A major development has occurred in our investigation of the possible move of Headquarters to West Main Street.  As part of our due diligence we have been looking at another building on West Main Street.  The Fulton Conway Building is directly across from the Louisville Slugger Museum, and 3-4 doors down from The Frazier International History Museum.  From the other direction, it is 2-3 doors down from The Louisville Science Center and the Kentucky Center of Art + Craft and within 2 blocks of the Muhammad Ali Center.  It is across the street from Museum Plaza, which has been described as one of the three most significant architectural projects currently under construction in the world.  Main Street in Louisville has been deliberately redesigned with an Entertainment Corridor on East Main flowing from the Ohio River towards 4th Street Live and a Cultural District stretching along West Main reaching from Actors Theatre, The Kentucky Center for the Arts and Humana Corporate Headquarters down to the block containing the Fulton Conway Building, anchored by the Frazier International History Museum.

Our independent construction consultant, Leo Post, has completed the initial inspection of the building as an alternative to the five story building at 8th and Main (Kentucky Opera Building) that we have been focused on.  The building is two stories plus full basement and offers significant advantages over the Kentucky Opera Building offered by Louis and Henry.  One primary advantage is that it is a strong brick shell with a cast iron façade (Louisville holds the second largest collection of cast iron buildings in the United States along the Main Street corridor).  This gives us the opportunity to strategically place all of our operations within one location as they need to interact with each other.  There is a natural place for a library.  Basement space for the archival and microfiche/microfilm area will eliminate any concern for structural limitations in these areas.  There are high ceilings for the museum and large open spaces to accommodate educational activities and gatherings.  There is on site parking as well as 7 flat lots and 2 garages of public parking within a 2 block radius.  In addition the Museum Plaza project will take a current flat lot and become a garage of 5 levels of parking within a 1 block radius of building.

The lower price of the building will free up significant funds for the proposed build out budget.  In fact, the combined cost of the building and estimated build out are such that we would be able to proceed immediately with the renovation with funds already secured.  This would allow us to focus on fundraising areas specific to our mission of outreach education and the proposed world class museum area.

The proposal was reviewed by the Foundation, which in turn approved the change in strategy.  We have terminated our option to purchase the Kentucky Opera Building and successfully negotiated a purchase price for this building significantly below the asking price.  Be assured that all options were reviewed by legal counsel and contained the language that the purchase would be completed only with the approval of the Trustees as required by our By-Laws.  This option, as well as all other viable options has been placed on the Trustee Agenda for action at the Spring Leadership Conference in February.

We will continue to post the link of advantages from our engineering consultant, Leo Post.  In addition, photos of the model of the building are also on the site.  Floor plans have been provided BUT they are by no means the final plans.  The intent of the plans shown is to prove that we can fit our operations within this facility.   How they will actually fit is currently underway with input from key volunteers as well as our professional staff.

Please inform our membership of this change.