the nearby Main & Rose mixed-use complex.
"We have a signed lease with them, and some time around the beginning of the year, they'll be moving into Main & Rose," said Phil Holoubek, president of Lexington's Real Estate Company (LRC) and developer of Main & Rose. Jenny Robertson, a FedEx Office spokesperson at company headquarters in Dallas, confirmed the move and said plans call for opening in the new location in early January.
Holoubek said Kinko's/FedEx is the type of business he wanted to locate at Main & Rose from the beginning. "They're an ideal retail user in that they have traffic coming and going all day long, but they never have a huge wave of traffic at any one time. From a building standpoint, it's great for the residents to be able to just pop downstairs to do their mailing, copying or whatever they need to do. From other retailers' standpoint, it's great for them because of the steady flow of traffic all day long, and from Kinko's standpoint, it's great because it puts them into a higher visibility location on Main Street with easier in-and-out access. Instead of five or six or seven parking spaces, they'll now be sharing over 100 parking spaces."
Kinko's decision to vacate its Rose Street location could, in the end, turn out to be a big win for that building's owner as well as the city, Holoubek ventured. "This is one more site downtown that's on a very strong corner. It (Kinko's move) presents the possibility of it becoming higher density."
The space being vacated by FedEx Office is owned by Sadr Company, LLC. Farzin Sadr also owns the building on The Esplanade housing Natasha's Bistro.
Main & Rose offers 25,000 square feet of ground level retail space. The Kinko's move leaves 5,000 square feet yet to be filled. "In an ideal world, I'd like to get a retail store or a restaurant into that space," said Holoubek. Other business occupants of Main & Rose include Wachovia Bank, Dunkin' Donuts and Jimmy John's. - Tom Martin
Trail offers perspectives on local history and fitness
The first part of Town Branch Trail (TBT) was officially opened on September 12 by Lexington Mayor James Newberry and many enthusiastic bicycle riders. They pedaled about 10 miles, from Cheapside Park out West Main Street onto the 1.8-mile section of trail and then looped back to downtown.
Town Branch Trail showcases Lexington's earliest history, following the westward course of the Town Branch of Elkhorn Creek, on whose banks the town developed. Historical markers offer glimpses of Lexington's history and ecology as the trail passes by rare stands of cane and old trees.
The trail was created through the cooperative efforts and work of a number of people. The local nonprofit group Town Branch Trail, Inc., which started in 2001, is headed by visionary local architect Van Meter Pettit, the son of former Lexington Mayor Foster Pettit.
Pettit got the idea for a trail system for Lexington from a trail system in New Jersey that he enjoyed using while a student at Princeton University. "I thought it was the prettiest thing I had ever seen," he said.
While studying at the University of Texas, Pettit was impressed by the popularity of Austin's system of trails along its urban creeks. "It was a critical thing missing in our makeup as a college town," he recalled.
Pettit said that to create urban trail systems, "You have to create a community of support. This is a wonderful thing to have in Lexington, the architecture of community you have to create before you create the architecture of the project."
Portions of the trail are "right up against the Lexington - Ohio Rail Line. That was the first rail line of the western frontier," Pettit said. "It's not just a trail corridor. It's the corridor of Lexington's foundation."
The next one-mile section of the trail is funded, with construction expected to be completed within a year. "In the best of all worlds, Town Branch Trail will be finished in three to five years," Pettit said. The trail's sections "will be put in place in such a way that they'll be here 200 years from now," he added.
Now TBT is working with the Manchester Development Company to design the final miles of the trail, which will run along Manchester Street through the Distillery District. RJ Corman Railroad Group is also involved, as TBT hopes to build trails along rail lines that run through some of the prettiest land in the Bluegrass. Pettit said that feasibility studies are underway for 15 more miles of trail, either additions to Town Branch Trail or associated with it.
Working with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and local developer Dennis Anderson, the nonprofit group has written grants, raised funds of about $2 million, and secured land donations worth more than $1 million.
To learn more about Town Branch Trail, see www.townbranch.org.
-Margaret Buranen
Flocking bankers walk to fight cancer
Republic Bank associates have formed a team of 35 individuals who have committed to walking and raising money for the American Cancer Society's first annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Lexington. The five-mile, noncompetitive walk will take place on Sunday, October 25, at the Kentucky Horse Park.
The Republic Bank team, Pink Flamingos for Life, has launched a fundraising campaign that has raised curiosity around Lexington and other surrounding cities. For a suggested donation of $20 or more, donors may request a flock of pink flamingos to be sent to someone of their choice. Pink Flamingos for Life will place a "flock" of plastic pink flamingos (5-10 depending on the size of the area) in their yard, office or even cubicle, along with a ransom note reading "You Have Been Flocked!" The note asks the "flockee" to pay it forward and flock a friend of their choice.
Donations and flocking requests can be made online at www.pinkflamingosforlife.org, by mail care of Republic Bank, or by visiting a local Republic Bank.
No donations are required, and the flocks are automatically "migrated" away within 48 hours. Head birds do request that the "flocker" be sure that the "flockee" is up for the challenge.
Correction
The Kentucky Proud "Incredible Food Show" at Lexington Center is scheduled for Oct. 3-4.