Fletcher signs bill allowing improvements for Museum Plaza area
Fox41 News
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
With a stroke of a pen Wednesday, Governor Ernie Fletcher did the state's part to make Louisville's $460 million Museum Plaza a reality. Governor Fletcher signed a bill that will allow public land around the huge project to be improved so the skyscraper can be built.
Museum Plaza developers offered a deal that sounded too good to be true. They would build the $330 million multi-use project if the city would spend $130 millon for a floodwall, street improvements, and other infrastructure. But for a time it looked like state lawmakers would not accept the offer.
Steve Wilson, Museum Plaza Developer, said Wednesday, "This is a moment that my wife and I and our partners have dreamed of for almost two years now." That moment -- the signing of a bill giving tax breaks to help Museum Plaza get built -- almost didn't happen.
Developer Craig Greenburg explains, "We've invested approximately $14 million on this project, so far, and this legislation was critical to make this project reality."
Developers proposed using part of the room tax from a Museum Plaza hotel to help pay for public improvements around the development. Since room tax money is used to promote tourism, state tourism officials objected and a big fight broke out during the legislative session.
Governor Fletcher acknoledges, "This was one of the pieces of legislation that made it through kind of a controversial session." He and others credit a united front and hard work by local leaders and legislators for the approval of the tax breaks on the last day of the session.
Now attention can turn to actual construction. As Mayor Jerry Abramson puts it, "I just think they are just all concerned about how and which lanes we are going on close on which streets for all of this construction."
Museum Plaza's "front door" on Main Street has been preserved. Next up -- work by fall to move an LG&E tower and dig a foundation for the world class project which will bring offices and shops, condos, great art, and great interest to Louisville.
State Senator Julie Denton, a Louisville Republican, says, "I see this as changing the whole culture of Louisville. Putting a whole new face on our city. This changes things economically, culturally, educationally, as well as a tourist attraction and recreationally."
With Museum Plaza, a new arena, and a new retail complex all scheduled to open in 2010, Governor Fletcher is offering a new nickname for Main Street. He says Chicago has its Million Dollar Mile and New York has 5th Avenue and Louisville will soon have it's "Billion Dollar Block."
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I think I like the name "Billion Dollar Block."