[Lexington] Another high density district

[Ian604]

Downtown Lexington's core is a linear strip of land four blocks wide and about ten blocks long. It's boxed in by historic neighborhoods where development is very challenging as it has to fit the character of the neighborhood along with height restrictions.

It's only a matter of time before the downtown core is "built out". When that happens, where should high density development go?

Should Lexington consider something like a "Midtown" district? Where should it be?

I would think S. Broadway (between Bolivar and Waller) or Nicholasville Road (past Central Baptist and on to Regency or Zandale) would be great locations for some midrise 5 to 15 story structures. Traffic could be checked if Lexington seriously invests in transit and places a transit center in the "Midtown" area.

What does everyone else think?

[jjb1983]

It seems to me that if it were to happen it would go where development is the hottest and the land can be found. That said, I'd say along the Newtown Pike Extension around the S. Broadway area. Lots of warehouses that would be easily deconstructed and replaced. However, I don't know if you might ever see anything over 5 stories though. Most of it is probably going to look like CenterCourt or Shelbourne. And given time, you might see the development hop over US 60. Lots of dilapidated structures along Manchester Street. That area could use some reinvestment. And if the city would kick that train yard out, there would be a huge swath of land available for development.

[seicer]

You are already seeing dense redevelopment occur south of downtown in the "College Town" district. This is one of the goals outlined in the "College Town" guidelines, to replace the non-historic tobacco warehouses with varied mix-use structures.

Shelbourne Plaza, CenterCourt and a few others are a few starter projects. The block across from Shelbourne was just sold, and the property across from CenterCourt was just advertised as the future home of a parking garage.

You don't need huge structures to have a successful city. Lexington is definitely looking up and the Newtown Pike extension to Bolivar and Scott will only hasten this work!