A New Gateway to Technology

Gateway's new computer store on Nicholasville Road will feature a variety of the company's products.

The Gateway 2000 computer company is the newest tenant at Regency Centre, occupying the former Allied Sporting Goods space on Nicholasville Road. The Gateway Country Store features computer hardware and the peripherals that go along with the Gateway systems. Those items include the company's desktop tine of PCs, laptop computers, and Gateway's "Destination" system, which boasts a 36-inch screen and the capability to function as both a television and a computer.

Since being founded in Iowa in 1985, Gateway 2000 has grown into a $6.3 billion company with approximately 13,000 employees throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. The company opened its first Gateway 2000 Country Stores, Inc. in 1996, modeling the stores after their successful showrooms in Europe, which offered customers the opportunity to learn about Gateway products on a face-to-face basis before buying direct. The company now has 44 stores throughout the U.S., with Lexington being the first location in Kentucky.

Rural Areas Offer Room to Grow

Nicholasville is the site of one of 10 new Country Hearth Inns to be developed under an agreement between H & W Management Inc. of Lexington and Buckhead America Corporation, an Atlanta hospitality services company.

The new 40-unit hotel, which is under construction on U.S. 27 in the northern part of Jessamine County, will utilize a design prototype that is targeted at smaller markets, said Doug Collins, president and CEO of Buckhead America.

Collins noted that the agreement with H & W Management "advances Country Hearth Inns' strategy to focus on smaller communities that have been under-served by the hospitality industry" and calls for 10 such facilities to be built in Kentucky within the next five years.

The hotel is expected to be completed by September.

New Hotel Raises Occupancy at Coldstream

Embassy Suites is currently constructing a full-service, all-suite hotel in the Coldstream Research Campus on Newtown Pike, just off of 1-75. In addition to 230 guest rooms, the hotel will offer more than 12,000 square feet of meeting space, five executive board rooms, two conference suites, a full-service restaurant and lounge and an indoor pool and fitness center. The hotel is expected to open by next spring.

The project is a joint effort between Winegardner & Hammons, Inc., a full-service hotel management company, and Promus Hotel Corporation, a franchiser and operator of a variety of hotel brands. Winegardner & Hammons currently manages 46 hotels in the U.S. under most major hotel brands. Promus operates Doubletree Hotels and Guest Suites, Homewood Suites, Club Hotels by Doubletree and Hampton Inn & Suites in addition to its Embassy Suites and Embassy Vacation Resorts.

Educational Superstore Opens for Play

Zany Brainy, a chain of multimedia, educational superstores for children, is opening its first Lexington location this month in Crossroads Plaza.

Hands-on activities for kids is the name of the game at Zany Brainy.

The 13,000-square-foot space, which previously housed Crossroads Cinema, includes a selection of more than 20,000 books, toys, electronic learning games crafts, science kits, software and teacher resource material.The store is set up to provide special play spaces, arts and crafts areas, hands-on computer stations and a "Zany Showtime Theater" for movies and videos. Free activities are scheduled daily, including mini-concerts by top children's recording artists, a pre-school story and activity hour, book signings, and opportunities for children to meet their favorite storybook characters like Arthur and Winnie the Pooh.

The Lexington store is part of an aggressive expansion on the part of the Pennsylvania-based company. Since its inception in 1991 in suburban Philadelphia, the company has grown to 52 stores throughout 15 states and anticipates doubling that number by the end of next year.

Zany Brainy is the recipient of the 1998 National Retail Federation's Independent Stores Award, which recognizes innovation in creating a new retail concept.

Property Transactions

1700 Georgetown Road
31.13 acres
Daniel A. Fister et al to Crossman Communities Partnership
$441,000 ($14,166/acre)

4410 Nicholasville Road
20.12 acres
Mahan Family Limited Partnership to Ball Homes, Inc.
$729,200 ($36,242/acre)

2700 Leestown Road
52.69 acres
WTW Properties, Inc. to Spicewood Development, LLC
$1,828,000 ($34,691/acre)

3141 Beaumont Centre Circle
2.46 acres
Haymaker Development Co., Inc. to Beaumont Medical Plaza LLC
$593,600 ($241,300/acre)

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