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Access Louisville
Building up NuLu
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We chat about a big project underway in NuLu on this week's Access Louisville podcast.
LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to talk about The Zen 620 development at 622 E. Market and 620 E. Market Sts.
The Zen already houses restaurant owner Kevin Grangier’s Sake A Go Go restaurant. The other portion of the Zen, which spans six stories, is under construction and will feature nine apartment units and a ground-level restaurant called Zen Cafe.
You can check out renderings of the Zen and floor plans on its website, zennulu.com. Workers are adding four of the nine apartment units to the rear of the property, according to a permit filed with Louisville Metro Planning and Design.
Also on the show this week, we discussed a new St. Matthews location for Barnes & Noble and a new hi-fi bar that's on its way to Clarksville, Indiana.
We also go over the latest information on the crash of UPS Flight 2976. The National Transportation Safety Board held hearings on the crash this week, which focused on UPS maintenance decisions ahead of the flight as well as the equipment failure that ultimately led to the crash.
Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can also follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Another interesting development is on its way up in Nulu. We will talk about that plus more up next on Access Louis. Thanks for joining us. My name is David Mann, and joining me today are Zach Owen. Hey there. Olivia Estrite. Hi guys. Joel Stinnett. Hello, everyone. And that's it. Access Louable is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. Each week we bring you the latest news and plenty of sharp opinions about what's going on here in Louisville, Kentucky. Of course, this podcast is sponsored by Baird. Discover the Baird difference at rwbaird.com slash Louisville. We'll hear more from Baird later in the show. For now, let's get into that development talk. Joel, tell us about the Zen. What's going on there? It's not just a uh fancy nicotine product. It's a uh it's a development.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, spelled a little differently. Um this is uh not really a new project from Zio. It's you can if you drive down uh Market Street, you can see it. It's uh got six stories rising from the ground, and it's uh also where uh uh Kevin Granger's concept sake go-go is housed. And so it's you can see it if you drive down there, but um this week they filed a new permit uh saying they're gonna put a skylight in the top of it. But the part that you can't really see from Market Street is the apartments. Uh in total, um, it's gonna have nine apartments at the rear of the property, um, and the as a three-story edition at the rear. And we got some new renderings that kind of show that that rear edition.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and so it's gonna be six stories tall when it's all said and done.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the front front part of it is already six stories tall. If you drive down Market Street, you can see it. Um it's uh it's risen from the street. Uh, but the back, uh the alleyway is the part you can't see from Market Street, which will have another three luxury apartments um back there.
SPEAKER_05All right. And Xio is pretty prolific as far as developing in New Lou. What else are they working on?
SPEAKER_04Uh they've got the uh Ivy South edition, which is uh right next to that on the uh what what Xio CEO Nick Compisano likes to call the Hancock block. Um uh that's gonna look pretty cool. It's uh if you uh are familiar with Market Street, it's a building that's got ivy growing down the side of it. Um the 614 Ivy is a 6,000 square foot uh building. It's also gonna have some apartments um uh as well as some retail on the first floor. The uh second floor is gonna have a terrace uh with the two finishing areas, and the third floor will be an apartment with a living room, dining room, and kitchen and library. Uh that's gonna be luxury as well. Nice. Purchased that a few years ago from Southern Tyre, uh Southern Tire uh service, if you all remember that, that's right in the corner there on uh Marcus Street. Yeah. Uh which Zaya also purchased a few years ago.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah. A lot of exciting stuff going on down there. You can definitely see the potential starting to take shape. Uh, I thought as a fun game, I would ask you guys how much you think an apartment is in Nulu? I bet Olivia knows best because she's been looking around at the market.
SPEAKER_04How many bedrooms?
SPEAKER_05Uh let's say one bedroom. Uh, and uh I'll I'll kind of uh I'll kind of read the name of the development. I hope it's in Nulu, and you guys guess what a one bedroom is.
SPEAKER_06I don't even want to think about what those apartments in the Zen will look like.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Let's go one bedroom at the yard. What do you think it is? And don't look at my screen, Joel, because I know you can see it.
SPEAKER_04Uh I mean I I toured it and they told me, so I don't know if I'm what do you remember it as? I want to say it was um like 14?
SPEAKER_051300 according to this.
SPEAKER_06Man, I was gonna say 18 to 2000.
SPEAKER_05I should ask you guys before I gave up. Well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00They always say like starting at like 13, and then it's actually like it's utilities park. Oh my, so it's it's probably more like 1800.
SPEAKER_05Olivia knows the game, unfortunately. Uh yeah, and this is from apartments.com. So, you know, maybe they uh I don't know, maybe they get some kind of like discount rates or something like that they can offer. Uh Grocer's Ice Loft. How much is a one-bedroom at Grocer's Ice Loft? You got a guess?
SPEAKER_00I feel like that's got to be 1400.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, 15, 14. Uh yeah, I'll say 14. A two-bedroom is fifteen, but a one-bedroom is only one thousand fifty. But again, there could be hidden costs. We don't know about. Uh let's go one more here. 310 at New Lou apartments. Those are very nice. They're very new. Uh I'll say 1,200.
SPEAKER_04I'll say 15.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say 16.
SPEAKER_051273. All right, there you go. Okay, Peter. All right, yeah, that was uh fun. I just thought it'd be fun to have a little quiz there. Uh, you know, I don't know um how these the sizes and footprints of these apartments compare, but uh, you know.
SPEAKER_06I mean, there are deals to be had in the area. The uh my favorite house that I ever lived in was uh uh right on Muhammad Ali. My wife and I lived there for about two to three years right before we bought uh our house. Uh and it it was an awesome two-story shotgun, brand new build. We lived there for a thousand dollars a month, nice backyard. And it was three blocks from Market Street, right next to Fall City.
SPEAKER_05And you said that house went on sale and it wasn't a bad price when it was on sale.
SPEAKER_06It sold for $245. Yeah, that's not insane.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, that that close to New Louis is not bad at all. Yeah, so uh interesting stuff there. Uh getting back to development. Olivia, you had a story this week about Barnes and Noble adding another location in Louisville. Where's it going?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it's um gonna open up in the old Zappos at the Mall at Mall St. Matthew. So it's gonna be the third Barnes and Noble in Louisville, which is very exciting. Love me some Barnes and Noble action. Um but it'll be like a the basic 20,000 square foot store. I know a lot of people online were asking whether it'll it'll have the Barnes and Noble Cafe, and it will.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so that's always exciting.
SPEAKER_05Uh and they were doing a wider push, I guess, for uh for new stores too. Didn't you say they had like 60 new stores coming online this year?
SPEAKER_00Yes, they're expanding nationwide. Um and so uh I had reported that in the pri in the last decade or so, Barnes and Noble had struggled to sort of find its footing um just due to other bookstores popping up. So um, especially with Amazon. So this is an interesting piece that they're able to expand now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Seems like they're they're going for it. So all right. Uh one more development story. You had a story about a new hi-fi bar, which sounds really cool.
SPEAKER_00I'm excited for this. It's so I spoke with Craig Ruprecht, who is the um general manager over at neat bourbon bar and bottle shop over on Bardstown. Um and so this idea came to him when he was doom scrolling one night, and he was doom scrolling through Clarksville history because that's where he lives. Um so he came across Club Greyhound, which is why Southern Indiana allegedly used to be called Little Reno or Little Vegas, um, which I never heard. I never heard that, never heard that. I I believe it. I believe it. I'll let them.
SPEAKER_05I've heard of the Clarksville Mafia, though.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and I guess that somehow tied into Club Greyhound. I don't know. I I was lost in the history, I guess. But he's planning a 1930s sort of bar that has a listening lounge in it on the one side. Um, and it seems really cool. He's going to have little historical pieces throughout and have um some drinks that kind of pay homage to the history. Uh, but this all just comes right after Colgate announced um their big uh development that's heading over there, that $500 or $500 million development. Um so this is exciting stuff because they'll be right down the road from the Colgate Clock Tower, and they're gonna be under eight our current 812, so uh some apartments and just downtown Clarksville right now. They said we might not have a downtown, but we'll build one. So this is gonna be good.
SPEAKER_05And that's the cool thing about building a new downtown, is like you can do anything you want.
SPEAKER_06Are you guys familiar with these uh hi-fi bars? The concept I'm not. This is the first I've heard of it. They're super cool. Uh so they originate in Tokyo where all great things tend to originate, all cool things anyway. Uh but the centerpiece is uh are these really expensive hi-fi systems. These bar owners are spending fifteen, thirty thousand dollars on you know, super nice audio equipment and speakers. And the vibe is you come in, order a cocktail, and you just sit there. You could talk very, very quietly, but the music is the the primary driver in the experience.
SPEAKER_05I wonder, did they say what kind of music they're gonna focus on for this?
SPEAKER_00Um, I think it's gonna have like more 60s and 70s, so older older music, but um he did talk to me about like different radios that he was gonna have, and to be honest, I was I'm just not a hi-fi.
SPEAKER_05I don't know what's gonna he said something about probably like sounds good.
SPEAKER_06Wow, nice. Yeah, the whole audiophile scene is its own insane, expensive subculture.
SPEAKER_05I was I'm always like if I can get over tonnitus and I can hear that, I'll uh I'll tell you if it sounds good. Um yeah, it sounds really cool though. I love the concept. I'm a big when I listen to music, I listen to albums, and I love the idea of like just like focusing on an album for a while and kind of instead of just it being on in the background, it becomes like the main thing. So that sounds really cool. Turning to more serious topics here. Zach, you've been watching coverage of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation of UPS Flight 2976, which of course crashed in Louisville in November. A few interesting details have come out of that this week, right?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it was uh very heavy and technical stuff. Uh so the NTSB held their hearing in DC, and they basically uh grilled representatives from UPS, Boeing, and FAA uh about the crash. I think the most interesting part and probably the most heartbreaking part of the story that we didn't know about was that the crew uh on that flight rejected their first aircraft because the pilot deemed it to not be airworking.
SPEAKER_05It was a leak, a fuel leak.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. And then UPS assigned them to the second plane, which uh they gave the thumbs up to, and the engine fell off and the tragedy happened. So that was uh really hard to hear. Yeah, that was. And you know, over the course of the two days, uh the conversation ranged from UPS safety procedures. Uh that was a big focus of day one. The second day was more of a blame game, the FAA or the NTSB grilling uh the FAA and Boeing about why this known problem didn't rise to the level of uh emergency isn't the right word, but why didn't it become a priority repair?
SPEAKER_05Flight safety risk, I believe was the phrase they used.
SPEAKER_06But so you know, there'll be the the findings from this will eventually form the final report where the recommendations will come from.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Yeah, that was interesting too. I mean, it's like they knew that there was this problem, but the in the way it was kind of it wasn't seen as a problem that would cause uh uh any risk to the safety of the flight. So right. Um so yeah, very interesting stuff. I will link both those stories. Up next, we're gonna hear from our sponsors. Um, business first, Lisa Benson has an interview with Gail Tway, who works as director of portfolio management for Baird Trust. Uh so we'll go to that. We'll be back in about nine minutes with a bit more.
SPEAKER_03This is Lisa Benson, publisher at Louisville Business First. And my guest today is Gail Tway, Director of Portfolio Management at Baird Trust. Gail is a certified financial planner with more than 30 years' experience in the investment industry. She chairs the investment committee for Baird Trust and also is a member of the Trust Company's leadership team. Previously, Gail was a senior investment advisor at PC Wealth Management, and she also has served as an arbitrator for FINRA, as well as head of equity, research, and portfolio management for Atlas Brown. Out in the community, she's a member of the Norton Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors, and she also serves on the alumni board for Kentucky Country Day School. Welcome to the podcast, Gail. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Well, let's start out by talking a little about your role at Bear Trust. What does it mean to be director of portfolio management?
SPEAKER_02So, the director of portfolio management for Baird Trust, as you already indicated, chairs the investment committee. I manage the portfolio management team. So we've got about 19 individuals that are managing money for high net worth families, institutions as well, and foundations. And then there is a fair amount of compliance that goes into my role. So just making sure that the portfolio management team are all aligned in the way that we manage accounts. And I'm a troubleshooter for my team as well. So if something comes up and they're not exactly sure how to handle a situation, I uh lend an ear and some advice when needed.
SPEAKER_03So, how did you get into this line of work? What initially drew you to a career in finance?
SPEAKER_02So I probably have an unconventional way of uh finding the business. I went to Vanderbilt University and have a degree in economics and psychology. And as I was trying to decide what I wanted to do, a professor brought up that they had a personality profile that was open to students. It was about a six-hour exam. And when you finished that program, it would basically tell you what professions your personality aligned most with. And my result was uh investment advisor, trust officer, or lawyer. Uh so it it sort of directed me into that role. And I started a career as an investment advisor working for Hilliard Lyons back in the day.
SPEAKER_03So the test got it right, it sounds like it sounds like it did, yes. Well, we do a regular project here at Business First called People to Know in Banking and Finance. And we oftentimes find there are a lot more men in financial roles than women in organizations in Louisville. So, what is your advice to women who may be thinking about or currently pursuing a role in finance and want to build a career like yours? I would say go for it.
SPEAKER_02I think it's a huge advantage today to be a female in finance simply because there aren't that many of us. So for college kids, even high school students who are starting to think, well, maybe I'd love to have a career in finance. When they get to college, I would work with my advisors, professors, make sure that they take the right types of courses to prepare them for a finance position. So things like economics classes, accounting classes, frankly, I felt like psychology classes were really important. Um, and then, you know, pursue internships, work with career services. The more that you can get your foot in the door, the better. But we have found it baired that the more uh diverse a team is, so the more mixed between males and females, people of diverse backgrounds, the better those teams perform. So women are in high demand.
SPEAKER_03So, Gail, what would your advice be to someone who has broken into the industry and then is trying to sort of build a career and grow from there?
SPEAKER_02So I would say once you've got your foot in the door, make sure you raise your hand for any project, anything that comes up where you can set yourself apart from others. Um be respectful and thoughtful in your approach. And and one thing that I see people new in the business do is when they're in meetings, they feel like they need to speak. Um, and I would say if you're going to speak up in a meeting, only do it when you have something really valuable to add to the group, uh, because then people will begin to know that about you and look and say, Oh, she's getting ready to say something, I need to pay attention. Um, and then be a good teammate. Uh, you know, if if we don't approach work with kind of a team work attitude, that can be very isolating. And um, you know, your peers want to help you over time if you're a good teammate.
SPEAKER_03What about um mentors in your career? Have there been certain mentors that have really helped you along the way?
SPEAKER_02Yes, definitely. So when I first got into the business, I was a college graduate. I had very little experience. Um, and of course, Hilliard's had a very good training program. But there's a difference between textbook training, classwork training, and actual on-the-job training. And I understood that I was dealing with people's finances. And if you think about it, if you ask people to rank what's most important to them in their lives, it's usually their health, their children, and their assets. Um so I reached out. There were two women who were financial advisors, and I would head down to their office when the market closed at least two, three times a week asking for advice. And they really helped shape how I thought about the business. And then uh our own Jim Allen, our vice chair of Baird, when I joined the company, he was the director of fixed income. And I asked him if I could take him to lunch. There were some things about the products uh that were part of his division that I didn't understand and I had questions about, and just wanted to make sure I did the right thing for clients. And through that, we made a connection. And um, you know, Jim has kind of been behind me my entire career helping um helping me make decisions.
SPEAKER_03I think Jim's been a great mentor for a lot of people in this community. You mentioned you've been working in the field for decades now. So talk just a little bit about the culture change related to women in finance. And are you hopeful that more women will continue to get into this field and rise to the top?
SPEAKER_02I really am hopeful that more and more women will get involved. And I think there's been a very significant change through the years. You know, when I first got into the business, I had people saying to me, you know, this is kind of a rough industry. Are you are you sure that's what you want to do? There were a lot of questions about that. And now when I look at all the programs within Baird, you know, we have the Baird Women Advisor Network. There's really a lot more collaboration, and folks want all of their teammates to succeed. Um, not just not just women in the industry, but there's a lot more opportunities for mentorship. You know, when I first started, and I would still give women this advice, you know, don't expect your mentor to find you. Reach out and ask for advice, um, ask for assistance. People, people love to help others, but culturally, there's a big difference. There's a lot more folks that that want to help and raise women up. There's a lot more programs training-wise. Um, and frankly, there's just a lot more of us in the industry. I spoke at our Baird Women Advisors Network recently, and there were hundreds of women in the room. And I can remember in the early 90s being in a, we called it the broker forum back then. And there were maybe five of us in a room full of men. So that's changed significantly. And I think people understand that while we're all different, um, and I wouldn't want to say that this is only a female characteristic, but I think women tend to be really good listeners. Um, and that is so important in our industry. And I think there's a lot more deference and respect given to that. So um, I think that's probably the biggest change I've seen culturally.
SPEAKER_03Well, Gail, this has been such an interesting discussion. Thank you for joining me today and sharing your journey and your insights with Access Louisville Podcast. And I bet you're gonna have some women reaching out to you to ask you for coffee and some advice after this uh airs.
SPEAKER_02Well, that would be wonderful. There's nothing that I like doing more than helping others. Thank you, Gail.
SPEAKER_01Thanks. Baird Trust Company is a Kentucky State Chartered Trust Company. Baird Trust is affiliated with Robert W. Baird Company, Incorporated, member SIPC.
SPEAKER_05Okay, well, thanks, Lisa and Gail. That is our show this week, except we just started this new thing called Give Us Something to Think About. We'll go around here and go around the room here, and uh, you guys share maybe an observation or thought uh that you want people to know about. And uh Joel, I'll start with you.
SPEAKER_04So I was struggling to come up with something for this because this is our first time. Yeah. My first time doing this. We just started it last week. So I Googled interesting facts about Louisville, the business community, to try and come up with something. And AI, just another example of why you can't trust AI yet, quite possibly. Uh it says that Louisville is the birthplace of supercommuters. And it cites Louisville Business First, as the people who reported that.
SPEAKER_05I don't remember reporting that.
SPEAKER_04Well, I did write a story on CEOs not living in Louisville, and apparently this. AI took from that that we're the birthplace. Yeah, the birthplace of supercommuter CEOs when really we just talked about that story just talked about how Louisville has a lot of CEOs that live in other cities than Louisville. That's very true.
SPEAKER_06But I think Jim Ray jumped supercommuting.
SPEAKER_04AI jumped to the conclusion, much like people who just read the headlines, that now we're the birthplace of supercommuters. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05That's interesting and terrifying. All right, Olivia, what you uh give us something to think about.
SPEAKER_00So this morning I went out to IUS for an economic a mid-year economic update. And one thing that York Dufresne um brought up during it was that mortgage rates are really high right now. So that in February of this year, they were 6.12%. Right now, 6.47%, which is crazy. But by the end of the year, he said like we're they're expecting that those are going to drop again, like pretty significantly. Um, but if you're buying a home within the next two months, it's not gonna change for you.
SPEAKER_06Why did he think it was gonna fall or just expect the Fed to cut?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so. That was part of it. And I think it was also just just with the economy right now and with everything being so unstable, he thinks by the end of the year things should calm down a little bit, hopefully. And it was also based on the 10-year yield, which I still have to look back on through my notes for that story. So have a better answer for you later.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. All right, Zach, what you got?
SPEAKER_06So I'm going to the ri to the racing game on Saturday.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And I really hope people show up for this game. It's pretty embarrassing going to those games to our only major league sports franchise and seeing I mean, they're they're reporting that they average about 5,000, but every racing game I've been to, I haven't been to the Thunder game or anything, but every game that I've been to has been well below 5,000. And it it it's really sad to see, especially when you look at other teams in the NWSL like Kansas City or Portland, they are selling out those stadiums and they're rowdy. And I know it's a different kind of sports culture in those cities, but I don't know. Something about me it about this doesn't sit well for me. Yeah. Um I hope we're able to hold on to that franchise because we recently reported that uh soccer holdings acquired the franchise in 2019 for a million dollars. It's worth 140 mil now. They're sitting on an absolute gold mine, and especially with this hockey arena in the works, I mean that sounds like a pretty tempting move to offload the team to build that arena. Yeah. So I I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Do you have any ideas of why uh they're not getting the attendance that they should?
SPEAKER_05I I mean their records definitely it's not they've not been great. They did make the playoffs last year. That's true. They're very, very close.
SPEAKER_06They made the playoffs for the first time last year they squeaked in. Uh this year the team's not playing that well. But I don't know. Is I don't know how much of a soccer city Louisville is, and then you're you're trying to sell women's soccer on top of that.
SPEAKER_05I think people are just too traditional and like won't take a chance on something new.
SPEAKER_00Well, hey, I'll see you there. Awesome. Let's go.
SPEAKER_05I'd love going to those games. I do too.
SPEAKER_00They're fun. And if you get there 30 minutes before, you get a $3 beer.
SPEAKER_05Now that that's something to think about. Uh all right, let's see here. That'll do it for this week. Uh, if you like what you hear, please consider subscribing to the Access Louable Podcast on popular services like Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Uh, thank you very much, Zach, Olivia, and Joel. Thank you, Lisa and Gail. Of course, thank you guys for listening to us out there, and we will see you next time. Bye-bye.