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Lexington, Ky. | A tour of the city (Part 2)


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A tour of Lexington, Kentucky (Part 2)

Click here for Part 1 of the series.

The tour of Lexington, Kentucky continues with part two of the series, with a focus on South Hill and College Town.

South Hill is a neighborhood south of downtown Lexington, Kentucky. It consists of the South Hill Historic District, consisting of early residential homes.

I thought I had more photographs of South Hill, but I don't. I'll get more up for a later update!

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Demolished for a suburban Raising Cane's. This would have made an awesome Urban Outfitters location.

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The building in the foreground was a tobacco warehouse, although it was used for storage for years. It has since been demolished and will likely be redeveloped soon. The background now hosts the Lex.

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Reconstruction of S. Limestone from Euclid Avenue to Vine Street continues. The roadway will contain on-street parking, bike lanes, new sidewalks, buried utilities and rain gardens.

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Click through for more photographs.

South Hill Crossing is an upscale housing development on the site of the former United Tobacco Warehouse. The $10 million, 18-unit development consists of 2,000 to 3,000 sq. ft. residences with prices ranging from $250,000 to $500,000. Planning for South Hill Crossing dated back to 1998, when the South Hill neighborhood association successfully fought a plan for a 45-unit suburban-style apartment complex.

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Click through for more photographs.

The College Town locale of Lexington contains numerous locally-owned restaurants, bars, and boutiques. The loosely-defined region lies between South Hill and the University of Kentucky, and has become a hotbed of new development. This has been fueled in part by the resurgence in downtown living, along with university faculty seeking closer places to call home.

Several of the more notable developments within the College Town boundary include CenterCourt, CityCourts, South Hill Crossing, South Hill Station Lofts and University Lofts.

Shelburne Plaza, a mixed-use development first proposed in August 2005, was a mixed-use retail and residential project proposed by Guy J. Totino, Bloomington Group LLC and Polaris Real Estate Equities on the site of the Shelburne Tobacco Warehouse along South Broadway near Pine Street. The original plan failed to gain financial backing, and the project was released to Buckingham Companies, originally a minority equity partner, and the development re-originated as The Lex.

In April 2008, as Shelbourne Plaza failed to attract financial backing to develop the project, the property was released to the Buckingham Companies, originally a minority equity partner, who announced The Lex, a mixed-use development targeted to college students and young professionals.(6)(7)(8) Polaris remained a partner. By then, demolition of the former tobacco warehouses and freight depot were complete.

The Lex is the city's largest mixed-use apartment and retail development, and contains four four- and five-story buildings containing 266 apartments and townhouses on an eight-acre site. The development would also contain 27,000 square-feet of retail space, and contain a grocery store. Amenities would include an outdoor pool, plaza, basketball court, fitness center and a student lounge.

Buckingham is aiming for LEED certification with The Lex. Financing is entirely private and required no public monies. On June 2, 2008, groundbreaking was held for the Lex. Phase one is scheduled to be completed by August 2009, with phase two to be completed one year later.

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An interior courtyard for phase one.

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Phase two, with an embedded parking structure, is under construction.

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I came back a few months later. This was taken from what will be the new Newtown Pike extension, currently under construction.

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The scale conforms with the surrounding neighborhoods. The Lex is geared for students, and will contain first floor retail. It will be at the nexus of two busy thoroughfares when Newtown Pike is complete.

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Click through for more photographs.

View the remainder of this blog post, covering South Hill, College Town, Western Suburb, Chevy Chase and oodles of developments. Stay tuned for more updates on other districts and development projects.

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