LOUISVILLE
Semonin Realtors Acquired by Minnesota Brokerage

Louisville-based Paul Semonin Realtors has been acquired for an undisclosed amount by Minneapolis-based HomeServices.Com Inc. in a deal that puts HomeServices as the second largest independent brokerage company in the country. With a combined staff of more than 1,200 employees and nearly 5,000 sales associates, the newly-merged company will serve customers in 10 states.

George Gans, majority owner of Semonin prior to the sale, will remain as president and chief executive officer and the 84-year-old company will continue to do business in Kentucky and southern Indiana under the Semonin name. Paul Semonin was the largest residential real estate firm in the state with involvement in more than $1 billion in real estate transactions in 1998.

HomeServices is a subsidiary of Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.

After striking out in its last several attempts to land a professional baseball team, it looks as though Lexington may finally be making a hit.

The privately-funded Lexington Professional Baseball Company has announced that it plans to build a new stadium that will serve as home to a new minor league team in the South Atlantic League. Provided the necessary zoning changes for the project are approved by the city, the 5,000-6,000-seat stadium would be erected on 26.7 acres next to the Northland Shopping Center. The investment group has agreed to pay $1.7 million for the North Lexington property.

Although it is not yet known as to which major league team the Lexington club would be affiliated, Alan Stein, president of Lexington Professional Baseball Company, says he expects to receive that information from major league baseball officials by October 1.

The 1999 State Real Property Tax Rate has been set at 14.8 cents per each $100 of assessed value, a 3.3 percent decline from the 1998 rate. Under a House bill enacted in 1979, the property tax rate is reviewed by the Revenue Cabinet and adjusted each year to ensure that as assessments go up, the rate comes down to a level that limits any revenue increase to no more than four percent. Prior to enactment of the bill, property taxes were as high as 31.5 cents per $100 of assessed value and constituted a primary source of state and local government revenue. Property taxes now account for only about six percent of the state’s annual budget.

EASTERN KENTUCKY
Sykes to Build Technical Support Call Centers in Hazard and Pikeville

On the heels of President Clinton’s call on private industry to help provide more jobs in Appalachia, Sykes Enterprises announced its plans to build two technical support call centers in Hazard and Pikeville.

The new 42,500-square-foot call centers will feature state-of-the-art technology and are expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, according to company officials. Each center will begin with approximately 115 employees, with salaries ranging from $7.50 per hour to $40,000 per year.

"We studied several different Kentucky communities, and Pike and Perry Counties closely met our criteria and were the best fit," said David Grimes, president and chief operating officer of Sykes. "Both counties are ideal site locations for us due to their demographic profile and the large percentage of the under-employed working population. The types of jobs that Sykes brings to the area will make a difference and are in the fastest-growing sector of the computer marketplace."

Sykes already has a presence in Kentucky with SHPS, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary based in Louisville, where the company is currently in the midst of construction on a new 450,000-square-foot corporate campus that will serve as headquarters for SHPS. Sykes also has a professional services office in Lexington.

HENDERSON
Norwegian Company to Build $33 Million Recycling Plant

Norsk Hydro has selected Henderson as the site of a new aluminum remelt plant to recycle aluminum scrap that will be the first of its kind in the United States. The $33 million plant will utilize hydro technology to produce billet, which are used by the extrusion industry to produce aluminum profiles for a wide variety of applications in the building and automotive industries.

Hydro Aluminum Metal Products, a division of Norsk Hydro, plans to expand the former Unison Transformer Services plant in Henderson by 14,000 square feet to accommodate the remelting operation. The company hopes to have the plant operational by 2001 and is expected to have an initial capacity of 90,000 tons, utilizing a state-of-the-art technology that will result in a product that is interchangeable with aluminum billet produced from smelters. The company is already utilizing such technology at its remelt plants in Europe, where it produces 200,000 tons of primary billet each year.

With annual sales of $12 billion, Norsk Hydro is one of the largest companies in the world and its Hydro Aluminum division is the world’s leading supplier of aluminum billet.

Company officials expect to hire approximately 45 people at the Henderson plant, with wages averaging around $16.75 per hour.

BARDSTOWN

• LINPAC Materials Handling, which manufactures ROPAK™ container systems, has broken ground for the construction of a new 93,000-square-foot facility in the new Wilson Industrial Park . The new plant will house a variety of injection-molding presses and will complement the company’s 150,000-square-foot Georgetown operation, which currently handles all manufacturing of ROPAK™ containers. The new plant is expected to require approximately 85 workers (average hourly wage: $10.50) and could eventually climb to 184.

BARREN COUNTY

• The Barren Fiscal Court has approved increasing the minimum residential lot sizes in the county from 18,000 to 30,000 square feet (the equivalent of nearly .7 of an acre). County officials say the change, which goes into effect October 1, was needed due to tremendous growth in the county and the size requirements for septic systems.

BENTON

• A decision involving the construction of a new multi-million power-producing plant is expected this month from Enron Capital and Trade Resources Corporation, which has reportedly spent $20,000 to determine the feasibility of locating the plant in Marshall County.

DANVILLE

• Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center has announced plans for an $11 million renovation and expansion. The organization currently operates a 177-bed hospital in Danville and is applying to the state for a certificate of need for 25 additional acute care beds. The project would also include enlarging the hospital’s intensive care and cardiac care units. Construction is expected to start in 2001 or 2002, according to hospital officials.

HOPKINSVILLE

• Amfine Chemical Corporation has begun construction on a 60,000-square-foot facility that will handle the manufacture of plastics additives that are used to make plastics more resilient and inhibit the effects of ultraviolet light. The plant will be located on 43 acres in the Commerce Industrial Park and is expected to be operational by next July, employing approximately 40 people. The plant represents Amfine’s first production facility in the U.S.

LEXINGTON

• Wal-Mart has purchased 17.18 acres near the intersection of New Circle Road and Russell Cave Road on the north side of Lexington for the development of their third Lexington location. The company purchased the property for $3,303,846 from JDN Development Co., an Atlanta development company.

• Bluegrass Tomorrow, a non-profit Central Kentucky organization that focuses on a planned, regional approach to growth, is one of nine regional organizations in the country featured in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s new national report, Challenging Sprawl: Organizational Responses to a National Problem. The report cites Bluegrass Tomorrow’s work to implement its "Preferred Regional Vision" for the Bluegrass, which involves "a vibrant urban center surrounded by smaller communities, each with its own distinct identity, separated by greenbelts of productive farmland and areas rich in natural and historic resources, connected by a network of scenic roadways.

• Construction is under way on a new 44,000-square-foot indoor soccer facility in south Lexington, located near Fayette Mall on Reynolds Road. The new structure will house two full-sized fields, a training room, 21 television screens, a retail store and a cafe. The project is being built by Soccer Blast International, which has also locations in Louisville, Birmingham, Alabama and York, Pennsylvania.

LILY

• Aisin Automotive Castings, Inc. has begun construction on its expansion project, which will include a 150,000-square-foot building that will house machinery to make transmission cases for Toyota. The company anticipates hiring 120-130 workers by the time the building is ready for mass production by July 2001. Starting pay for most jobs will run approximately $7.40 per hour.

LOUISVILLE

• The University of Louisville has approved a new residence hall construction program that will add 2,200 beds and eventually the proportion of on-campus students from nine to 20 percent. The first phase of the project will be a 483-bed apartment complex adjacent to campus, slated for completion in August 2000. Luckett & Farley Architects of Louisville will design the project and oversee site work and construction.

• The Kentucky State Fair Board is working through development proposals for the former University of Louisville football practice field, located at Gate 4 of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. The site became available when UofL relocated its practice facility to land adjacent to the new Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The proposals are expected to include plans for an on-site hotel, according to Board President Harold Workman.

• Cordish Co. of Baltimore, one of the country’s top urban retail developers, is reportedly considering buying or investing in the Louisville Galleria. While declining to provide details, the developer and Louisville Mayor David Armstrong have both said that Cordish is interested in the facility, which is adjacent to the recently expanded Commonwealth Convention Center. The Galleria opened 16 years ago, in part to revitalize the struggling RiverCity Mall, but has reported losses for the past two years. Retailers and restaurateurs say business is highly cyclical, varying with local conventions.

• M & J Wilkow Ltd., a Chicago development company, has purchased the 38-story National City Tower from JMB Trust III, a Chicago pension fund manager. Terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed. The tower includes 725,000 square feet of leasable space and was built in 1972 by a partnership consisting of John W. Galbreath, Equitable Life Assurance Co. and First National Bank of Louisville (which was later acquired by National City Bank of Cleveland). JMB purchased the tower in 1984 for $53 million.

• Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company has announced it is selling its 26-story signature headquarters building. Although terms have not been made public, local analysts believe it could bring around $38 million.

PIKEVILLE

• The board overseeing Pikeville’s new civic center has voted in favor of locating the new $12.5 million center on 4.2 acres in downtown Pikeville at the corner of Main Street and Huffman Avenue. The decision was based on a site evaluation report assembled by Presnell Associates Inc., a Louisville firm hired to handle the center’s design.