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REAL ESTATE -
September 1999 LEXINGTON
Ad Agency’s Move Gives Triangle Center a
New Lease on Life
 Moving
into new office space is always an exciting time for a company, but when Meridian
Communications recently moved into its new space in Lexington’s downtown Triangle
Center, it was an event over which the entire city rejoiced.
When it opened in 1986, Festival Market -- as it was then
known -- quickly became a downtown landmark and was the darling of the city, beckoning
locals and tourists alike to its shops and restaurants set in a lively atmosphere. After
the initial newness wore off, however, the complex began to have trouble keeping its
tenants. Within four short years, occupancy had dropped to just over 50 percent and by
1994, the complex was sold at a court-ordered auction for only $600,000. Since then, the
vast space has been largely empty, with only a few tenants occupying the first floor.
Meridian, the city’s largest
advertising/marketing/public relations firm, bought the third floor of the building last
year and has spent the last 12 months overseeing the design and renovation of the
30,000-square-foot space. Cravens and Associates of Lexington and The Austin Collaborative
in Austin, Texas worked together to achieve the design, with RCI, Inc. serving as the
general contractor on the project.
"It’s everything I think of when I envision what
an innovative advertising agency’s office space should look like," said Mary
Ellen Slone, founder and CEO of Meridian.
And the party’s not over. Hilliard Lyons has committed
to taking most of the Center’s second floor, with GBBN Architects and PNC Advisors
soon moving in to occupy most of the remaining vacant space.
BOWLING GREEN
Best Buy Selects Bowling Green to Roll Out Small
Store Concept
After capturing a large percentage of market share with its
superstores, Best Buy is now joining retailers such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot in rolling
out a new, small-store concept and has chosen Bowling Green as one of its first two
locations. In establishing the new concept, Best Buy is specifically targeting markets
with a population of less than 200,000. The smaller stores, which will average around
30,000 square feet, will carry the same merchandise found in its larger stores, simply in
smaller quantities. (In contrast, Wal-Mart and Home Depot’s small-store concepts will
carry different merchandise.) While the Bowling Green store is a free-standing building,
Best Buy officials say they are not locking themselves into building that way and will
consider locations in strip centers and malls as well.
RICHMOND
Jameson Inns Selects Madison County for its First
Kentucky Hotel
 Jameson
Inns, Inc. has purchased two acres of land near at the intersection of Amberly Way and
Colby Taylor Drive near I-75 in Richmond with plans to develop its first Kentucky hotel.
The Atlanta-based company, which recently merged with Signature Inns, currently operates
85 Jameson Inns and 25 Signature Inns throughout the Southeast and Midwest.
Company officials noted that Richmond was selected based on
its status as the fastest-growing city in the state (according to a recent U.S. Census
Bureau report) and the development of a new industrial park nearby that is expected to
create thousands of jobs.
Jameson Inns, which feature a signature colonial-style
exterior design, has become one of the fastest growing hotel chains in the country,
growing from one property with 40 rooms in 1988 to more than 7,000 rooms following the
merger with Indianapolis-based Signature. Jameson plans to open an additional 1,000 rooms
this year.
CENTRAL KENTUCKY
Mall Developer to Put Lexington, Louisville Properties
on the Market
Lexington’s Fayette Mall and the Jefferson Mall in
Louisville are included in the assets being sold by The Richard E. Jacobs Group, a
development company that ranks as the country’s largest privately-held shopping
center owner and the fifth largest shopping center owner overall in the U.S.
Richard E. Jacobs, who co-founded the company in 1955 with
his late brother, David, said that "given the need for sound estate planning...I have
reached the conclusion that the best way to maximize the value of our holdings is to
market the portfolio as the economics and timing make sense."
The company has secured The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. to
handle the search for potential buyers for the company’s 38 shopping malls, 19
hotels, six office buildings and two office parks, which total 45 million square feet of
commercial real estate.
Real Estate Briefs
BENTON
- Silk Tree Factory, a Paducah-based company that specializes
in silk plants and home decor items, has announced that it will build a new manufacturing
and distribution facility on 35-plus acres in the Benton Industrial Park. The
320,000-square-foot building is slated to be completed in two phases, each consisting of
160,000-175,000 square feet. Officials with the company, which plans to soon change its
name to Trees and Trends, expect the facility to employ approximately 80 people when the
first phase is finished, with that number climbing to 250-300 when the complex is
completed within the next couple of years. The company currently operates 18 stores in
eight states (primarily in the Southeast) and plans to have four more stores open in 1999.
EDDYVILLE
- The West Kentucky Outlet Mall and its developers, Bob and
Ben Jent, are the subject of a $9.1 million foreclosure lawsuit filed by a California
bank. The mall, which opened in 1988, has seen a steady decline in tenants over the past
several years and more than a third of the mall’s 50 spaces are now sitting vacant.
HANCOCK COUNTY
- The owners of a Hancock County trucking company are in the
final stages of developing a riverport, warehouse facility and a rail transfer system
expansion along the Ohio River that, when completed, will provide a fully-integrated
transportation system for customers. Willie and Randy Stroup, owners of First Class
Services Inc. trucking company, expect to have the 200,000-square-foot Riverside
Warehouses Inc. ready for operation this month and the 17-acre Southern Shore Terminal
Inc. riverport facility to open soon after. The riverport, which has already received
permits to load and unload barges near Hawesville, will be equipped to handle a wide range
of commodities such as wood chips, steel, aluminum and plastic pellets. The expanded rail
facility, which is already operational, can now handle bulk commodities of both dry and
liquid shipments.
HEBRON
- Bigwords.com, a
company that sells new and used college textbooks over the Internet, has opened a
distribution center in Hebron, occupying the 80,000-square-foot facility once used by
Caterpillar Logistics. San Francisco-based Bigwords, which was founded last year, serves
2,500 college campuses across the country. Like other companies that have established
distribution centers in the area, Bigwords’ officials say they were attracted to the
area’s central location -- it’s within a six-hour drive of 90 percent of the
company’s publishing and distribution sources -- and accessibility to interstate
highways.
LOUISVILLE
- Louisville International Airport is considering two
proposals from companies looking to build an on-site hotel that would have a minimum of
250 rooms. John W. Hammons Co. of Branson, Missouri and Columbia Sussex Corp. of Lexington
have submitted plans for the hotel, which would be build on 5.5 acres just east of the
airport’s main terminal. The committee plans to review the proposals and then forward
its recommendation to the airport authority.
LEXINGTON
- Foodtown Supermarkets of Kentucky, Inc., the parent
corporation of Slone’s Signature Markets and BigValue Discount Food Stores, has
closed its Clays Mill Slone’s store, one of four Signature Markets the company
operates in Lexington. Company officials say sales have declined over the past year with
increased competition from new Kroger and Wal-Mart supermarkets and the possibilities for
the coming year were looking bleak as well, with a Meijer store under construction nearby.
The 22,000-square-foot space being vacated by Slone’s has been leased to Another
Man’s Treasure, a home furnishings store that will open there on Oct. 1.
- Thomas & King Inc., which owns more than 60
Applebee’s restaurants in seven states, has signed an agreement with Atlanta-based
Huddle House Inc. to build 70 free-standing units in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana over the
next 10 years. While Huddle House already has several Kentucky locations, the deal will
give the company its first footing in Indiana and Ohio. Most of the company’s 335
restaurants are located in the Southeast.
McCRACKEN COUNTY
- McCracken County has adopted its first building code
ordinance for single-family homes. Though the ordinance will result in increased permit
fees for builders, the Home Builders Association of Western Kentucky and the Kentucky
Association of Realtors have both issued statements of support for the ordinance, which
they say will provide protection for the public and improve the quality of construction in
the future. The permit fees will result in an additional $240-450, depending on the square
footage of the house.
PARIS
- Prime Finish, LLC has purchased a 36,000-square-foot
building in the new Paris Industrial Park to house the British firm’s first U.S.
manufacturing plant. Prime Finish specializes in providing manufacturers of plastic and
metal products with decorative finishes to enhance the appearance and value of the end
product. The company anticipates initially hiring approximately 30 people, a figure that
is expected to grow to nearly 100 within the next several years.
PRINCETON
- Sears, Roebuck and Co. hopes to open a "dealer
store" in Princeton, saying the western Kentucky town has the attributes it seeks in
new locations. Sears’ dealer store concept involves an individual dealer being
responsible for start-up and operating expenses, such as building or leasing a facility
and equipping it with stores fixtures, hiring, payroll and insurance; Sears provides the
inventory and shoulders advertising costs.
SILVER GROVE
- LaFarge Gypsum has begun construction on its new $90 million
gypsum wallboard manufacturing plant in Northern Kentucky. The project will create 200
jobs during construction and more than 100 operational and managerial positions after
completion. The plant is scheduled to open in the spring and will be the largest
single-line production facility in the nation.
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