When you are looking for a place to call home, you want a place that is prosperous, fun, and friendly.  With all that is going on in Louisville, our city fills the bill as “fun”; we pride ourselves on being friendly, but are we prosperous?

Designed as “Possibility City,” Louisville was predicted by area businessmen in 1997 to be a bustling center of economic and population growth by 2010.  The economy took a nosedive, so the city lost 4% of its jobs between 2000-2009, which put it near the bottom 16 cities who compete for jobs, welders, and investment. Our current major Greg Fiecher is working to attack the causes that have it historically made it hard for Louisville to reach it full potential.  There are many signs of hope, often unveiled on step at a time.

Recently, Scott Dennison, formerly an owner of Papa John’s pizza and Penn Station franchises, looked at vacant property of Bardstown Road formerly occupied by John Riley Auto Center.  He envisioned opening an Uncle Maddio’s make-it-yourself pizza shop – the first of five he hopes to own in the area. Dennison sees the already-busy corner as full of possibility of future development.  To date, a mattress store has opened in the plaza which draws in customers from Germantown, the Highlands, western Louisville, and beyond.  Other potential tenants are lining up to rent remaining spaces in the former auto center.

While Dennison was an experienced business owner before opening Uncle Maddeo’s, there are opportunities in Louisville for both new and experienced business owners.

For example, the Louisville Small Business Clinic assists and consults with small business owners to improve their skills, become aware of federal and local programs that might help them, and get their finances in order.

Louisville’s Economic Development Department works with Metropolitan Business Development Corporation (METCO) to help business owners obtain loans of up to $100,000 to help with project costs, gap financing, exterior improvements, and through the new microloan program, even start up funds.

For businesses which want to improve energy efficiency or offer “green” jobs, Louisville can help companies qualify for one of the four loan programs funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

With opportunities for business development, a low cost of living, and great housing prices, Louisville is great place to buy your starter home or your million-dollar dream home.  My team and I at Younger Group Real Estate can list your home and show you affordable homes in Butchertown, St. Matthews, The Highlands, and other great Louisville neighborhoods. Give us a call. We know Louisville.

                                                                                               January Events in Louisville  

Last weekend, you may have enjoyed Light Up Louisville in downtown Louisville. This weekend, on Saturday, December 3^rd, it is time to capture the same magic in The Highlands.  Bardstown Road Aglow will take place between 5-10 pm, with the tree lighting to take place after Santa arrives in stretch limo for the lighting ceremony that starts at 5:45 pm. The beautiful tree, this year a 30 foot Norway spruce tree, will be set up in Wendy’s parking lot.

This event sets in motion several other things in Louisville.  The event marks the last day of the Four Roses’ second annual Holiday Bourbon Battle.  Restaurants and bars along Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue have been serving original holiday inspired drinks since November 19, in hope that guests will vote for their favorite.  At Bardstown Road Aglow, you can stop in one of the participating establishment, enjoy your, you can drink, and then text your vote to “22333,” email the name of the restaurant/bar to bourbonbattle@gmail.com, or visiting Facebook.com/FourRosesBourbon and clicking “Like” on the picture of their favorite Bourbon Battle cocktail. The winner, to be announced during the week of December 5, will receive $500 an engraved Four Roses decanter and a plaque for his/her restaurant.

If you are a beer lover, you may enjoy tasting some of the 150 beers from around the world. With only a $5 admission fee, you can try several at only $1 for a 2 oz. sample right at the Mid-City Mall. The admission fees for the third Annual Highlands Beer Festival go to local charities so you are helping others as you enjoy yourself.

During the evening, you can enjoy caroling and other musical selections from the Marching Louisville Pipe Band and other area musicians as you stroll around the area to look at the decorations or patronize merchants. Celebrity judges will also be walking around to select the best decorated businesses. Two trolleys will operated from Douglass Loop to Lexington Rd., plus the Aglow Shuttle starting at Winston’s Restaurant at Sullivan University to chauffeur you around the area.

Once Santa arrives, you can have pictures taken to remember the event at Bearno’s Restaurant at 1318 Bardstown Rd. for only $5.  Proceeds benefit  Gilda’ s club of Louisville.

The Bardstown Road Aglow celebration dates back to 1985, when merchants welcomed shoppers with candles in their windows. The tradition stuck, so every year the Bardstown Road  Aglow festivities have helped residents and visitors enjoy the holiday season. Come on down!  Happy holidays.

Mollie Younger of Younger Group Real Estate can help you buy or sell your Louisville home. We know Louisville.

When you turn on the water faucet in Louisville, you may not think much about what comes out. The high quality water that flows into your glass is full of history that Louisville citizens can be proud of. The Louisville Water Company wants to make you aware of its interesting past in several ways.

The system that serves 850,000 people in Louisville Metro and parts of Bullitt, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby and Spencer started out in 1860 with 27 employees and a reservoir at the corner of Zorn Avenue and River Road, in the Crescent Hill, Highland District, that pulled water from the Ohio River. By 1951, pump stations were converted to electricity, so require no manning. Steam engines from the old days are on display in one former station on Zorn Avenue, and is just part of what people can come to see in recent “Tour the Tower” sessions. Tour visitors can see the steam engine in operation, plus view historic photos.

The tower, surrounded by statues, is considered to be top notch industrial architecture. The tower, along with the pumping station, was designated as National Historic Landmarks in 1971 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is the oldest standing water tower in the U.S., a real feat as the structure was partially destroyed by the Tornado of 1890. The entire facility was recently renovated a cost of $4.3 million renovation. That station is currently rented by the Louisville Visual Arts Association, which has a display honoring its history as part of the water company complex. The Water Company may reclaim the space for a water history museum when the Association’s lease expires in 2012.

Another water company treasure, the Crescent Hill Gatehouse, is a popular destination for tourist and locals who enjoy walking around the reservoir at Frankfort Avenue. Walking Wednesday tours, held from 11 am – 1 pm and from 6 pm – 8 pm, from May through September 28, begin with tour of the old facility and reservoir and conclude with the walk.

The Louisville Water Company is committed to ongoing public education in addition to providing year long tips about water conservation. The company seeks funding for a Water Education and Innovation Center that might be located next to the historic water tower and pumping station along the Ohio River. One partner in the endeavor is EDGE Outreach, a Louisville-based organization with a mission to provide drinkable water in disaster-ravaged countries such as Haiti. To add a global dynamic to center, EDGE would have a major exhibit to increase awareness about world water-quality issues.

According to Mark Hogg, executive director of EDGE Outreach, “our interest in this is huge, because it would provide us with a bigger platform” to educate people that “water, sanitation and health all go hand in hand.” Since Louisville was the site of many water-quality innovations, including advances in the 1890s in the use of chlorine to purify water, he said, Louisville will be a great site for the facility.

Hopefully, there will be a preliminary design and a business plan for the center by mid-2012. The center is projected to cost $7 million, with half coming from the company and half from private foundations. Once built, the center would sustain itself from admissions and space rental. Per an agreement between water company president Greg Heitzman and the University of Kentucky, Design and architecture graduate student at the will develop a model for the project, prepare cost projections, and suggest a location as part of a class project. MBA students would have the opportunity to evaluate a business model for the center, including its potential market, revenue, expenses and long-term viability.

The new center would be owned and operated by a new non-profit set up by the Louisville water Company and would also handle funds to help low income customers prevent shutoffs. It represents the newest outreach effort by the company, which funds programs like Smile Kentucky to provide education and services to school children, Tap Into Fitness, which provides classroom based programming to promote a healthy lifestyle, Edge Outreach to promote sustainable solutions to drinking water in underdeveloped countries, and numerous corporate giving endeavors.

In this hot weather, Louisville is a wonderful place to hydrate yourself and soak up some water history. My team and I at Younger Group Real Estate can show you affordable homes in this great city in Butchertown, St. Matthews, The Highlands, and other great Louisville neighborhoods. We know Louisville!

It’s been said that everyone claims to be a little Irish on St. Patrick’ Day.  In Louisville, considering the large percentage of Irish immigrants who have figured prominently in the city’s history, this is not far from the truth.  Louisville parties hardy for the day.  The main event was the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 12, but the celebration started with a Pre-Parade Wearing of the Green Party at Belarmine University on March 5 and the fun will continue all until the 17th, especially in  the “Irish Pub District” centered around Baxter Avenue.   Come to the Highlands for days of St. Patrick’s Day fun.

The Irish were among the first settlers to Louisville in 1790, and figured prominently in surveying the land and building many local edifices, including the mansion at Locust Grove, now a National Historic Landmark.  Later waves of Irish immigrants brought trades people and laborers to the city. Many Irish moved from Portland to work on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and settled one mile south of downtown Louisville in the neighborhood known as Limerick – the predominant Irish neighborhood in Louisville until the early 20^th century. 

When the railroad moved its shop to the Highland Park area, the neighborhood population moved with it, but the new neighborhood lost its Irish character as did the city as a whole.  After 1920, there was not even a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Louisville until early 70′s after a renewed interest in Irish culture in the 1960′s brought Louisville back to its Irish roots.  Today, Louisville has the largest number of Irish bands in the U.S. except for Chicago.

St. Patrick’s Day festivities center on parades and parties, with a little deference to religious observation thrown in:

March 10 – Pre-parade Blessing of the Beer Keg Tapping at the BBC Taproom on E. Main, followed by  sampling newly blessed six old BBC Bourbon Barrel Stout at O’Shea’s on Baxter, complete with songs, toasts, and Irish  food and drink.

March 12 - Irish Breakfast at St. Louis Bertrands’s O’Brian Hall from 8:30 – 11:30 am, followed by Mass at 12 noon in the historic Limerick Church.

3 pm – Bands, bagpipers, dancers, clowns, floats, vehicles, political dignitaries and many more wild parade from E. Broadway and Baxter near the Phoenix Hill Tavern to the Mid-City Mall.  The parade is sponsored by the Ancient Order of Hibernians and has the theme of “Hooley in the Highlands,” in honor of the 175th anniversary of the group in America.  “Hooley “is the Irish word for party.)

March 13 – St. Baldrick’s Head Shaving Event will raise money for cancer and offer yet another opportunity to party in Fourth Street Live..

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day Festival on Fourth Street Live! Will featured an Irish beer garden in the street, green beer, and music from local bands Jefferson Tarc Bus and Louisville Crasher

Irish pubs and restaurants like Dublin’s Cellar, Flanagan’s, Molly Malone’s, O’Shea’s, Flanagan’s Ale House, and the Irish Rover are, of course, great locations to visit thought the week to soak more holiday spirit (and spirits.)

Be a little Irish for day or a week this year and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the Highlands area of Louisville. Slainte! (slawn-chuh) To your Health!/Cheers!

My team and I at  Younger Group Real Estate can show you affordable homes within your budget in The Highlands, Butchertown, St. Matthews, and other great Louisville neighborhoods.  We know Louisville!

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!

When I was married recently, I wore a lovely white lace dress, but my shoes were a sexy periwinkle blue.  They not only added a fun touch of color, but proved to be comfortable enough to transport me through the streets of Paris. 

I thought about my magic blue shoes this weekend as the Louisville Home Builder’s Association is holding their annual Tour of Remodeled Homes on Saturday, August 14^th and Sunday, August 16.  This offers potential buyers a wonderful chance to see some refurbished properties our walkable city.  Sponsored annually for the past 25 years, the tour is great idea generator if you are looking to remodel your own home for your own enjoyment or for resale.  For potential buyers, the tour spotlights some the best neighborhoods in east Louisville.

Included on the tour are 3 homes in Cherokee Triangle, and 19 more in St. Matthews , Norbourne Estates, Crescent Hills, Rolling Fields, Highlands, Middletown, Beechwood Village, Hills and Dales, Douglass Hills, Jeffersontown,  Hurstbourne, and the Seneca Park and Wolf Pen Branch areas.  (Visit the clicakable map at 2010 Tour of Remodeled Homes to see exactly where the homes are.)

Some of the homes on the tour were built within the last few decades, while others are historic. One Cherokee Triangle property, for example,  was a century home that required special approval from the Metro Landmarks Commission as it was in a historic preservation district.  

Regardless of the age of their home, the owners of all the homes on the tour preferred to stay in their neighborhood rather than move. As a result, 9 upgraded the bath,13 the kitchen, 7 a deck, porch, or sunroom, and 7 the family room.  At least 13 added an addition.  Should the families move, they will see a return on investment for much of their cost, especially on the kitchen, bathroom, and deck enhancements.  These improvements will pull future resident to the neighborhoods.

Maybe you will be able to catch the tour in person or look at the renovations on line..  In any case, I will walk you through your real estate transaction in any neighborhood in Louisville, whether you are looking for a historic home or new construction – or anything in between.

We know Louisville!  Call Mollie with the Blue Shoes at Younger Group Real Estate today to put a lifetime of neighborhood knowledge at your disposal whether you are buying or selling.