LOUISVILLE, KY. — Herschend Enterprises has become the majority owner and main operator of Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay, an amusement and water park located at 937 Phillips Lane in Louisville. Georgia-based Herschend is a family-owned theme attractions and entertainment company whose operations include Dollywood, Silver Dollar City and Newport Aquarium. Craig Ross, Dollywood’s president for the past 10 years, will serve as Kentucky Kingdom’s interim general manager. The acquisition was a collaborative effort between Kentucky Kingdom LLLP, the Kentucky State Fair Board, the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet and the Finance & Administration Cabinet. The price of the transaction was not disclosed. Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay opened in 1987 and cover a 65-acre entertainment complex. According to the Louisville Business First, entrepreneur Ed Hart and an investor group with Ed Glasscock, Bruce Lunsford and the Al J. Schneider Cos. reached a deal with the State of Kentucky to acquire and reopen the park, which closed in 2009 following a decade operating as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. In 2014, Kentucky Kingdom reopened after a $44 million redevelopment effort that doubled the size of the Hurricane Bay water park. Future plans for the Louisville amusement and water park include hosting …
SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY. — JLL Income Property Trust has acquired a 1 million-square-foot, Class A industrial property known as Louisville Distribution Center in Shepherdsville. Core5 Industrial Partners sold the property for $95 million. The tenant roster was not named. Built in 2020, Louisville Distribution Center is located at 170 Clermont Road, within 20 miles of major distribution hubs including UPS Worldport (Air Distribution Hub), UPS Centennial Hub (Ground Distribution Hub) and the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The property includes 40-foot clear heights, cross-docking, LED motion sensor lighting, 234 trailer parking spaces and HVAC throughout. Core5 Industrial Partners is an industrial developer based in Atlanta, and JLL Income Property Trust is a Chicago-based REIT.
BOWLING GREEN AND LEXINGTON, K.Y. — Lauth Communities, a subsidiary of Carmel, Ind.-based Lauth Group Inc., has acquired three multifamily properties located in Bowling Green and Lexington. The three properties, known as The Drake, The Stables at Waveland Farm and The Woods at 1850, will add 360 additional units to Lauth’s portfolio. The sales price was not disclosed. The Drake, located at 726 Cumberland Trace Road in Bowling Green, is a 288-unit complex completed in 2019. The property resides on 30 acres and consists of one-, two- and three- bedroom units. The community’s amenities include a clubhouse, pool, onsite dog parks, fire pits, game center and 30 freestanding garages. The Drake features 22 three-story buildings. The Stables at Waveland Farm is located at 3765 Winthrop Drive and The Woods at 1850 is located at 1850 Old Higbee Mill Road, both in Lexington. The Stables at Waveland Farm was built in 2019. The Woods at 1850 feature one-, two-, and three-bedroom floorplan options. The communities will be rebranded as the Stables at Palomar and Stables at the Woods, respectively. The properties are located within 3.5 miles of each other. Together, they will add 72 units to Lauth’s portfolio. The Lexington-based Silvestri …
BOWLING GREEN, KY. — Ball Corp. plans to open a new 500,000-square-foot building in Bowling Green that will serve as a manufacturing facility for aluminum can tops. According to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, Ball will invest $305 million to develop the facility. The Westminster, Colo.-based company expects to create 200 jobs at the property, which is scheduled to open in early 2022. The project’s construction is also expected to support 391 jobs. The facility will be situated within Transpark, a 300-acre industrial development owned by the City of Bowling Green and Warren County. Ball will be the first tenant at the site. Transpark has CSX Railroad service through the southern end of the property and is located five miles from Interstate 65. A design team for the project was not disclosed. Ball supplies aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government.
SHEPHERDSVILLE, KY. — Atlanta-based Core5 Industrial Partners has broken ground on Bourbon Logistics Center 3, a 1 million-square-foot industrial facility in Shepherdsville. The property is being built on a speculative basis and will feature 40-foot clear heights, 750 parking spaces, 336 trailer spaces and the potential for three-sided dock loading. The facility will be the largest spec development in the history of the Louisville MSA, according to JLL. The previous record was held by another Core5 property, the adjacent Bourbon Logistics Center 1, which is 4,000 square feet smaller than its neighbor. Bourbon Logistics Center 3 is situated along Ky. Highway 245 near the Interstate 65 interchange and 23 miles south of Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. MacGregor Associates Architects designed the asset, and Mindel, Scott & Associates Inc. is the civil engineer. Powell Spears and Matt Hartlage of JLL will market the property on behalf of the owner. A timeline for completion was not disclosed.
LEXINGTON, KY. — Newmark has arranged the sale of The Lex, a 649-bed student housing community near the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The property is the closest student housing community to Rupp Arena, the home court of the university’s men’s basketball team. Communal amenities at The Lex include a business center, game room, 24-hour fitness center, pool and grilling areas. The property offers studio to four-bedroom floor plans. Debbie Corson, Ryan Lang and Jack Brett of Newmark represented the seller, a partnership between Atlanta-based CF Real Estate Services and global private equity firm SFO Group, in the transaction. Boston-based William Fideli Investments acquired the asset for an undisclosed price.
BOWLING GREEN, KY. — Georgia-Pacific, a manufacturer of paper and wood products, has opened a $100 million Dixie manufacturing facility in Bowling Green. Georgia-Pacific began the expansion in 2019. The project included adding an 80,000-square-foot operations building, a new industrial printer and additional plate-forming presses. More than 70 full-time jobs were added due to the expansion, bringing the number of employees at the plant to more than 200. The plant was originally built in 1991. The facility accounts for approximately 25 percent of all paper plates and bowls that Georgia-Pacific produces. The Atlanta-based company also operates a plant in Lexington, Ky.
Louisville is best known for the Kentucky Derby, the premier thoroughbred horse race that has occurred every year in the city since 1875. However, there is another continuous streak that is happening in Louisville, and that is 21 straight quarters of positive net absorption for industrial real estate as of second-quarter 2020. Louisville’s central location within the Southeast and Midwest, which gives area users the ability to reach two-thirds of the U.S. population within a one-day drive, is a major driver for industrial real estate. The UPS Worldport Hub in Louisville is its only “all-points” hub in the UPS network and provides warehouse and distribution businesses with the ability to process orders later and receive earlier deliveries. This is a tremendous benefit for e-commerce, pharmaceutical, laboratory and electronics companies, among many other industries. There is continual interest from West Coast companies seeking a central location to fulfill product as customer demand for shorter delivery times increases as part of the overall customer experience. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, the third-party, full-service fulfillment subsidiary of UPS, has a significant presence in Louisville. Many of the customers for which UPS Supply Chain provides fulfillment services are pharmaceutical-related businesses that require time-critical deliveries and …
Much like the rest of the nation, both Louisville-area landlords and tenants are stalling while waiting for the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to become clear. The office market in Louisville has entered a holding pattern of sorts, while tenants evaluate their workspace needs in light of the major shift to remote work. Many are opting to wait and see what the market holds, a stark contrast to the steady development and leasing activity we saw in 2019. Now with investors taking a more long-term view of the market, larger portfolio sales are limited while everyone questions the future demand for office space. The most recent portfolio transfer was made by the New York-based Group RMC Corp. in its acquisition of a six-building, Class B office portfolio from locally based Ascent Properties for $44.5 million. The deal was traded at an 8.6 percent cap rate. However, don’t let the lull in activity fool you. The region’s office market is ripe with possibilities. While many local companies initially speculated about permanently adopting full-term remote work in the second quarter, they’re reconsidering as time goes on. Regional JLL research shows that 80 percent of businesses said most employees will eventually return …
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Yum Brands reported third-quarter revenue of $1.45 billion, up 8 percent from the same period a year ago. Taco Bell reported the highest positive year-over-year growth, recording $501 million in sales, a 2 percent increase from third-quarter 2019. Pizza Hut’s sales also grew, reaching $243 million, a 1 percent increase. Though KFC recorded the highest company sales total, reaching $583 million for the quarter, it was still a 4 percent decrease from the $609 million total recorded in the third quarter of 2019. Additionally, Louisville-based Yum Brands sold its stake in GrubHub, a food delivery service, for $206 million. The buyer was not disclosed.