Downtown Louisville
The steamboat era saw the opening of the Louisville and Portland Canal just west of downtown, and local commerce picked up further with the founding of banks and manufacturing.
Railroads lead to a diminished role for the river in transportation, further reducing the importance of downtown in favor of areas on what was then the edge of the city, along rail lines.
The riverfront area of downtown was still being actively improved, such as with the building of what is now George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge across the Ohio at Second Street in 1929.
After World War II, suburbanization increased and downtown began to decline as interstate highways further reduced the importance of its central location.
What became the almost entirely office and parking-lot dominated downtown still had many solidly single family residential blocks on its fringes up until the early 20th century.
Though these houses were built of brick and other longer-lasting materials, none remained single family homes by the 21st century, although some had been converted for other uses, such as office space.
The Brennan House at 631 S. Fifth, which is operated as a historic property with daily tours, shows a glimpse of downtown Louisville's residential past.
[3] By the late 20th century, downtown Louisville had acquired a reputation as a place to work and visit during the week but which shuts down evenings and weekends.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, new developments of luxury condominiums such as the 22-story Waterfront Park Place, and the $30 million project Fleur de Lis on Main, indicate increasing residential interest in downtown Louisville.
On September 9, 2013, Mayor Greg Fischer joined groundbreaking ceremonies for the second phase of RiverPark Place, a marina apartment/condominium development covering 40 acres along River Road, with a walkway west to Waterfront Park.
The redevelopment also includes property that extends east to Fourth Street, which will become a public piazza, and the historic Wright-Taylor building, a two-story, 13,500-square-foot (1,250 m2) structure that faces Fourth Street and is located behind the Henry Clay, and is now an upscale restaurant that occupies the entire Wright-Taylor building.
On August 19, 2007, city leaders and the Cordish Company, developers of 4th Street Live!, announced Center City, a $442 million, multi-year plan to develop 23 acres (93,000 m2), bounded by Second, Third and Liberty streets and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, that will include new housing, restaurants, a cinema and a boutique hotel.
[8] Also announced in 2007, the glass and steel $50 million shopping and office complex Iron Quarter was to be constructed within the Whiskey Row Historic District, but the project was delayed and eventually set aside when property owner Todd Blue made an agreement with the city of Louisville in January 2011 to demolish the seven original buildings.
