Main Street to get $50 million development
By JACOB GLASSNER
News Editor, Voice-Tribune
Main Street is set for another makeover.
Cobalt Ventures recently unveiled its plans for Iron Quarter, a $50 million retail and office development on Main Street between First and Second streets.
The unique development will integrate the facades of eight of the blocks 12 existing buildings with a modern glass and steel office tower extending above the facades.
Preliminary plans call for 110,000 square feet of office space and 120,000 square feet of retail space. The complex is currently slated to be 12 stories, but depending on demand for office space, plans could be altered to make it as high as 23 stories, said Todd Blue, president and CEO of Cobalt Ventures.
The complex also will have parking both above and below ground for 500 cars. Construction is expected to begin in December and be completed by spring of 2010.
The downtown arena, which will be bounded by River Road and Second, Third and Main streets, is a critical piece of infrastructure driving the project, Blue said.
The back of Iron Quarter will border Washington Street, which will be filled with arena traffic during events. It will have a more traditional brick look, and the development will essentially have two "front doors" one from Main and the other from Washington, Blue said.
“This is a sports and event anchored development,” Blue said.
The development's office tower emulates the look of the buildings below it while maintaining a modern look with exposed steel beams, Blue said. It gives the appearance of a city block on top of a city block.
The first two floors of the building will house destination shopping stores complemented by restaurants and bars, Blue said.
The complex will include boutique and specialty stores for the ³fashion conscious² and for people who travel to nearby cities such as Chicago or Cincinnati to shop, Blue said.
³We will be delivering retailers that aren¹t in Louisville,² Blue said. He could not comment on specific retailers, but said they will be completely different from the retailers at the failed downtown Galleria.
“This is something new to Louisville,” Blue said.
The name ³Iron Quarter² reflects Louisville¹s high number of buildings with cast iron facades, which is second only to New York¹s SoHo district, Blue said. Six of the buildings in the development have cast iron facades.
