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Fourth Street Live!

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38°15′7″N 85°45′26″W / 38.25194°N 85.75722°W / 38.25194; -85.75722

The large Hard Rock Cafe sign greets visitors to Fourth Street Live!

Fourth Street Live! is an entertainment and retail district located on 4th Street, between Liberty and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It is owned and was developed by the Cordish Company; it was designed by Louisville architects, Bravura Corporation. Fourth Street Live! first opened to the public on June 1, 2004, and all stores were finally completed for the grand opening on October 30, 2004. City planners hoped that the district would attract further commercial business development while providing an attractive entertainment venue for the city's hotel and tourist business as well as the local population.

Restaurants and entertainment venues in the complex include Hard Rock Cafe, Red Star Tavern, TGI Friday's, Sully's Irish Pub, Lucky Strike Lanes (bowling alley and restaurant) and the first-ever Maker's Mark Bourbon House & Lounge. Fourth Street Live! also has a wide variety of bars and nightclubs including Howl at the Moon, the Felt billiard lounge, Saddle Ridge, and Tengo Sed Cantina.

A mall-style food court is also located in the complex with restaurants like Wendy's, Cold Stone Creamery, and Subway. There are also several retail stores such as Borders Books and Music, Fashion Shop, EB Games, and T-Mobile.

Traffic on 4th Street through the complex is often open, but closed for continued construction work on the street and venues, and for large public gatherings such as music concerts and other events.

History

Background

Fourth Street Live! began as a downtown revitalization project to redesign and modernize the former Louisville Galleria, a similar but unsuccessful project opened in the early 1980s with the same goals of revitalizing downtown. The Galleria, in turn, had been built on the site of the River City Mall, which opened in 1973, also with similar goals of revitalizing downtown. Fourth Street itself had long been the main shopping and entertainment destination in Downtown Louisville, and until the 1960s, all of Louisville and perhaps the entire state of Kentucky.[1]

The idea of turning Fourth Street into a pedestrian mall actually dates back to 1943, when mayor Wilson W. Wyatt suggested the idea. Proposals were drafted over the years but funding for the $1.5 million River City Mall project was not secured until 1971.[2] The Mall originally stretched all the way from Liberty to Broadway, and was initially successful, but over the years traffic was slowly reopened and the mall scaled down.

Controversy

Fourth Street Live! has attracted occasional controversy for its dress code policy enforcement. On August 4 2006 a judge ordered two clubs to publish their dress code and apply it to "blacks and whites equally". Both clubs are operated by JP 4th St. Live LLC. The ruling came a day after two African Americans filed a lawsuit claiming they were denied entrance to the clubs in February because of their race.[3] A federal judge eventually overturned the order to post the dress code, and found no evidence of racial discrimination.[4]

Tenant changes

An original tenant scheduled was Premiere Fitness gym, but due to financial problems and the Kaufmann-Strauss Building lacking the structural integrity to support gym equipment, it cancelled plans to open a location, even after signing memberships. Cool Shades sunglasses vendor also closed after a short time.

In January 2007, Cordish tried to evict three nightclubs (Red Cheetah, Parrot Beach and the Palm Bar) from the center, all of which were owned by a financially-troubled New Jersey company, claiming nearly $400,000 in rent and other fees were owed to the landlord. The clubs were closed, but not replaced immediately.[5] On January 31, Business First of Louisville announced that a new high-end nightclub called Hotel would be coming to Fourth Street Live to fill the 10,000 square feet of space that will be vacated by Red Cheetah, Parrot Beach and Palm Bar.

On February 16, 2007, the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau opened its new Visitor Information Center at the North entrance to Fourth Street Live. The new center totals nearly 3,000 square feet, and includes two permanent exhibits, where visitors can learn about the stories of two of Kentucky's most famous icons: Kentucky Bourbon and Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The center will also supply information to outside passersby via a high-tech video wall that will run video on different cultural events and attractions.

The Tengo Sed Cantina is scheduled to open on April 27, 2007 to replace Parrot Beach and Palm Bar.

Expansion

On July 2, 2007, the Cordish Company announced that it will expand the mall southward by leasing the first floor of the Starks Building.[6]

Events

Many people crowd into the center during the frequent free concerts given by local and national performers.

Some events held at Fourth Street Live! in the past have included Hot Country Nights with national country music acts, such as Gretchen Wilson, in concert; a Mardi Gras parade; Halloween trick-or-treating; New Year's Eve celebrations; and the University of Louisville's annual "Run for the L of It" 5K.

See also

References

  1. ^ Shafer, Sheldon (2003-07-17). "It's Fourth Street". The Courier-Journal. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Kramer, Carl (1978). Louisville Survey: Central Report. pp. 264–265.
  3. ^ Riley, Jason (2006-08-04). "Clubs to post code on attire after suit". The Courier-Journal. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Halladay, Jessie (2006-08-26). "Two clubs no longer must post dress code". The Courier-Journal. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Davis, Alex (2007-02-08). "Nightclubs' legal battle drags on". The Courier-Journal. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Davis, Alex (2007-07-02). "Major expansion of 4th Street Live planned; Owner leases part of Starks Building". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2007-07-02. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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