Access Louisville

We catch up with a major Louisville nonprofit on this week's Access Louisville podcast.Tamera Reif, senior director of Housing Services at Volunteers of America Mid-States, is on this week's show to talk about a number of ongoing projects with the organizaiton. She spends her days in the world of residential homeless and housing work — a key issue affecting Louisville in recent years. She talks about how she is inspired to do the work.Volunteers of America Mid-States (VOA) broke ground on its new headquarters, the $58 million Community Care Campus, in September. Reif tells us on the show that one of the most exciting parts of that project is a new family emergency shelter, which will more than double the available space for families experiencing homelessness. The campus also includes transitional housing for 18 to 24 year old youths and respite care for homeless people leaving the hospital. The space will also include meeting rooms and partner spaces, she explains. And she speaks with LBF Editor-in-

We've got a classic restaurant news update on this week's Access Louisville podcast.Reporter Michael L. Jones is on the show to tell us about Byrdie's. James Beard-nominated Chef Jenner Tomaska and his wife and business partner Katrina Bravo opened Byrdie’s, a new French-inspired bistro, in Louisville’s NuLu neighborhood on Thursday, Dec. 12.Byrdie's is on the first floor of the Hotel Genevieve, located at 7300 E. Market St., which itself was just recognized by the Michelin Guide for its French-inspired architecture. The nearly 3,000-square-foot restaurant replaces Rosette’s, an all-day restaurant that closed in August.We also chat about a new French bistro and boutique that's scheduled to open in the Clifton neighborhood in the spring. Ça et Là, which means “Here and There” in French, will be located at 1832 Frankfort Ave., near the American Printing House for the Blind. The new business will blend café culture, artisan imports, and affordable Southern French street foods, petits pla

How important is a proposed $250M development around Louisville Slugger Field? We chat about that on this week's Access Louisville podcast.Reporter Joel Stinnett initially reported on this project, on Dec. 2. and is on this week's show to share a few insights and details about it.The Louisville Sports Entertainment District would be a 500,000-square-foot mix of housing, retail, hospitality and entertainment atop of what now is a city-owned parking lot east of the baseball stadium. The more than $250 million public-private partnership would include Louisville Bats owner Diamond Baseball Holdings, which bought the club last year, and Houston-based real estate firm Machete Group. The city is working with the two groups on a development agreement.Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the proposed development is in the “very early stages” so it is not clear how much of the $250 million investment would be provided by the city. However, the project would require incentives, he said, including the possible

After some struggles years ago, Louisville-based Rainbow Blossom has a great last few years. Rainbow Blossom, an independent chain of natural food markets that specializes in natural grocery, body care and health and wellness products, just opened a new East End location a few months ago. It also made LBF's Fast 50 list of growing companies in Louisville in this year, with revenue rising 18% over the last three years to $13.04 million in 2023. Second generation owner Summer Auerbach joins us on the Access Louisville podcast this week and explains things weren't always so rosy. She discusses the challenges and strategies of growing the family business, which was founded by her parents in 1977. Despite opening a sixth location and expanding its New Albany store recently, Auerbach emphasizes maintaining the company's small, accessible, and family-like culture. On the show she also highlights the importance of direct communication, team input,and creating written guidelines for consistency. Auerbac

We go over all the latest restaurant news on this week's Access Louisville podcast. LBF Reporter Michael L. Jones is on the show to tell us about several interesting developments. Notably, Jones shares the story of Frank Faris, who formerly owned Genny's Diner and today is behind the Frickled Pickle Express food truck. Jones, who has reported on the restaurant scene in Louisville for many years, said he's always wanted to speak with Farris. He got to do so for a recent feature story, which you can read here.Frickled Pickle Express has been operating for a couple of years but Jones said he was surprised about how much attention his story has gotten on social media, as many people seem to be curious about what Faris has been up to. Next, Jones tells us about a new ice cream shop, Retta's Scoop. The shop will open its first physical location at 2011 Frankfort Ave. in early 2025, but it's ice cream is already available at some retail and restaurant locations. Retta’s Scoop offers unique f

This week on the Access Louisville podcast, we chat about the Givaudan Sense Colour explosion that shook the city on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Two people were killed in the explosion, which took place at 901 Payne Street. On the show we talked about the atmosphere in the newsroom the day it happened and some of the fallout, including damage to surrounding homes and business. And we discuss past violations and incidents at the business. Finally, we wrap up by talking about where things go from here, including the possibility of rebuilding.You can read more of our coverage of the explosion at the links below: 2 dead in Givaudan plant explosionBody pulled from Givaudan plant rubble hours after explosionLouisville Givaudan Sense Colour facility was cited twice for violations last yearClifton businesses recover following Givaudan Sense Colour explosionLater in the show, we switch gears to chat about the potential sale of Mid City Mall in the Highlands. A redevelopment of that site has a lot of potential for change in the

A couple recent real estate deals allow plans for a proposed 27-story tower to move forward. And we chat about those transactions on this week's Access Louisville podcast. LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to talk about New York City-based Zyyo's latest moves toward building the facility, as it has closed deals to purchase 140, 138 and 136 W. Market Sts., according to deeds filed with the Jefferson County Clerk’s office. The transactions totaled more than $4 million.As Business First first reported in July, the properties are where Zyyo, in partnership with Hawley, Minnesota-based TruVine Companies, is planning to build the tower. It's known as One Forty West, and will feature a 300-room hotel at the corner of 2nd and Market streets.“Next steps for the development include demolition, site prep and design. We are managing negotiations with a number of brands, all of which are super excited with our program and vision. Construction estimation is an ongoing process through each of t

Louisville is getting a new international grocery store — which got us talking about the market's needs on this week's Access Louisville podcast.LBF Reporter Joel Stinnett joins the show this week to tell us about Saraga International Grocery, which has signed a lease and will open its first area store at 200 N. Hurstbourne Parkway inside The Forum Center. This was formerly the site of Lucky's Market, which closed amid a company bankruptcy in 2020. This gets us talking about what we'd like to see in the grocery market in Louisville — a second Trader Joe's and more options inside the Watterson Expressway are on our wishlist. In other grocery news, Stinnett also tells us about the latest with Hy-Vee. In spite of delays, the Des Moines, Iowa-based grocery retailer says it is still planning to open a location in Kentucky. It initially announced plans to build in the Fern Creek area in 2021 but it has yet to happen.Bourbon and restaurant newsLater in the show, we discuss some bourbon indus

After some struggles years ago, Louisville-based Rainbow Blossom has a great last few years. Rainbow Blossom, an independent chain of natural food markets that specializes in natural grocery, body care and health and wellness products, just opened a new East End location a few months ago. It also made LBF's Fast 50 list of growing companies in Louisville in this year, with revenue rising 18% over the last three years to $13.04 million in 2023. Second generation owner Summer Auerbach joins us on the Access Louisville podcast this week and explains things weren't always so rosy. She discusses the challenges and strategies of growing the family business, which was founded by her parents in 1977. Despite opening a sixth location and expanding its New Albany store recently, Auerbach emphasizes maintaining the company's small, accessible, and family-like culture. On the show she also highlights the importance of direct communication, team input,and creating written guidelines for consistency. Auerbac

Like many communities, Louisville has a shortage of teachers. We talk about efforts to address it on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Rowan Claypool, founder and CEO of Teach Kentucky, is on the show to talk about his organization's work. Founded in 2003, Teach Kentucky aims to help college graduates launch their teaching careers in Louisville’s public schools. The organization has grown from bringing two teacher candidates in its first year to annually bringing a new 40+ person cohort of aspiring teachers from across the nation to the city, according to its website.On the show Claypool explains that they started 24 years ago when the idea of a teacher shortage was just a looming threat. Today it's actually severe and taking place all over the country. "What we discovered in building the program is there's always a shortage of good teachers at all times, forever," he said. With that, Jefferson County Public Schools needs the organization to bring people  from outside the co

We talk campaign finance trends on this week's Access Louisville podcast. A few weeks ago, LBF Reporter Piper Hansen began digging into donation trends among workers at some of Louisville's biggest employers. She found that most of those donations (for the second quarter of 2024) went to Democratic presidential nominee and sitting Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump.   Here's a look at trends from the top three employers, according to info from OpenSecrets.org, a nonprofit campaign finance tracking website.United Parcel Service Inc. employees — $226,529 donated in total; Harris contributions: $139,746; Trump contributions: $86,783Ford Motor Co. — $119,986; Harris contributions: $76,071; Trump contributions: $43,915Kroger Co. — $85,917; Harris contributions: $46,696; Trump contributions: $39,221Hansen talks about these figures on this week's Access Louisville podcast and you can read more about what she found here. Campaign contribution data just released for the

We've got a little bit of everything on this week's Access Louisville podcast.To start off the show, we chat about what Louisville and Kentucky had offered the Sundance Film Festival. As we've reported multiple times in the last year, Louisville had been in consideration for the legendary film festival but that is no longer the case. That said, LBF Reporter Michael L. Jones did recently get his hands on what had been offered by the city and state to bring Sundance here: An incentive package valued at $73M.After that, we get into some development and restaurant news. We chat about an upcoming move by High Horse, a popular Butchertown bar, that's going to Louisville's NuLu neighborhood following a dispute with its landlord.Further, we discuss a new pedway that's planned between two NuLu buildings and a new bourbon attraction, called Whiskey Thief, that's moving into that neighborhood. LBF got a sneak peak at Whiskey Theif recently.Late in the show, Jones tells us about an owne

We didn't get the part, but we gotta keep auditioning.Louisville was recently snubbed on a bid to land the Sundance Film Festival. As we reported a few weeks ago, the legendary film festival had Louisville on a short list for possible relocation. Then it narrowed its list even further and the Derby City is now out of the running. But that doesn't mean our film ambitions have dried up entirely. Soozie Eastman, founder and president of 502 Film, joins the Access Louisville podcast this week to talk about where the city goes from here in terms of its developing film industry. Of particular interest to us is the reuse of shuttered Louisville Gardens in Downtown Louisville, which has been proposed as a site for a sound stage that could bolster the business.That effort was considered during the Sundance bid and is continuing forward and eyeing completion in late 2026, she said — though she's more of a supporter of the project, not an active developer on it."Sound stages are really, really specia

We catch up with the latest restaurant news on this week's Access Louisville podcast.Reporter Michael L. Jones leads the podcast with a story about Renshoku Ramen, an Old Louisville restaurant that has faced a few struggles of late, including being hit by a car (known as being MagBarred) more than two months ago. The crashed killed the driver and caused a fire that spread to the building at Second and Oak streets. Co-owner Nick Robey told Jones in a recent story about how the ramen shop reopened in late August, but the crash is still impacting his business.That's just one of the stories on this week's show. We also talk about a favorite New Albany doughnut shop, Honey Créme, which recently hit the auction block. The online reserve auction launched last Monday with an opening bid of $750,000. We also chat about the sale of Kyros Brewing in Louisville's Portland neighborhood; an expansion for Back Deck BBQ into the Butchertown neighborhood, the closure of Bakersfield in the Highlands and a n

Every once in a while, you have to look back at your career and your place in the community and not only ponder where you've been but look ahead at what's coming next. That's what we did on Monday, Sept. 9 as we sat down with our newest inductees in LBF's Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame:Sandra Frazier, founder, Tandem Public RelationsJimmy Kirchdorfer, chairman and CEO, ISCO Industries Inc, and an owner of Valhalla Golf ClubWilliam Summers, chief community development officer, Republic BankThe three joined us on the most recent episode of the Access Louisville podcast, which was recorded live in front of an audience for a special event at Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana. We covered myriad topics on the show — from Louisville's hits and misses to honing in on specific moments of the three honorees careers.For an example of the latter, Kirchdorfer spoke about taking his family's business from a small irrigation company that primarily served clients in Kentucky to one that serves peop

Louisville has a big decision to make about what kind of public transportation system it wants. Transit Authority of River City, better known as TARC, is facing a "fiscal cliff" as a result of several factors, including covid-era stimulus funding running out. We talked about the issues with TARC executive director Ozzy Gibson on a bonus episode of the Access Louisville podcast this week. Gibson and others want to hear from the community about what they want out of the agency. And it's collecting input via an online survey, which you can take part in here. The deadline for the survey is Sept. 20.Lots of people around town, and on social media, have voiced support for a robust transit system, complete with rail and bus offerings. But, as Smith explains on the show, it's most certainly a financial issue. "Everybody tells me, you need to look at what Cincinnati's doing, Indy. They tell me to look at Richmond [Virginia] — all three of those raised taxes to get the good service they ha

Is Louisville's lack of population growth a cause for concern? We talk about that on this week's Access Louisville podcast.LBF Reporter Piper Hansen recently finished a story examining population trends in Louisville. Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau released in June show Jefferson County’s population decreased by 1.4%, nearly 11,000 people, between April 2020 and July 2023. Meanwhile, the Louisville MSA gained only 2,602 people (0.2%) while the Nashville MSA gained 80,929 people (4%); the Cincinnati MSA gained 19,5050 (0.9%) and the Indianapolis MSA gained 45,723 (2.2%).Sure, there are people who like Louisville the size that it is and they don't want to see the population explode like it did in Nashville. That comes with its own set of problems. But we're not exactly on that road right now — or even going in the direction of that road.“We’re not going to be the next Nashville overnight, everybody can relax,”  Christine Tarquinio, GLI’s vice president of talent, workforce and brand s

Join us for Access Louisville's next live recording: Sept. 9 at JA BizTown, sponsored by Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana. Tickets and details here.We switch into sports talk radio mode on this week's Access Louisville podcast with three big local sports business stories.Stephen P. Schmidt, who covers sports business at Business First, tells us about Bellarmine University moving its men's basketball program back to Knights Hall in the Highlands. For the last few years the program has been playing at Freedom Hall. Knights Hall is on campus and it provides a much more intimate setting for watching games. But it does make us wonder what's next for Freedom Hall now without that regular tenant. Fortunately, it's on the Kentucky State Fairgrounds, where a big renovation project is underway.Next, we talk about the rise of volleyball and how Louisville fits in. The KFC Yum Center is hosting the University of Louisville's women's volleyball team for several dates in the next few mon

Join us for Access Louisville's next live recording: Sept. 9 at JA BizTown, sponsored by Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana. Tickets and details here.The former the Jeffersonville Boat and Machine Co. shipyard — Jeffboat, as it's known — is no doubt one of the area's biggest redevelopment project.The former shipyard, closed to downtown Jeffersonville (and just across the Ohio River from Downtown Louisville) closed in 2018 due to economic struggle in the industry. Now there's a push to have it redeveloped as mixed use commercial, residential and green space. We talk with Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore about that project on this week's Access Louisville podcast. He sees it as a major chance for his city to capitalize on quality of life and million-dollar views of the city. Taking it on is Thrive Cos., a real estate development company based in Columbus, Ohio, as Louisville Business First recently reported.We also talk about development at River Ridge, including landing Facebook parent M

We check in on some retail news on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Topping our show is a story from Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt on Swags, a popular retailer for runners, changing hands. Schmidt talked to the founder of the store about how this handoff came together. In other retail news, Kroger is making some headlines lately both with a new store on Louisville's East End and plans for a big renovation on Louisville's West End. In restaurant news we make note of a bankruptcy filing from World of Beer, which is a Tampa-based company that has a Louisville location. And we chat about a new restaurant going into the Speed Art Museum. Schmidt also talks about his recent interview with well-known bourbon industry luminary Fred Minnick, who was named Louisville Business First's Volunteer of the Year thanks to his notable philanthropic work. The Volunteer of the Year honor came out as part of our Partners in Philanthropy program.Lastly, we wrapped up the show with a bit of soccer talk on th