Bowling Green

[stewey]

Noticed there is never any posts about Bowling Green on here (except for the recent post regarding the transpark). It is well on it's way in becoming Kentucky's third largest city (if not already) with a current population of over 52,000 (city limits) and a contiguous urbanized population of over 63,000 and growing. I attended WKU there and lived there for 11 years. I always thought it was a nice college town with enough things to do for a city it's size. Outside of Louisville it has the largest percentage of a foreign population in the state of Kentucky- that combined with a student population of over 18,000 I always thought added much to the city's character. Just curious as to what other people thought about this city.

[Rural King]

Welcome to the forum! Great to have a forumer from Bowling Green!

When I think of Bowling Green I think of one of most prominent cities in the state, and one that outside of the "Triangle" seems to be the most up and coming. The city possesses a great university in WKU, a good transportation infrastructure, a solid industrial base (from what I hear), strong political pull (Speaker Jody Richards), and a key location on 65 in relation to the economic growth coming out of Middle Tennessee (Nashville). With all those positives it seems like the city is well positioned for the future.

I personally dont know alot about the city first hand, so I may be somewhat off in those impressions.

What do you think Stewey? Looking forward to learning more about the city and region from you.

[rnc]

There was a big plan in the works to re-develop and rejuvinate a corridor from the square to Barren River. I'm not sure what the progress of that has been, I think they have purchased some blighted properties and torn them down but I'm not sure what else has been done. I did a quick google search and didn't really come up with much.

There has been a lot of work on WKUs campus. They built a big parking structure between Diddle and the football stadium. They spruced up the old parking structure next to Diddle as well. The Downing Center has gotten a facelift too, it looks great. The football stadium is going to be renovated/expanded for the move to D1. I'm not sure of the timeline for that. It has always been a pretty campus, but they seem to be trying to fix up some of the 60s/70s architectural blunders.

[stewey]

Thanks for the greeting Rural King, been a long time lurker, but this was my first time posting. I've been living in Chattanooga for the past 3 years so BG is no longer my current residence, but I'm planning on moving back to KY soon, either back to BG or Lexington. As far as projects going on in the city, I know they are working on revitalizing the downtown area. The city has been working on developing the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center (SKYPAC), I believe just north of Fountain Square Park. Talks of building a small baseball stadium for a minor league team have been stiring for a couple of years now, tentatively located near the SKYPAC location. Diddle Arena has been completely renovated (a few years ago) and they are getting ready to add about 5,000 seats to L.T. Smith Stadium bringing it's seating capacity to 22,000. I-66 (if ever developed) is supposed to come through, I believe, on the north side of town. If that were to happen that would be a major event for the city of BG. To be located on 2 interstates would be tremendously economically viable for the city. Plans for an outer loop around the city are also in the works, again only adding to improve the city's transportation infrastructure. I think that's the main difference between BG and Owensboro- BG is located on an interstate and Owensboro is not. City's grow today by means of transportation infrastructure, primarily interstate access, and in my opinion is the the main reason why BG has seen steady growth over the last several decades whereas Owensboro's population has been pretty much stagnant. I'm sure there are more projects going on in the city but these are the ones that I'm most familiar with.

[Justiceham]

Wow, I didn't know so much was going on in Bowling Green. Bowiling Green is positioning itself well as an economic engine in Kentucky. Two interstates and a loop later, we may see big things happen in this town.