Congratulations to these winners
By Tom Monahan – President and publisher, Louisville Business First
Mar 29, 2013
After four years of depressing economic news, things finally are looking up.
The Dow has reached record levels, automobile and housing sales are trending up, and private-sector job creation is finally gaining some traction.
There is still a lot of uncertainty out there that could stall the recovery, but for the most part, things are looking much brighter than they have in a long while.
The recession affected most industries — some more than others. Commercial real estate was particularly hard hit. When times got tough and businesses started cutting, most expansion, building and relocation plans went to the back burner.
Building cranes have been a rare sight around Louisville in recent years. Even for those inclined to expand or build, securing financing became a major impediment.
Many companies reduced the number of square feet they leased in order to cut costs. Others went out of business, leaving office or warehouse space to lease.
Honoring accomplishments in real estate
Despite the tough economy, commercial real estate continues to play a vital role in the Louisville-area economy. After all, whether it be an office, warehouse, plant or store, every business needs a place to call home.
We decided to create an awards program to highlight the best in commercial real estate in our region. The inaugural Business First Commercial Real Estate Awards pay tribute to projects and real estate leases and sales transactions that illustrate best practices in building and development.
As we do with all of our awards programs, we turned to our readers to help us choose outstanding projects, leases and sales.
To be eligible, new buildings, renovation projects, sales and leases had to be completed between July 1, 2011, and Dec. 31, 2012.
They also had to be located in the Louisville Combined Statistical Area, which includes the Kentucky counties of Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, Shelby, Henry, Meade, Nelson, Spencer, Trimble, Hardin and Larue and the Indiana counties of Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Washington and Scott.
Business First editors and I chose finalists and winners in eight categories. We also chose one of the category winners to receive what we call the “Deal of the Year Award.”
It was a difficult task just choosing the finalists in each category, much less the winners and the Deal of the Year. When making our selections, we took into consideration the size of the deal or project, the difficulty of getting it done and its impact on the community.
Anyone who has ever been involved in a real estate deal knows that there are a myriad of details that must be worked out between the parties involved.
We chose the deal that resulted in Amazon.com locating a fulfillment center in River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville as our Deal of the Year. It also was the winner of the Best Industrial Lease or Sale category.
KTR Capital Partners LLC assembled 70 acres in River Ridge Commerce Center by purchasing 16 acres from the River Ridge Development Authority and 54 acres from Crossdock Development Inc. KTR then built a 1 million-square-foot facility that it leases to Amazon.com.
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists in this first year of the Business First Commercial Real Estate Awards. It’s never easy getting these kind of deals done. It’s particularly difficult in a slowly recovering economy.
I want to thank the sponsors who helped make this awards program possible. They are Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP, CBRE/Louisville and McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie & Kirkland PLLC.
If you have any questions about this publication or anything else Business First publishes, call me at (502) 498-1951, or send an e-mail to tmonahan@bizjournals.com.