In the Tuesday, July 12, edition of the Tribune, the classified advertising section contained the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission’s (ATC) lengthy list of permit renewals and requests for new permits, all slated to have been considered during the agency’s monthly public hearing for Floyd County on July 5.
While I’m not sure why the list was published a week late, it nonetheless contains two interesting nuggets pertaining to food and drink options in the burgeoning Charlestown Road exurb.
Applying for new three-way beer, wine and liquor permits were:
Joe’s OK Bayou of New Albany, 4308 Charlestown Road, New Albany. The original Joe's is located on Linn Station Road in Louisville's Hurstbourne area.
R. Kobe LLC, d.b.a. Kobe’s Steakhouse, 4317 Charlestown Road, New Albany. We're assuming this is the same group that operates the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse on the waterfront in Jeffersonville?
The location for these addresses is roughly halfway between Charlestown Crossing and Chapel Lane. Last Saturday, we cut through the exurb on our way back into town from Indianapolis, but there’s so much being built in the area that I frankly couldn’t distinguish between strip mall job sites.
At any rate, evidently a couple of these charming new structures are going to include the restaurants listed here.
At Tuesday afternoon's county council meeting, during a discussion about a future jail site and whether the current annex property on Grant Line Road would be suitable for it, CM Randy Stumler observed that EDIT funds are best used as originally intended, for economic development, and that economic development seems to be “doing okay on its own” just inside, and definitely outside, the I-265 beltway.
In addition to the two applicants above, the Grant Line Road branch of Applebee's by Wal-Mart (opposite Community Park) is getting close to opening, and we’re told that a 130-seat Charlestown Road exurbian branch of New York Capri Pizza (originally in Borden, now in Clarksville) is in the works
Taken as a whole, CM Stumler’s view seems amply supported.
So, referring back to a comment made by frequent poster Tim D., should we be happy or unhappy that the jobs created by these establishments are mere service sector positions?
I enjoyed the comments on the Trog Blog wherein it was said that the YMCA is so good at what it does that we should let it run the entire city, but not so good that it can arrive at reasonably accurate projections for future membership and usage.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that services will go where the people are. It is also true that people will go where services are if those services fill niches and special needs.
In a world filled with multiple paradigms that overlap, our Luddites can only focus on one simple syllogism at a time. Tim's intelligent enough to know better, and somewhere deep down, he knows with whom he should be on these issues.
He chooses to be elsewhere, and that's simply too bad.
To offer both agreement with our host's comment concerning travel to niche businesses and congratulations for deftly proving so in more concrete terms, I think it's worth mentioning my experience a couple of days ago out on Hurstbourne Lane.
ReplyDeleteI was shopping for my employer at a big box retailer (ugh) while sporting my I'm For It NABC T-shirt. An employee of the store stopped me to comment on my shirt and tell me how much he enjoys the business it represents.
Fifteen minutes later, a fellow diner at a sandwhich shop did the same.
I'm not sure either of them were volunteering to listen to my New Albany sales pitch but it was delivered anyway. And that wouldn't have been possible without Roger and company.
The success of "Build it and they will come" seems to be predicated on how well you build it.
Let's just hope the trog blogger who suggested a Dollar Tree for downtown doesn't get in the beer business anytime soon.
One potential benefit of Scribner Place will be the shaking loose of some properties from long-time speculators. There seems to be a "hold" mentality amongst some downtown property owners, with each waiting for the conditions to change before liquidating.
ReplyDeleteAs one local real estate pro mentioned to me recently about a downtown investor, "Once Scribner Place is built and downtown livens up, their current business will be a sideline to their real estate business."
It'll be interesting to see which properties become available. I wonder if the city will take advantage of the changed legal situation and adopt a more aggressive stance similar to Jeffersonville, forcing inactive property owners into selling.
I wonder if Joe's is moving to NA or opening a second location?
ReplyDeleteWork is nearly next door to the shopping center where Joe's is located.
It's interesting that the restaurants in the strip mall seem to be considered mostly weekday lunch spots while the TGIFriday's on the other side of the parking lot draws a huge evening and weekend crowd.
Either way it is interesting news.
I think the interstate exchange has more to do with the retail development out Charlestown Road than anything.
I really hate the Charlestown Road development. It's mostly personal. My great-great grandparents graves were moved to make way for the movie theatre. I will never be happy about that.
Some distant cousins are sitting on what will probably turn out to be a fortune for them in land. They have another of my great-great grandparents farm (Charlestown Rd frontage on the other side of Chapel Ln.) The thing is, I'm not sure they want to sell. The farm has been in the family for well over 100 years.
Once that land has been developed it would be difficult to restore it to the natural state.
Another reason to support redevelopment.
Having grown up in Hamburg, I know of which nagirl speaks. The natural environment that comprised my world as a child is now cookie cutter subdivisions and strip malls with the gap between Hamburg and New Albany getting smaller everyday.
ReplyDeleteOn a brighter note, Hamburg area farmer Donald Graf will forever be one of my heros. Upon being offered a seven figure sum for his farm long before any of the current development began, Mr. Graf just laughed, repeated the number, and said "I think more of my neighbors than that."
If you haven't already read it, there's a good article in this week's LEO about New Urbanism. The reprinted graphic and text from Mother Jones mag alone is worth checking it out.
I've heard that there's a Floyd County land trust in the works. Does anybody have information?
We need a Floyd county land trust before everything is developed. I have not heard anything about it but I certainly support the idea.
ReplyDeleteThe Indiana chapter of the Nature Conservancy has $$$$$$$ to spend (a very rich lady in Indy died and left them lots of money) and they are shopping. They have a Harrison county property. Maybe they would consider a Floyd county project.