Access Louisville

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we focus our attention on the plan to revitalize Downtown Louisville in the wake of this past year. Mariah Gratz, CEO of commercial real estate developer Weyland Ventures, as well as Rebecca Fleishaker, of Louisville Forward both joined the show. Gratz and Fleishaker recently participated on what's called the Downtown Louisville Revitalization Team ,...

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer still has more than a year left in office but candidates are already lining up to replace him. This week on the Access Louisville podcast we talk about some of the candidates in the race thus far, including Bill Dieruf, a Republican from Jeffersontown, who is set to announce his candidacy . Other candidates include Louisville Metro Councilman David James, former 21c M...

We talk about the recent sale of two Downtown  office buildings on this week's Access Louisville podcast. The first building is the Artspace Building near the Brown Hotel, where a new apartment development is planned. The Kentucky Home Life, corner of Fifth and Jefferson streets also recently sold. A mixed use development (consisting of retail, hotel and apartment space) is planned there. We...

We talk about a new development along the riverfront in Clarksville, Indiana this week on the Access Louisville podcast. Bolt + Tie offers co-working space, high-end apartments and more, reporter Marty Finley tells us on the show. This one flew under the radar during the development process. It's one of the latest new places to go on the Indiana side of the river, which has been quickly devel...

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we talk about a handful of new restaurants that are opening up. The Clifton and Frankfort Avenue areas are looking especially attractive to Louisville diners, thanks to the opening of Phantom Cafe and the planned Gilberto Gelato . But there's also a problem in the restaurant industry (well ... many industries, but especially the restaurant industry)...

We chat about  the Kentucky Derby on the most recent episode of the Access Louisville podcast. Derby feels a bit odd this year because the crowds and excitement around town have been dampened by the pandemic. But it also feels nice for some of us to be going back to Churchill this year, after such a difficult year in 2020. We talk about favorite derby memories, derby bucket list activities and way...

Audio Quality Warning: Due to a technical glitch, the audio quality on this episode is rough. This week on the Access Louisville Podcast we talk about some new features coming to the Norton Commons. We also talk about some of the problems with the neighborhood, including it's location. Later in the show we talk about a lawsuit involving former UofL President James Ramsey.  And we discuss impr...

Jefferson Property Valuations Administrator Colleen Younger joins the Access Louisville podcast this week. We talk about an upcoming reassessment of property that could affect thousands of homeowners and business in the county. Younger's office is required by the state's constitution to reassess real property in order figure out a value, which your tax bill is going to be based on. She t...

We  talk about a couple of big issues with the Kentucky unemployment system this week on the Access Louisville podcast. First,  we discuss this week's news that the system has been temporarily shut down by the state following what Gov. Andy Beshear called a sophisticated cyber attack and an organized fraud effort. The shutdown was necessary in order to keep cyber criminals from taking money t...

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we talk about different things that need to happen in order for Downtown to  recover from both the Covid-19 pandemic and the civil unrest that occurred in the last year. This podcast ties in with Louisville Business First's special report: Downtown Rebound, which you can check out here .  We discuss a lot of different ideas on the show from addressin...

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we discuss the plan for this year's Thunder Over Louisville . The annual fireworks display is being put on in a different way this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and we talk about what we think of its new idea. In the midst of this chat we also talk about some of our favorite Thunder memories over the years. We also chat more about Liberty...

The historical value of Louisville's so called "Odd Fellows building" has been the subject of some debate lately. And we're talking about it on this week's Access Louisville podcast as well. Historic preservationists have sought to save the building after hearing a plan from nearby Omni Hotels to tear it down. But others, including two Louisville Metro Councilmen , say it...

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we discuss the most powerful people in Louisville. Louisville Business First just put out a list called The Power 50, which recognizes some of the city's biggest power brokers. LFB Editor-In-Chief Shea Van Hoy tells us some of the people who made this (and you can check out the full list here .) After that Reporter Sarah Shadburne tells us about an i...

Forecastle is canceled for another year . We chat about it on this week's episode of the Access Louisville podcast. Interestingly, when it comes back in 2022 it'll be on Memorial Day Weekend (which we think is good news considering how hot it usually is in July.) We chat about a few favorite Forecastle memories during the segment. After that we discuss the arrival of Spirit Airlines at L...

Green District, a Louisville-born restaurant brand that's focused on salads and other healthy options has a plan to grow throughout the Midwest. Two Green District officials, Co-founder and CEO Jordan Doepke and Chef Rob Rice, vice president of operations and salad innovation, join the Access Louisville podcast this week. We chat about the vision for the concept and how a major private equity...

We focus on commercial real estate and restaurant news on this week's episode of the Access Louisville podcast. But first, we talk about this Louisville-made movie . Louisville Business First Commercial Real Estate Reporter Marty Finley is on the program to talk about a proposed new hotel going into Nulu and the state of the neighborhood in general. We also chat about one or two recent storie...

Papa John's International Inc. founder and former CEO John Schnatter opened up about his ouster from the pizza chain he started on this week's Access Louisville podcast. He also discusses the existence of two tapes, which he say proves there was a choreographed setup aimed at removing him. These tapes have not been made public, but are a part of a lawsuit Schnatter has again 247 Group LL...

Special guest Rebecca Fleischaker joins the Access Louisville podcast this week. Fleischaker is co-chief of Louisville Forward, the economic development arm of Louisville Metro Government, so naturally a discuss of the city's economic prospects takes place.  Key to that discussion: What's next for Downtown Louisville? Obviously, the pandemic cancelled numerous conventions and sent many d...

Last year was a rough one for the Louisville economy (and Downtown Louisville in particular) because so many events were canceled . But things are hopefully looking up. On this week's episode of the Access Louisville podcast, we talk about some events that are on the calendar for Louisville Metro in 2021. These include public events like the Kentucky Derby, as well as more industry-focused sm...

We take a break from the norm on this week's episode of the Access Louisville podcast and focus in on Endeavor restaurant group and it's founder Steve Ritchie. Ritchie is the former CEO of Papa John's who recently bought Louvino, a Louisville-born restaurant concept that he plans to expand. Reporter Haley Cawthon shares some audio clips from a recent interview with Ritchie and we ta...

Last year was pretty hard to predict but we bet we can do better next year. On this week's Access Louisville podcast our panel gives us 14 predictions for Louisville in the new year. The predictions range from everything to the future of Fourth Street Live, the date of the Kentucky Derby to a new flight out of Muhammad Ali Airport. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Busines...

The holidays are here. With that, we decide to skip the usual news routine this week and focus on holiday celebrations on the Access Louisville podcast this week. It's a different type of year but we can still talk about how we're celebrating the season and what we miss. 

Last year around this time, we sat down and did a podcast where we tried to predict what would happen in 2020. Wow, we were way off. On this week's episode of the podcast we go over 12 predictions that we made last year and see what we got wrong, compared to what we got right. There were a few accurate ones in there but for the most part, our predictions were upended by the Covid-19 pandemic....

We talk about Louisville's NuLu neighborhood this week following the death of commercial real estate developer Tim Peters. Peters, who died at his home earlier this month, left a long legacy in Louisville renovating and rehabbing buildings in NuLu and on Bardstown Road. He was one of the people who originally bought into to the vision for NuLu. We chat about how it developed and our own early...

We're back to talking about food this week on the Access Louisville podcast. Reporter Haley Cawthon joins the show to talk about her recent cover story on Texas Roadhouse and its relatively new concept, called Jaggers. It's a fast casual chicken and burgers restaurant that Texas Roadhouse Founder and CEO Kent Taylor came up with and it's opening its first Louisville location soon. S...