Perhaps the Beechmont Neighborhood could be part of the national study below as reported by Louisville Business First. “The study aims to identify overlooked areas where investment could prompt new businesses to open and draw new residents to the area. A major focus is on building reuse and sustainability.” * I think the study would benefit from Beechmont being on the south-side of the Waterson Expressway and with Beechmont being an established residential & commercial neighborhood that has been around for more than a hundred years. * Marianne P. Zickuhr, Executive Director Preservation Louisville is all about the importance of neighborhoods. LOUISVILLE TO BE TESTING GROUND FOR NATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STUDY Friday, November 7, 2014 Louisville Business First The National Trust for Historic Preservation has a hypothesis, and it wants to test it in Louisville. The national organization has been studying cities in the United States, including Baltimore, Seattle and Washington, D.C., to find the best places for developers, building preservation leaders and city to invest money. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded organization based in Washington, D.C., that works to save historic places in the United States. During its research, National Trust workers break cities into neighborhoods and look at different variables, including sustainability, walk-ability, number of small businesses, number of small businesses owned by minorities and women, and anonymous cell-phone usage data. Once the variables are collected, they crunch the numbers and assign an opportunity score to each neighborhood, said Margaret ONeal, senior manager of sustainable preservation with the trust. The study aims to identify overlooked areas where investment could prompt new businesses to open and draw new residents to the area. A major focus is on building reuse and sustainability, ONeal said. We want to help people understand the value of these (older, historic) buildings and how they contribute to the livelihood and fabric of the community, she said. The organization wants to take that work a step further in Louisville and see whether its formula works by gauging the local impact of investment in areas that the National Trust has identified. The research would take an estimated three years, and the project budget is $1 million. The Owsley Brown II Family Foundation will provide a majority of the funds. We really believe Louisville can be a proving ground for the work that weve done, ONeal said. Not only is Louisville well-placed to show how our work can have an impact … but we are also really thinking this will be a test case for our work nationally. Louisville has areas with historic buildings that once were economic corridors for the city but now are struggling, she said. It also has a large amount of data available to the public. People are moving back downtown. The economy is starting to grow a little bit in Louisville, from what I understand, ONeal said. All of these elements are contributing to a positive wave. The National Trust will partner with Preservation Louisville Inc., a nonprofit historic preservation organization, to do the research. I am thrilled that Louisville got chosen. I would like to think that is because we have a great historical fabric here, said Marianne Zickuhr, executive director of Preservation Louisville. Re-purposed historic buildings often have a unique character that attracts people. Gretchen Milliken, deputy director of advanced planning for Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, offered the example of Garage Bar, a car-repair-shop-turned-restaurant at 700 E. Market St. The fact that it was re-purposed gives it this funky kind of cool character, Milliken said. You might not have done a design like that if you started from scratch. Milliken said the city hopes to serve as a partner with the National Trust and help aid its research, which could be used later to shape economic development discussions. Its super exciting, and we are very supportive of it, she said. The National Trust will kick off its study in Louisville the week of Nov. 17. Workers will start developing relationships with local groups, ONeal said, and begin the first prong of its research by getting a baseline of what the city looks like today. Marianne P. Zickuhr, Executive Director Preservation Louisville. Phone: (502) 540-5146 Email: [email protected] Website for Preservation Louisville: preservationlouisville.org
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 20:25:19 +0000
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