Two major local projects advance

A couple of major projects that the Louisville area has been watching for years appear to be inching forward — and we chat about them on the latest episode of the Access Louisville podcast.The two projects are the One Park development effort in Louisville and the redevelopment effort around the former Colgate-Palmolive Co. plant in Clarksville, Indiana. One Park is a massive mixed-use high-rise development from Jefferson Development Group planned near the intersection of Lexington Road and Grinstead Drive. Final state approval for tax increment financing, or TIF, for that project is “a couple weeks away,” the One Park team told Louisville Business First and WDRB News in a joint report. Nothing has really happened with the project since Kentucky’s incentives board gave the first of two approvals needed to provide state support for the estimated $554 million development in early 2024.The news on Colgate is a new development team with Louisville-based Weyland Ventures at the helm. Weyland Ventures says it has plans for the historic former toothpaste factory, which closed in 2007. It's been used by businesses since but town officials have long wanted to see the riverfront property developed for something greater. Weyland joins the effort as an eminent domain case — brought by the town of Clarksville to acquire the former plant — has been dismissed in the wake of a settlement.“Their expertise in working collaboratively with communities to create vibrant and economically sustainable districts anchored by historic properties will result in a project of which we will all be proud," a statement from the town reads.We also chat about the latest with a new middle school being developed at the former Passport Health Plan site at 18th and Broadway, a new housing development in West Louisville and a new science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) building in the works from Simmons College. To wrap up the show, we talk about a new Five Iron Golf simulator coming to Downtown Louisville and the latest with a plan to build a new whitewater attraction at Origin Park in Clarksville. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (which are linked above.) You can also listen in the player above.