As cranes have become a common fixture of Lexington’s skyline and construction-related congestion slows traffic flow, several major commercial construction projects are set to be completed or hit significant milestones in 2020. These investments promise to change the dynamics of key areas of the city. Lexington’s downtown, for example, has experienced a surge of more than $2.5 billion in new public and private development projects either completed or added to its pipeline since 2015, according to figures compiled last year by the Lexington Downtown Partnership. Here’s an update of what the year will bring.
Central Bank Center
As phase one of the newly rebranded Central Bank Center’s $241 million expansion and renovation continues this year, the first major elements of the project’s new addition are expected to open to the public this fall.
Central Bank purchased naming rights for the downtown convention, sports and entertainment complex in January. Rupp Arena has been rebranded as Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. In December, four massive chiller units that serve year-round air-conditioning needs of Rupp Arena, Hyatt Regency Lexington and the Convention Center were relocated to their new home in the expanded facility.
Until the move, crews essentially had to work around the building that housed the chillers, which stood near the center of the construction zone, to ensure the uninterrupted operation of the units. With the chillers relocated and an additional unit added to service the expansion, the path was cleared for the building’s removal and interior work on the new addition is now underway, said Bill Owen, president and CEO of the Lexington Center Corporation.
“That facilitates having a lot more space to build structure, but we were building structure around that from the very beginning,” Owen said. “We’ve got portions of the third level built that we are now putting a roof on at the fourth level.”
Those portions include an expansion to the Rupp Arena concourse and a large third-level concourse area, which Owen referred to as the “spine,” that will eventually connect Rupp Arena and the new exhibit hall.
“We expect the majority of the exhibit hall to be available for our use in October of 2020,” Owen said. Three of the four new Rupp Arena hospitality suites, along with the new Rupp Arena loading dock area and 300 spaces of ground level parking, are also expected to be opened in October. An additional 200 parking spaces on the second level are expected to come online for use by the public later.
Phase two of the project, which includes construction of the new ballroom, is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2021, and the third phase, which will add a new two-story building along Main Street, is slotted to be finished by the first quarter of 2022.
Delays early on in obtaining city approval for demolition of the Jefferson Street Bridge and related complications in utility relocation set the project back a few months from its initial projected completion in late 2021, Owen said.
“With all that behind us, we don’t anticipate any other unknowns,” Owen said. “Because we are working inside the building, some [construction] of which goes back to 1974, we’ll probably run into something, but I don’t anticipate anything that’s not going to be easily managed.”
The Central Bank Center already has engagements booked for October, Owen said, and the needs of perennial favorites such as the Kentucky Sport, Boat and Recreation Show; ScareFest Horror and Paranormal Convention; and Lexington Comic and Toy Convention have been accommodated with minimal adjustments during construction.
“And 2021 is shaping up to be a really busy season, also,” Owen said. “I’ve been encouraged at how much we’ve been able to maintain.”
Theresa Stanley
Ribbon Cutting Dignitaries: Marriott City Center GM Barry Kuhnke, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, City Center Developer Phil Greer, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton, Dudley Webb, Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, Governor Senior Advisor Rocky Adkins, Former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins (left to right)
City Center
The opening of downtown’s two newest hotels, the Lexington Marriott City Center and the Residence Inn Lexington City Center, was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in January, marking the completion of the lion’s share of the new City Center block, the $240 million joint project of The Webb Companies and Greer Companies.
The hotels bring a combined 337 guest rooms and 10,000 square feet of new meeting space to the downtown block, which was demolished to make way for the new development in 2008. The new rooftop restaurant above the Residence Inn, called Infinity, is also now open, along with Limestone Bank on Main Street, said Woodford Webb, president of The Webb Companies. Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse has been open for business on the block since April, and ItalX, a new small-plate, Italian-inspired restaurant concept by celebrated local chef Jonathan Lundy, is targeted to open in April.
The company still has office space available for leasing in the 12-story office tower, Webb said, and his team is still working to attract possible corporate relocation tenants to the new downtown center. They are also looking to recruit one more street-level retail tenant, preferably one that can contribute to the nightlife and weekend activity along Main Street, he said.
“We are looking for something lively that will stay open later, and hopefully help [generate activity] with the other businesses across the street,” Webb said.
The MET
Community Ventures’ $22 million mixed-use development at Midland Avenue and Third Street is expected to bring new energy to a key downtown gateway in Lexington’s East End this spring. Construction of the three-story, 75,000-square-foot building is expected to reach completion this June.
“It is really changing the landscape in that part of town,” said Community Ventures President Kevin Smith of the infusion that he hopes the MET will bring to the once-busy commercial area.
“The East End business corridor had pretty much become non-existent, and most of the businesses had closed. … We want to attract tenants that will bring new jobs and new businesses there. I think we will begin to see spin-offs that will grab ahold of that economic energy at the MET and carry it even further [along Third Street].”
Designed by EOP Architects and constructed by D.W. Wilburn, The MET will feature street-level retail and office space, along with 38 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom residential units on the upper floors. Thirteen of the 44 apartments will be subsidized as affordable housing, and the rest will be offered at market rates.
The existing Community Ventures building at Midland and Third has been retrofitted and expanded as part of the development, with a new 5,000-square-foot restaurant slated to open on the first floor. Initial talks for a possible grocery tenant have not yet come to fruition, Smith said, but Community Ventures is still committed to recruiting a mix of health, food and finance-based businesses to the area.
“Those were the top needs spelled out in the neighborhood’s plan, and what the residents want to see, so we want to honor that as much as we can,” Smith said. The developer is also still committed to using the visibility of the new mixed-use development to highlight the East End’s many significant historical and cultural contributions to both Lexington and Kentucky.
More details on specific retail tenants are expected to be announced soon, Smith said.
University of Kentucky Winslow project
The University of Kentucky’s new mixed-use parking facility on the corner of South Limestone and Winslow Street is still on schedule and on budget for its targeted opening in the fall of 2020, said Melody Flowers, executive director for strategic analysis and policy at UK. In addition to bringing 900 parking spaces online, the project will also feature 23,000 square feet of ground-floor space, to be split about evenly between private retail and a new UK-controlled esports (electronic sports) and innovation center.
The center’s amenities will include an esports theater with 100 retractable theater-style seats and an esports gamers lounge with more than 50 PC-based gaming units and multiple console-play areas. The flexible innovation space will be available to support and engage with the community on a variety of innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development activities.
“The idea behind the innovation space is that it will go beyond esports,” Flowers said. “That’s just one component of the project.”
The university has entered into a public-private partnership, or P3, with Signet Real Estate Group to design, build and finance the facility. After completion, Signet will operate and maintain the retail square footage only on the property, while UK will manage the rest.
Together with the planned renovation of the Reynolds Building on South Broadway to house the UK College of Design and the existing College of Fine Arts Building on Bolivar Street, the university hopes to establish the new facility on Winslow as one leg of a new corridor of creativity and technology at the university gateway.
Flowers said naming announcements of some of the project’s first retail tenants are expected in the coming weeks, along with the results of the naming contest for the new innovation center.
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The Krikorian
Buena Park, California-based Krikorian Premiere Theatres is putting the finishing touches on its new downtown entertainment multiplex on the corner of High Street and South Broadway, which is targeted to open before summer. The company’s owner, George Krikorian, is a frequent visitor to the Bluegrass who also owns Starwood Farms in Versailles, Kentucky.
The 133,000-square-foot building, which is a short walk from Rupp Arena, will be home to a 10-screen movie theater, including a 50-foot-by-80-foot movie screen to accommodate more expansive movie formats. The facility is also slated to feature a bowling alley, arcade, sports bar and multiple dining options. Recent updates to the design have also added new egaming capabilities to the entertainment mix, as well.
Lexington Clinic building on South Broadway
The framework of the Lexington Clinic’s new building has risen swiftly on South Broadway in recent months, even as the company has continued to serve patients throughout the major construction project at its original building a short distance away.
Featuring approximately 70,000 square feet of patient care space, the new facility, which is set to open by late 2020, will provide a central and modernized location for clinical care, programs and services that will be easier for patients to access. The Lexington Clinic’s new home on Broadway will bring together new technology for diagnosis and treatment with a concentration of related services, providing a seamless continuum of care that offers more convenience for patients and optimizes the Lexington Clinic’s resources at the same time.
A total of 732 parking spaces will be available facility-wide when the project is finished. The new facility’s completion will also coincide with the celebration of Lexington Clinic’s 100th anniversary in 2020, and community events to celebrate both milestones will be planned for later this year.
“We are proud to have been a part of this great community for 100 years, and we are excited to reinvest and recommit to continue serving our patients,” said Dr. Andrew Henderson, CEO of Lexington Clinic. “This major investment will further elevate the exceptional care that our providers and staff already provide, and by modernizing our facilities, we are ensuring that we are providing patients the world-class, cutting-edge care they deserve.”
Fountains at Palomar
Construction teams have cleared the way for the new 16-acre Fountains at Palomar project on the corner of Harrodsburg Road and Man o’ War Boulevard. Plans for the center, which is being developed jointly by The Webb Companies and Greer Companies, include more than 33,000 square feet of restaurant space, including several approved outlots, and 26,000 square feet of combined office and retail. Existing buildings on the site will be kept and updated as part of the project, said Webb Companies President Woodford Webb.
The development will include a 110-room Hyatt Place hotel, which will be the closest hotel to both the Blue Grass Airport and Keeneland when completed, Webb said. “It would be nice to have the hotel done in time for the Breeder’s Cup, but right now we are looking toward early 2021,” Webb said.
The project was approved in September by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for the creation of a new tax increment financing, or TIF, district, which could make it eligible for tax rebates of up to $4 million over 20 years based on $16 million in infrastructure improvements.
In terms of new retail that can be expected at the Fountains at Palomar, the planners are in talks with an organic grocery that is not currently in the Lexington market, Webb said. National Bank will open a new branch as part of the development, also, Webb said, and more retail tenants are expected to be announced in the coming months.