A couple of major projects that the Louisville area has been watching for years appear to be inching forward — and we chat about them on the latest episode of the Access Louisville podcast.

The two projects are the One Park development effort in Louisville and the redevelopment effort around the former Colgate-Palmolive Co. plant in Clarksville, Indiana.

One Park is a massive mixed-use high-rise development from Jefferson Development Group planned near the intersection of Lexington Road and Grinstead Drive. Final state approval for tax increment financing, or TIF, for that project is “a couple weeks away,” the One Park team told Louisville Business First and WDRB News in a joint report. Nothing has really happened with the project since Kentucky’s incentives board gave the first of two approvals needed to provide state support for the estimated $554 million development in early 2024.

The news on Colgate is a new development team with Louisville-based Weyland Ventures at the helm.

Weyland Ventures says it has plans for the historic former toothpaste factory, which closed in 2007. It's been used by businesses since but town officials have long wanted to see the riverfront property developed for something greater. Weyland joins the effort as an eminent domain case — brought by the town of Clarksville to acquire the former plant — has been dismissed in the wake of a settlement.

“Their expertise in working collaboratively with communities to create vibrant and economically sustainable districts anchored by historic properties will result in a project of which we will all be proud," a statement from the town reads.

We also chat about the latest with a new middle school being developed at the former Passport Health Plan site at 18th and Broadway, a new housing development in West Louisville and a new science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) building in the works from Simmons College. To wrap up the show, we talk about a new Five Iron Golf simulator coming to Downtown Louisville and the latest with a plan to build a new whitewater attraction at Origin Park in Clarksville.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (which are linked above.) You can also listen in the player above.

We chat about Louisville's peer cities on the Access Louisville podcast this week.

Louisville Business First Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt recently wrapped up a story on the topic. While the list of Louisville's peers definitely varies depending on who's being asked a few things were clear.

First, Cincinnati, Indianapolis or Nashville, Tennessee — who we often like to compare ourselves to — are not really our peers because they are much bigger now than they used to be. Instead Memphis, Tennessee, Birmingham, Alabama and others are closer comparisons to Louisville.

During the show, we also discuss some ideas that Louisville could steal from other cities. Removing I-64 from the Downtown Louisville riverfront is one suggestion we come up with, as other cities have had success opening their riverfronts. Another suggestion we land on is a riverwalk in the vein of San Antonio — something Louisville has looked at in the past, including on a recent Greater Louisville Inc. trip.

In the second half of the show, we talk about Kentucky's resurgent manufacturing economy.

Schmidt recently visited Ford Motor Co.'s Louisville Assembly Plant to cover news of a new electric vehicle manufacturing process that's being launched in support of Ford's upcoming (and yet unnamed) midsize EV truck. We talk about how Ford's launch compares with what Toyota is doing at its plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. During the show, I reference a recent interview I did with the president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, which you can read here, in which we discussed EVs.

Schmidt also visited GE Appliances's Louisville operation to check out a recently unveiled manufacturing line there. And we chat about the news that Corning will begin manufacturing 100% of iPhone and Apple Watch glass at its facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

Does this mean that the manufacturing industry is finally making a comeback? We chat about it on the show.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The merger of Jefferson County and Louisville — yes, the one that happened 20+ years ago — is being threatened with a recent lawsuit. We chat about that on this week's Access Louisville podcast.

LBF Reporter Michael L. Jones explains that Real estate developer David Nicklies is challenging the constitutionality of merged local governments in Louisville Metro and Lexington-Fayette Urban County.

In a lawsuit filed in Jefferson District Court, Nicklies argues that the laws enabling these consolidations are examples of unconstitutional “special legislation” — laws tailored to specific localities in violation of Sections 59 and 60 of the Kentucky Constitution. Jones has a full story on the issue here.

The way in which merger was executed has been unpopular with some residents for a long time — particularly those who live outside of the old city limits, known today as the Urban Services District. Those outside the district don't get the same level of city services — garbage pickup, for instance — as those inside the district. Nicklies lawsuit argues that those residents, himself included, have been harmed by the merger.

We get into some the reaction to that on the show, as Jones spoke with former Mayor Jerry Abramson, an advocate of merger.

In a later segment of the show, we get to know Louisville Business First's newest reporter Olivia Estright. She joined LBF and the Access Louisville podcast crew just a few weeks ago and will be covering residential real estate, Southern Indiana and professional services in the city. You can read more about Estright here.

And to wrap things up LBF President and Publisher Lisa Benson is on the show this week with a conversation with Chip Sutherland, managing director at Baird. Baird is the sponsor of the show and they talk about a number of topics including Baird's role in public project finance.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.