A plan to tear down Liberty Hall in Downtown Louisville, also known as the Oddfellows Building, in order to build a new pickleball facility is attracting the ire of preservationists.

We talk about the plans and the response on this week's Access Louisville podcast. LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to share details of a press conference he attended on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

Steve Wiser, of the Louisville Historical League, said during the press conference that he was shocked by the plan for pickleball courts, calling it 'a joke."

Louisville Business First broke the news recently that the Omni Louisville Hotel is planning to build a $12 million pickleball-focused entertainment venue on the property, according to a permit filed with Louisville Metro Planning and Design. The 14,000-square-foot venue would feature four indoor pickleball courts, four outdoor pickleball courts, an indoor restaurant and bar, outdoor yard-game areas and flexible event and gathering spaces, according to the filing.

The Oddfellows building is one of two downtown structures we chat about on the show.

Reporter Olivia Estright is also on the show to talk about the recent acquisition of the 800 Tower apartments. The residential building, at 800 S. Fourth St., was purchased by FNMA for just over $20 million, according to a deed filed in June, following foreclosure proceedings against the previous owners.

We also chat about listening sessions for the proposed revamp of the Belvedere in Downtown Louisville; and a site in Downtown Jeffersonville, Indiana where the mayor wants a grocery store to be built. We also discuss a new tavern that's heading into space in New Albany.

And at the very end of the show, I mention a report that Isaacs & Isaacs has a new CEO. That gets us talking about our favorite TV lawyer commercials.

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.

A building in the heart of Downtown Louisville could be up for a revamp, which we chat about on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to share his latest reporting on the Kentucky Home Life Building at 239 S. 5th Street.

He notes that the Mississippi-based Thrash Group — plus an unnamed local partner — are planning to convert the building into a mixed-use development with residential units, a hotel and first floor retail, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the project. There are some legal hurdles to clear first, however.

The Thrash Group has submitted an application to Mayor Craig Greenberg’s Downtown Louisville Building Conversion Program to help fund the project, Louisville Metro Government Press Secretary Kevin Trager confirmed. The project is one of four finalists still being considered for funds.

Though ornate, the building has not been with out its difficulties.

Earlier this year, police converged on the vacant 20-story structure, which is across the street from Louisville Metro Hall, after intruders allegedly cut a gas line while trying to steal copper wire, as WDRB News reported. WDRB is Business First's newsgathering partner. Officials told WDRB that the inside of the building is covered with trash, debris, glass, scraps of copper and various discarded tools strewn everywhere.

That's just the top of the show.

We also discuss a building in the Highlands that formerly housed Bakersfield and Hopcat, which Stinnett reported is on the market. That gets us into a talk about restaurant turnover in the Highlands.

Additionally, Reporter Olivia Estright is on the show to talk about a potential new Aldi location in Southern Indiana and the potential sale of a golf course in New Albany. We also chat about the latest with the Monon South Trail, a vote to unionize at the BlueOval plant in Glendale, Kentucky, a looming shutdown of I-65 next year for road work and the news that VSimple is moving to Louisville.

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.

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.