 |
| |
  |
|
|
|
|
REAL
ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT -- May 2001 by Russ Lohan Re-born
Opportunity The “center” of the Louisville MSA is widely considered to be the cluster of Churchill Downs, Louisville International Airport, the Kentucky Fair and Exposition complex and the University of Louisville. This area, approximately four miles south of downtown Louisville has excellent access to I-65 and the Watterson Expressway. East/west traffic in this area however, had always been compromised by the CSX right-of-way with no direct access between the Watterson and Eastern Parkway. For years, trucks would routinely get stuck under the numerous viaducts, which created an irritant to residents and businesses. After eight years of planning and construction and a cost of $24 million, the one-and-a-half-mile Central Avenue extension runs between Taylor Boulevard on the west and Crittenden Drive on the east. The Central Avenue extension however, bisected the American Air Filter Corporation property that had operated on a 22-acre site for more than 50 years. The property had been improved with a complex of buildings, the largest of which is the 75,000 +/- s.f. headquarters that was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. American Air Filter elected to close the facility and has since leased approximately 70,000-s.f. at the Ormsby One Office Building on Hurstbourne Parkway in Eastern Jefferson County. The developer and owner of Ormsby One is Faulkner/Hinton & Associates. As part of the lease negotiations, Faulkner/Hinton became interested in the redevelopment potential of the Central Avenue site and has since purchased the newly divided site, including all of the improvements for a price of $3 million. Some of the building contained asbestos, but the site was otherwise environmentally “clean”. The asbestos has been removed and all of the buildings other than the main headquarters have since been razed at a cost estimated to be approximately $750,000. The two and three-story headquarters building has been gutted and is considered to be in “shell” condition that contributes between $15 and $20 per square foot. After losing approximately one acre to the new Central Avenue right-of-way, the property now has approximately 12.5 acres along with the office building shell on the north side and approximately 8.5 acres south of Central Avenue for a total of 21 acres. The cost total including asbestos removal and demolition was $4.65 million. If a value of $1.3 million is given to the building shell, the implied price of the land is approximately $160,000 per acre. The property is now
suitable for a wide range of uses from hotel/motel,
office, distribution or commercial and is being marketed
as a mixed-used development. Faulkner/Hinton plans on
renovating the existing building to suit a tenant, and
developing up to three additional office buildings, an
office/distribution facility, a hotel and up to three out
parcels for restaurants or other retail uses. Russ Lohan is a
commercial real estate broker in Louisville.
|
|
|
Copyright 1996-2001, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial
content is copyright 2001, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
