Officials Mark Resumption of Work on RiverPark Place
By: Sheldon Shafer • The Courier Journal • December 5, 2011 Twenty-two years after plans were first announced and more than three years after the most recent round of work was shelved, officials marked the resumption of construction Monday on the massive RiverPark Place project just upriver from Waterfront Park. Rain sent a planned ground-breaking for a 166-apartment building indoors. The housing is to go near where work on a 150-slip marina is well under way. The marina is expected to be ready for boaters in April — about the same time as a 3,000-foot extension of a 16-foot wide, asphalt and concrete promenade is completed through the development site. The pathway will link Waterfront Park to the west with Beargrass Creek and Eva Bandman Park to the east. “This has been a long-anticipated project,” Mayor Greg Fischer said of RiverPark Place. “It will be a fantastic place to live and a great boost for us economically….I think it will quickly become one of the hotspots of the city.” Fischer, along with Steve Poe, the lead developer of RiverPark Place, and David Karem, president of the Waterfront Development Corp., which manages Waterfront Park, presided at a news conference at the soon-to-open RiverPark Place sales office at 1250 River Road, just across from the development area. Plans for developing the prime riverfront parcel, about 40 acres, date to the late 1980s, when a previous investment group first proposed a mixed-use project called FallsHarbor. It never materialized after many years of trying, and the Poe-led group, called River Partners LLC, was granted development rights by the waterfront agency in 2004. Poe...Continue Reading »
RiverPark Place Begins Construction on Waterfront Development
By: Devin Katayama • WFPL news • December 5, 2011 Developers are breaking ground on Louisville’s RiverPark Place project after years of delay. Project leaders say the development of the mixed-use community will roll out in phases over the next decade and will depend on market demand. On Monday, Mayor Greg Fischer joined developer Steve Poe (pictured) who announced the first phase of the revitalized waterfront project located north of NuLu or the East Market District. “I think this is quickly going to become one of the hot spots in the city,” said Fischer. Construction has now begun on 150 boat slips expected to be finished by next April and 166 apartments expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013. The cost of phase one is $25 million. The decision to proceed with the project is based on new financial partnerships as well as interest in Louisville’s downtown area from renters, said Poe. “In the Louisville market I believe that the occupancy rate right now is around 96.5 percent for upscale apartments,” he said. Poe is close. Downtown’s rental occupancy is around 93 percent, which is higher than it’s been in nearly a decade, according to data from Louisville Downtown Management District. Condo sales have not had the same consistency, which may be why Poe said he’ll likely test the condo market later next year. “We think ultimately sometime next summer we’ll probably test the condo market to see if that’s coming back and then we may start condo building the following year,” Poe said. The 40-acre project includes a mixed-use community of retail stores, restaurants and office space, which...Continue Reading »
Waterfront project now underway
River Park Place – WDRB Fox in the Morning Dec. 6 2011 By: Bill Francis • WDRB News • December 5, 2011 It has been a long time coming, but construction is finally underway on a private development along Louisville’s waterfront. RiverPark Place is finally being built. For decades city leaders have talked about re-developing the area along the Ohio River at Towhead Island just east of Waterfront Park. The 2008 recession put the project on hold. Even on a dreary day like Monday in Louisville, dredging work is underway. By spring there will be a marina with room for 150 boat slips. The first phase of the project will also include 166 upscale apartments. “Apartment occupancy in Louisville is currently at ninety-six-and-a-half percent,” says RiverPark Place developer Steve Poe, “so building good quality rental housing in the downtown area makes a lot of sense right now and we are able to obtain financing on those types of projects.” Poe has partnered with an Indianapolis investment company to get the project moving again. He says the one to three bedroom apartments will rent between $750 and $1,300 a month. They will be ready for occupancy during the first quarter of 2013. Poe says if the market continues to improve, then a second phase of the project will move forward. “We’ll build condos in the future,” he says, “this project is 40 acres so it will take ten to twelve years to build.” Poe says right now developers will focus on rental housing, and as the market continues to come back as projected, and demand returns, they plan to move...Continue Reading »
Mayor: RiverPark Place Future Looks Bright
Construction Begins On Long-Delayed Project River Park Place – WLKY News at 530 Dec. 5 2011 By: Lexi Scheen • WLKY News • December 5, 2011 LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s been seven years in the making, but a major construction project in downtown Louisville is finally breaking ground.The site at RiverPark Place looks like a bare construction site, but the ground has been broken on what Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and developers say is going to be a 40-acre multimillion dollar mixed-use community near downtown and the new Big Four Bridge. “This is how cities grow and this is how great cities grow,” Fischer said. A new marina with 150 state of the art boat slips as well as 166 upscale loft apartments at RiverPark Place are finally under construction. The project also includes a 3,000-foot promenade connecting Waterfront Park to Beargrass Creek. “The marina and promenade will be open hopefully April 1 of next year, and hopefully we’ll have the first apartments ready to live in during the first quarter of 2013,” said developer Steve Poe. The plan originated in 2004 with $38 million worth of deposits on condos and boat slips. It was put on hold in 2008 because of the economy. Now, according to the Downtown Management District, almost 70 percent of the central business district’s condos have sold and most of those that haven’t are being rented. RiverPark Place is starting with apartments ranging in price from $750 to $1,300 a month. Originally, the project was to start with condos and we’ve changed that to build apartments so that we can build product that the...Continue Reading »