Beechmont Neighborhood Association

Woodlawn business district spruce up

by Steve Chaplin

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Local/Regional » Neighborhoods » News Item Wednesday, August 7, 2002

Beechmont business district spruced up
Tree cutting, new sidewalks lift visibility
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By Steve Chaplin
Special to The Courier-Journal

Bob Blain wants customers to see the big bumblebee sign advertising his electronics business on Woodlawn Avenue, and Annie Tran hopes people will peer into her restaurant's windows and see the fresh lemonade and spring rolls she makes.

Before last week, the sign at Bee Electronics and the Far East decor of Tran's eatery, The Annie Cafe, were all but invisible to passing motorists.

Overgrown and aging Bradford pear trees obscured the view of storefronts in the blocklong Beechmont business district on Woodlawn between Southern Parkway and Third Street. Tree roots buckled stretches of sidewalk.

Last week contractors began replacing sidewalks, clearing trees for new plantings and improving lines of sight along the corridor.

The business district had fallen victim to inattention, said Louisville Alderman Dan Johnson, who represents the area.

''The trees had become overgrown in front of the stores and had become a large problem,'' he said. ''The business district was declining because of it.''

The improvements, which will cost $100,000, are being paid for by Johnson's ward infrastructure account and the Louisville-Jefferson County Office for Business Services.

Business owners are being encouraged to fix up the fronts of their buildings. They can obtain low-interest loans for facade improvements from the city-county agency. The money can be used for awnings, window treatments and exterior designs.

The loan program is something that Blain is considering, especially since the obstructions have been cleared. ''Sometimes you don't realize how ugly something is until you stand back and take a look at it.''

Blain is considering new awnings, possibly a new entrance for his business and even giving up a small corner of his property as a site for a bus-stop bench.

''I'm kicking around a few ideas,'' he said. ''I guess we've been talking about this for four or five years.''

The Woodlawn Avenue work is similar to projects the city has done at Douglass Loop, the 3400 block of West Broadway and Eastern Parkway at Bardstown Road.

''We try to target the older corridors,'' said Drew Shryock, head of the Neighborhood Community Development Department of the city-county Office for Business Services.

''We look for partnerships with business owners. We can come in and help with aesthetics, but we rely on the business owner.''

Tran said the timing of the improvements was perfect because her restaurant has been open for only three weeks.

''I want to see the improvements,'' she said. ''If they can see my sign clearly, well, that's good for me.''

Across the street from Tran's restaurant, Andrew and Myeong Son stay busy helping customers at their dry-cleaning shop, Evergreen Cleaners.

Their business has been growing for seven years, and now they plan to relocate from the center of the block to a bigger building at the corner of Third and Woodlawn, which was left vacant by a drugstore two years ago.

The new location, with more visibility and parking, has led the Sons to consider taking advantage of the facade improvement program. Renderings provided by the city-county agency have given the couple a vision of what the corner might look like one day.

''We have so many things to do,'' Myeong Son said. ''But we'd like to be moving in the next 30 to 45 days.''

Judy Hettich, who runs the facade loan program, said two businesses had received conceptual drawings and that discussions were continuing with four others.

She said business usually increases following improvements such as replacing sidewalks and removing unneeded utility poles (like one at Bee Electronics) plus private investment in storefront facades.

''These kind of changes can have a major impact on a corridor,'' Hettich said.

Business District Revitalization

Local/Regional » Neighborhoods » News Item Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Mail this page
Loan program helps area stores put on new face
Metro officials examine eligibility of small cities
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By MARTHA ELSON
melson@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal




The area around Fairdale Feed & Hardware benefited.



BY MICHAEL CLEVENGER, THE C-J
Sharon Landrum, a partner in WLW Properties, stood in front of the Tangerine Restaurant on Woodlawn Avenue.

By the time Myeong Son opened Evergreen Cleaners in a former pharmacy on Woodlawn Avenue in Beechmont three months ago, the city had already put a new sidewalk out front.

"The timing was perfect," she said.

She also received a $43,000 low-interest city loan for fa?§ade improvements, plus a $50,000 loan, especially for minorities, for interior improvements. She has applied new stucco and is preparing to paint the outside of the building, which is more than 50 years old. Without the 10-year loans' interest rates of 3 percent and 5 percent, she's not sure she could have made the improvements.

The owners of several other business spaces on Woodlawn also have received $40,000 in fa?§ade loans, and Dixie Manor Shopping Center, which last week celebrated its $3.7 million renovation, also got $100,000 for such improvements.

The lender was the Neighborhood Commercial Development Program of the Metro Development Authority, formerly the Louisville/Jefferson County Office for Business Services. Demand is increasing for money from the program, which also is expected to boost a metro government plan that encourages businesses to expand into vacant stores along nine commercial corridors.

The Shively Area Business Association has inquired about obtaining fa?§ade loans for businesses on Dixie Highway.

And St. Matthews, which was presented last week with a draft of a new master plan for streetscape improvements in St. Matthews and Louisville, also is waiting to see if it will be eligible.

Metro Louisville officials are re-examining eligibility for the program, which has spurred businesses across Jefferson County to make improvements since its launch in 1990.

In the past, suburban cities were not eligible for the loans. But a Heart of St. Matthews Committee formed last year to explore revitalizing the original business district has raised the eligibility issue for small cities.

In addition to the work along Woodlawn, projects already have been carried out in other areas within the former boundaries of Louisville — such as Frankfort Avenue and Douglass Loop — and in suburban areas around Fern Creek, Fairdale, Poplar Level Road and Preston Highway.

"The way the economy is right now, small businesses are looking for whatever resources are available in order to encourage people to come and shop a commercial corridor," said Drew Shryock, manager of the commercial-development program.

Former St. Matthews Councilman Mike Cook, a business owner who is on the "heart" committee, suggested that his city consider contributing to the fa?§ade loan program, if an arrangement is approved.

But first, St. Matthews has asked for a ruling about whether the city is eligible for metro loans. Bruce Traughber, secretary of the Metro Cabinet for Community Development, said he and other officials would examine the issue during the budget process and make a decision before June 30.

Although suburban cities have their own taxes, their residents also pay Metro Louisville property taxes, Traughber said. That would be a point in favor of making small cities eligible for metro money.

"We felt we were being shunned," St. Matthews Councilman Bernard Bowling said. "If it's available in the county, then it should be available to people in St. Matthews."

District 9 Metro Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh, who has been working with the Heart of St. Matthews Committee, said that because money for the loan program is limited, St. Matthews might want to allot money anyway.

For this fiscal year, county government allotted $250,000 to the Metro Development Authority for fa?§ade loans, architectural services and improvements for areas outside the old Louisville boundaries, and city leaders put up $400,000 for their area, Shryock said.

If areas in Shively become eligible, the Shively Area Business Association would like to see the whole Dixie Highway corridor from Rockford Lane to Millers Lane fixed up, said association President Polly Cole, owner of Nanz & Kraft Florist on Dixie in Pleasure Ridge Park. "It all needs it," she said. "We understand what a good bargain it is," Cole said of the fa?§ade-loan program. "As a consumer ... you're not going to want to walk in somewhere that needs a lot of work."

The development authority has projects under way at three Dixie intersections — at Cofer and Greenwood avenues and Barrett Lane. The improvements include a new sidewalk on Cofer, landscaping at all three intersections and one new bus shelter. Three businesses in addition to Dixie Manor have received fa?§ade loans, including United Collision Center ($24,230) at 9407 Dixie. In all, the authority is investing $248,664 in the Dixie area.

The loan helped "a ton," said Paula Jarrell, who, with her husband, Ray, owns United Collision. "It would have taken a long time to come up with that additional money." The work included blacktopping the lot, adding landscaping and widening culverts to eliminate standing water.

On Poplar Level Road, a small park with a walkway, benches and trees was created next to Thomas Jefferson Middle School on Rangeland Road, in conjunction with efforts by former County Commissioner Dolores Delahanty, Shryock said.

In the Woodlawn Avenue area, the total investment by the development authority is $261,000. Besides the new sidewalk, the improvements included new trees, lighting and street furniture.

Sherrie Skone of the Iroquois Park area said she had seen the neighborhood business district along nearby Woodlawn Avenue go through a number of changes.

When the development authority upgraded the stretch last year, she saw an opportunity last November to open Collectibles Past and Present, an antique mall with about 20 vendors, at Woodlawn and Kenwood Way.

"I ... had seen the property looking unsightly and unoccupied, but I thought it would be a great location," she said. "With the improvements they had made, it really made the business owners feel better."

She hopes others will continue the trend.

Sharon Landrum, a partner in WLW Properties, which owns several business spaces in the block of Woodlawn between Third Street and Southern Parkway, including the Tangerine Restaurant, is planning new paint with part of the $40,000 the company received from the program. A mural also is being discussed for a prominent side of Skone's building, she said.

"We want to blend this area into the neighborhood and have it become a magnet for people," Landrum said.

If business owners like the results, she said, her company would consider using the program again for face-lifts at properties it owns at Strickland Shopping Center on Poplar Level near Rangeland.

In Fairdale, working with former Jefferson County Commissioner Darryl Owens, the Business Services office oversaw the construction of two gazebos for community use across from Fairdale Feed & Hardware, 401 Fairdale Road, in addition to other public improvements in the area of Manslick, Brown Austin and Mount Holly roads, Shryock said.

Fairdale Feed & Hardware owner Barry Phelps said last week that he got about $25,000 for improvements about 10 years ago and used it for remodeling and for installing sidewalks and curbs. He said he would have made the improvements anyway, but the loan helped.

"It was cheap money; that's what it was," he said.

Special writer Steve Chaplin contributed to this story.


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Businsess Districts Revitalization


Could This Be Us?

Home · News · Sports · Business ·

Local/Regional » Neighborhoods » News Item Wednesday, October 31, 2001

CITY
Two streetscapes get enhanced look
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By Martha Elson
The Courier-Journal


This mural depicting the history of Butchertown is on Story Avenue, underneath the Interstate 64 overpass.
By Michael Hayman, The Courier-Journal



Prominent streetscapes in Butchertown and the Highlands are getting a new look and more functional design as part of two publicly financed projects.

Work is concluding on a $60,000 effort along Story Avenue in Butchertown to add new sidewalks, trash receptacles, benches and trees. A historical mural costing $12,040 more also has been painted in the Interstate 64 underpass on Story.

At Eastern Parkway and Bardstown Road -- where some of the city's most heavily used bus routes cross -- the city plans to start work in about three weeks on a $100,000 project to add a bus shelter on Eastern Parkway, enlarge another on Bardstown Road, replace and realign sidewalks, widen bands of green space, install decorative lighting and remove a concrete wall that partially blocks access to the Schuster Building.

Third Ward Alderman Bill Allison is providing $20,000 of the cost from his Neighborhood Projects Reserve Fund. The rest of the money is coming from the city-county Office for Business Services, which is handling all the work through its Neighborhood Commercial Development Program.

The Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy was an adviser on the Eastern Parkway work, which affects one of the parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. (Eastern leads to Cherokee Park).

Metro Parks will add more trees and landscaping at the intersection, where about 300 people board or exit buses each day, according to the Transit Authority of River City.

While speaking about the Eastern Parkway plans at a Highland Commerce Guild meeting last week, Drew Shryock, director of the commercial development program, was asked if utilities could be put underground there to further improve the area's appearance. Some poles have been removed in the past, but he said the cost for burying utilities is too expensive. It was estimated several years ago at about $200,000 per block for Frankfort Avenue.

The plans for the intersection, designed by Gresham, Smith and Partners, will soon be displayed at Qdoba Mexican Grill in the Schuster Building.

''It's nice they're coordinating the four corners . . . to dress up the whole area,'' Nick Morris, president of the Safety & Security Store, said at the guild meeting.

In Butchertown, old sidewalks were being torn up last week in front of the J.V. Reed and Co. complex at 1201 Story Ave. The dust-pan and sign-making company and four design, art and furniture businesses operate in the former brick warehouse.

The work will make the street ''a lot more people-friendly,'' said Reed president Andrew Blieden, who also is president of the Butchertown Business Association. He hopes it also will make the area more of a destination, similar to nearby East Market Street. That street became popular with antique shoppers after a revitalization in the 1990s.

''They're beginning to find us,'' said Alex Crume, who works parttime at Dragonfly Antiques LLC in the Reed complex.

Story connects Frankfort Avenue with East Main Street (both of which also have been improved), and city officials envision a continuous, spruced-up corridor leading to downtown, Shryock said. Story is the ''last piece of the puzzle,'' he said.

The Story mural was painted by local artists Cindy and Fernando Trujillo, who also painted one on East Broadway this summer. Their Butchertown mural shows present-day scenes of the neighborhood on one side and scenes from the past on the other. They include the new Home of the Innocents building at the former Bourbon Stock Yard and pigs being driven down the street to the old stockyards.

The Trujillos worked, in part, from photos at the University of Louisville Archives.

Mary Hyde of Germantown, who works in Butchertown, said she's seen a lot of murals around town ''but this one is just special.''

Michele Pullen, who teaches at the new Golden Tree Middle School in Bakery Square in Butchertown, said she and her students have had several discussions about the mural while walking by on field trips.

''Without knowing what it was, they realized what it was,'' she said. ''They recognized all the elements of Butchertown"

Beechmont