With plenty happening above ground with the opening of YUM Center, Louisville residents can gain an interesting view of underground Louisville by visiting the Mega Caverns under the Louisville Zoo.  Just five miles from downtown, located in the Belnap-Poplar Level neighborhood in the Highlands of Louisville, the Mega Caverns will be open for its second year of holiday fun with Lights Under Louisville.  Take your family for a 30-40 minute ride through part of 17 miles of underground passageways, now featuring twice the lighted displays from last year with three times the animation.  Lights Under Louisville is a great way to move toward the Christmas holidays once Halloween festivities are done – and to view Louisville’s commitment to be green in action.

The caverns, site of Lights Under Louisville, are not just for holidays.  School children and other visitors examine the site throughout the year and view its wonders via SUV-drawn trams. Interestingly, the  caverns are not just another man-made theme park but are a classic example of Louisville recycling and restoration. Originally a limestone quarry in use until 1972 by Louisville Crushed Stone, the quarry and its buildings were acquired in 1989 by investor who want to develop a portion of the cavern as  an environmentally-conscious high security commercial storage facility.  Since, as noted on hellolouisville.com, enough stone was blasted out of the quarry to build three pyramids, the cavern extends over 4 million square feet (100 acres)

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the caverns served as bomb shelter – at least for those lucky enough to have a reservation.  Over the past 20 years, recycled concrete, brick, block, car parts, non-organic waste rock and dirt have been dropped off and been used to fill in holes and create floors and internal roads in the cavern.  This effort has minimized the amount of non-biodegradable waste sent to Louisville landfills

The cavern is used as weather-proof, earthquake-proof shortage center for items as diverse as cars, boat, road salt, documents, and even priceless items like original Hollywood movie prints.  (The Wizard of Oz and many original Disney films are stored there.)  Owners of Louisville Underground, which manages the warehousing facility, note with pride that the facility is so safe that it would withstand a tornado or direct hit from a 747 off-course from nearby Louisville International Airport.

The caverns constitute the largest “green building” in Louisville -and the city’s largest building.  Additional offices and storage space are being carved out of the walls.

If you just to see some beautiful lights, sans the history lesson, Light Under Louisville at the Mega Caverns is still for you.  The spectacular event runs from November 19 through January 2, 2011, so you will have time to enjoy the seasonal lights every weeknight from 6pm -10pm, with an extra hour on weekends.  Admission is $25 per car, truck, SUV, or minivan, $35 per van, $50 per limo, and $50-75 per bus.  Discount coupons are available at Wendy’s and 5/3 bank throughout the area.

For a good family trip, you might want to catch The Light Before Christmas at the Imax Theatre at the Louisville Science Center.  The holiday film is shown daily from November 13 – January 2 at 2pm and 4pm; the timing of later show makes it perfect to go right to the caves.  Or, for a different kind of day, you can start at the Louisville Zoo, built over some of the caverns (though you cannot enter the caverns from there) before taking in the lights.

There’s always something happening in Louisville, a great family city that is also committed to living green.  For ideas about the best place to settle in the Highlands or other parts of Louisville, contact Mollie Younger of Younger Group Real Estate. We know Louisville!

In St. Matthews, a bit of Louisville history passes through every day, as CSX trains whiz by.  Railroad crossings were at times a nuisance to hurried drivers, but otherwise did not disturb the residents.  The area was considered a quiet zone, where trains did not blow their horns as they passed through.  In 2008, the railroad announced that new federal regulations required that the six crossings in St. Matthews be upgraded to prevent drivers from circumventing them by driving around them.

In the 19^th century, Louisville was a railroad town and several major railroads transported coal, commodities, and passengers to points south.  Over time, the local railroads were bought and sold and ultimately became part of the CSX system, which runs through the city.  Needless to say, the Louisville where the tracks were laid is not the Louisville of today.  Suburbs like St. Matthews emerged from farmland.  From 1910 to 1946, the city was the epicenter of the St. Matthews Produce Exchange, once the second-largest potato shipper in the country.  Ultimately, St. Matthews developed as a major shopping district and an upscale residential district.  Six railroad crossings remained in the city, and about 30 trains move through the city each day. 

As St. Matthews Councilman Richard Tonini explained it, “Right now the gates come down, one gate for north bound and one gate for south bound and what’s happening is cars are going around the gates.  Now what we’re going to do is we’re going to put in two additional gates so that gates come down and touch each other so you can’t go around the gates.”

The railroad estimated that the projects would cost $200,000.  The City of St. Matthews paid $10,000 to get the projects started, but the railroad did not respond.  In June 2010, the Federal Railroad Administration lifted the quiet zone, much to the dismay of residents.  For four months, the residents had an unpleasant look back at the city’s early history as 30 trains loudly announced their presence, day and night.

At this point, all required work at St. Mathews Avenue, Clover Lane, Westport Road, Thierman Lane and Hubbards Lane has been completed, but work at the Chenoweth crossing needs to have the new gates installed.  The police department will provide additional enforcement at that location until the gates are in place. The city applied for a waiver to reinstate the quiet zone.  In early October, the Federal Railroad Administration agree to temporarily restore the quiet zone.  CSX was granted a 21 day adjustment period for their drivers to stop blowing their horns.

Final cost on the project will be $150,000, including the installation of median barriers and new gate, with the money coming from the City St. Matthews and the District 7 Neighborhood Development Fund. When the last piece of the project is complete at Chenoweth, St. Matthews will once again be a quiet zone.  Area residents can respect their history and again sleep soundly without interruption.

Contact Mollie Younger of Younger Group Real Estate for interesting, affordable St. Matthews properties! We know Louisville!!

Since 1985, Genny’s Diner on Frankfort Ave. in Clifton has paid to tribute to a Louisville invention – the cheeseburger. Diner owner Frank Faris magnified the fried meat and cheese delight into the Big Daddy platter featuring 10 ounces of meat with cheese on a bun served with steak fries. (Bigger sizes available!) If you started out with Frickled (i.e., fried) pickles and ended with peanut butter pie, you could experience the offerings noted by Southern Living Magazine and numerous local reviewers as some of the best down home eating in Louisville. The burgers, pickles, and pies are only a small fraction of the extensive menu of soups, sandwiches, entries, and desserts. Now, after a long and heated battle with the city and local residents,Genny’s is closing its doors to make way for a Comfy Cow ice cream store, as cow trumps cow in Clifton/Crescent Hill.

Sweet Daddy – Watch more Funny Videos

Genny’s began as an eight seat establishment but grew to over 175 seats. In 2001, Faris bought a 100 year old Queen Anne house next door to raze as a parking lot. Before he got around to doing it, Clifton was named a local preservation district in 2003 and Faris was unable to gain the permission of the Metro Landmark’s Commission to tear it down and carry out his plan. When he bought it, the house didn’t look too bad, but fixing up the house would have cost Faris about $300,000.

Over the years, Faris let the house fall into disrepair, perhaps in an effort to gain permission to demolish it. He amassed many code violations. In response to court orders, he tried to give the house away as well as sell it. None of the neighborhood advocates of the restoration stepped up to buy or take the property, until the Comfy Cow stepped in.

The Comfy Cow, which currently has a store in St. Matthew/Graymoor/Devondale, saw the Frankfurt Corridor as an ideal future location. According to co-owner Tom Koons-McGee, he and his partner Roy Koons-McGee had not envisioned a location on Frankfurt available so soon, but they were able to get the place for fair price from Faris, along with many perks thrown in by the city. They plan to renovate the diner as a retail location and refurbish the house for retail and office space. The project, estimated to cost several hundred thousand dollars, will be financed with a Small Business Administration Loan, a forgivable loan from the Metro Development Authority. They city will work with the courts to waive the $70,000 in maintenance fees. In addition, the Metro Development Authority will provide $150,000 for an environmental assessment of the property. (For the full story about the battle over the Frankfurt St. house and the purchase by the Comfy Cow, click to see this WHAS 11 News video.)

The ice cream store, opened in 2009, has quickly developed a reputation for its made-on-the premises creative flavors which change daily. Voted the Best Ice Cream Shop in LEO’s 2010 Readers’ Choice Awards, flavors are introduced on a trial basis and if the public likes them they remain part of the rotation. The ice cream, made on batches of only four gallons at a time, is also served at other Louisville locations, but the St. Matthews shop on Herr Avenue, with its clever logo, ice-cream-scoop-lights, and refurbished soda fountain, is a popular family destination. Expected to open on Valentine’s Day in 2011, the store is expected to be popular at its new location on Frankfort as well, both because of its delicious ice cream and because it stepped up to refurnish a neighborhood eyesore.

There is a certain irony in that one cow-related comfort food is taking over for another. But does this change-of-hands of the Frankfurt Ave. building mean the end of the Frank Faris and his Big Daddy burgers for Louisville, birthplace of the cheeseburger? Absolutely not. Though Genny’s will close on October 16, Faris is looking at potential sites for a 200-seat restaurant with plenty of parking, possibly along the Bardstown Road and Dixie Highway corridors and Southern Indiana. Cow may trump cow on Frankfort Ave. but the greater Louisville area will emerge a winner once be both endeavors are up and running.

For good eating and affordable housing, Louisville is a winner. Contact Mollie Younger of Younger Group Real Estate for interesting, affordable Louisville properties! We know Louisville!!

If you’re sitting on your porch in Louisville, you may be enjoying today’s 70° weather, but fall is coming, then the winter.  If you would like to sell your home and move to a new one, you may lament that the time to do it for this year may have passed.  After all, real estate season traditionally winds down when kids go back to school, right?  Wrong.  Homes can actually sell in any season.  

Traditionally, there may be more people looking in the spring and summer, but there is always traffic from people who are transferred into a great city like Louisville and from other serious buyers who want to make a change. This year, with mortgage rates as low as 3.8% on 15 year loans for people with good credit and housing prices low, the stage is set for heavier traffic than usual. 

Often, once school starts, you may be reluctant to move since a new home or new neighborhood will disrupt the school year for your kids.  Ironically, children not only adjust to new circumstances (often more easily than adults), but may actually receive more help in from teachers when they enter the class midyear.   

As the fall moves toward winter and the holiday, you may decide to postpone moving so as not to disrupt your holiday routine.  While overwhelming decorations might turn off buyers, low key decorations actually give your home a welcoming atmosphere.  Motivated buyers may actually plan their house hunting around times of the year when they have extra days off or lighter days at work.

In reality, having your home priced right is one thing that will help it sell no matter what season or time of year it is.  When your real estate agent offers you direction on how to price, listen up.  The pricing advice will be based on comparable values in the neighborhood and on the condition of your home,.  Area statistics are showing that homes are selling for about 93% of their asking price in the part of St. Matthews near Clifton and Crescent Hill, vs. 96% in the part near Anchorage and Douglas Hills.  If you base your pricing expectations on what you see on line for the whole area of St. Matthews, you may be surprised.  Keep this in mind – youu may not get the same price you would have a couple years ago, but when you go to buy, you will find much more house for the same price. 

The other important factor is demand in the neighborhood.  Currently, nationwide, homes in higher price brackets are staying on the market longer than lower prices homes, but than many other factors come into place.  In sections of Downtown and Old Louisville, home prices have an average price of $90,650 and a median price of only $45,375, but homes on are the market an average of 144 days.  In the Butchertown/ Highland/ Germantown area, prices average $179,727, have a median price of $161,261, and sell within 55 days.  The numbers do not mean that you should hold off making a move, but you should chat with your agent for a deeper understanding of what the statistics mean.

If you want to sell your home now, don’t hesitate.  A perfect buyer could be waiting for you.  Homes can sell in any season, and this could be your time.

For some insight into how your home might sell, call Younger Group Real Estate! We know Louisville!! Our team will be there every step of the way.