Access Louisville

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...

We put aside the usual newsy routine on Access Louisville this week to reflect on Thanksgiving plans in light of Covid-19 and talk about what we're thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving. 

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we chat about both good news and bad news on the Covid-19 front. The bad news, of course, was a fresh round of restrictions in Kentucky put out by Gov. Andy Beshear aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. We talk about what those restrictions are, including a ban on indoor restaurant dining. The new restrictions were passed down on Wednesday and reporte...

We try to make sense of the tumultuous 2020 election on this week's Access Louisville podcast.    Normally we stick to local topics on the show but an election like this only comes around once in a lifetime (hopefully) so we might as well talk about it. During the show we speak about our expectations versus reality, including the margin between the candidates and how the president would react...

Covid-19 is in the midst of what seems to be its largest surge ever both in Kentucky and elsewhere. On this week's Access Louisville podcast we talk the surge and getting back to good Covid-19 pandemic habits. The length of the pandemic and the fact that it's become such a part of life now has meant that everyone is a little fatigued by it. With that, many people are pushing their bounda...

This week on the Access Louisville podcast we talk about recent criticism against Papa John's International Inc. made by its ousted founder, Louisville's own John Schnatter. Schnatter wrote a column this week on SeekingAlpha.com explaining why he's worried about the company, including it's upcoming new headquarters in Atlanta . We also talk about a Q&A video series with Sch...

What are the most popular businesses in St. Matthews? We recently conducted a survey to find that out. You can find the results of that here . We talk about the poll on this week's Access Louisville podcast. We also chat about which Louisville neighborhoods have the best mix of businesses. St. Matthews is certainly up there. The Highlands and Norton Commons were also contenders. As always we...

We get all misty-eyed and reminiscent this week as we talk about our favorite long-gone bars on this week's episode of the Access Louisville podcast. It was recently announced that the former O'Malley's corner complex at the corner of 2nd & Liberty Streets was getting a new tenant in the form of two new restaurants . And with that, we started thinking about what's become of...

Is Louisville having a housing boom in the middle of the pandemic? It sure seems that way sometimes. In the last week or so Reporter Marty Finley has written about a couple of new residential developments — a new subdivision in the East End , a new townhouse development south of Jeffersontown and a new apartment complex that just finished work in Highview. We talk about all of the above on the Acc...

There's a lot of positive spin being put on the news that Papa John's International Inc. is opening a new global headquarters in Atlanta , instead of Louisville. And hey look, we realize the chamber of commerce and the mayor's office can't publicly scorn the company for this decision. They have to be diplomatic and congratulate Papa John's on their success and potential gr...

TARC, Louisville's public transportation agency, released a 124-page report this week that details alleged sexual harassment by its former director Ferdinand Risco Jr. The report also goes over an alleged sexual relationship that Risco had with a contractor at the agency. We go over the report and what it means for the agency on this week's Access Louisville podcast. We also discuss how...

Louisville's NuLu neighborhood is getting a shipping container housing development . This type of housing, relatively new to the Louisville market, is discussed on the Access Louisville podcast this week. Reporter Marty Finley tells us where the development is going and how the containers will look once complete. And of course we weigh in on whether this type of housing would suit us now (or...

We talk restaurant comings and goings on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Louisville Business First Reporter Haley Cawthon tells us about a few places shutting down, including Crescent Hill Craft House, Spring Street Bar & Grill and Spinelli's Downtown . She also goes over a few of the new spots that are opening up including Swizzle, located at the Galt House , and others. As a...

We've been focused on philanthropy all week at Louisville Business First. It's the topic of our Access Louisville podcast this week as we recently wrapped our Partners in Philanthropy program, which went live this week. Content from that program can be found here . Data Editor Allison Stines joins the program this week to talk about how it all works: How data is collected, what we'r...

We focus on the Kentucky Derby — and what it means for hotels and downtown — on this week's Access Louisville podcast. The decision to run the Kentucky Derby with fans was made earlier this week. Reporter Marty Finley walks us through some of the rules and expectations. We also talk about this in the context of the hotel sector and the Downtown Louisville area — both of which are facing chall...

It's odd to say it in August but it's almost Kentucky Derby time. The big race, which was rescheduled from May to September because of the coronavirus outbreak, is now just about a month away . We were told a while back that it would be run with fans in attendance but we're starting to wonder about that now that coronavirus cases have spiked. We discuss the prospects this week on th...