Access Louisville

Hosted by Louisville Business First

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Episodes

346

Latest episode

Jun 2026

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EN-US

About the show

The latest news on Louisville, Kentucky from the staff of Louisville Business First. We look at trending issues in the Derby City from a business perspective. Join us each week!

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60 recent

June 12, 2026Episode 34426 min

A bourbon bankruptcy

Our next live podcast: Residential real estate trends are redefining Louisville's growth and neighborhoods. Join us for a live Access Louisville recording as we dive into the latest market insights. The event includes networking, breakfast and a spirited discussion of the latest news in our area. Our panel includes: Stacy Durbin, Semonin Realtors, Jakeeva Lee, Greater Louisville Association of Realtors and Jon Mand, Lenihan Sotheby's. Tickets and registration are available here.The bourbon industry has shifted and recent headlines bare that out. We discuss on this week's Access Louisville podcast.Topping our show this week is news on a potential deal to acquire Luca Mariano Distillery in Danville, Kentucky. As LBF Bourbon Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt notes Mark Newman, CEO of Las Vegas-based Apogee 21 Holdings, Inc., doing business as A21 Wine & Spirits, made a bid for $16.7 million to acquire the distillery as well as more than 6,600 barrels that are aging there. A hearing on the confirmation plan of the sale is set for July 7 in Detroit.In June 2025, Luca Mariano held a grand opening for the facility despite being involved in several lawsuits. A month later, LMD Holdings, the parent company of Luca Mariano, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.Also on the show this week, we chat about a different bourbon company, TKC Distilling Co, which is facing two lawsuits in Jefferson County Circuit Court over claims of unpaid bills. TKC Distilling Co. is the producer of True Story, a bourbon brand launched by Angel’s Envy Co-Founder Wes Henderson and his sons in September 2024.The company faces two legal complaints for more than $1.5 million. Late in the show we talk about the development of data centers, including a proposal for a data center in Charlestown, Indiana and new regulations being considered by Louisville Metro Government.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.

June 5, 2026Episode 34328 min

Latest restaurant news

Our next live podcast: Residential real estate trends are redefining Louisville's growth and neighborhoods. Join us for a live Access Louisville recording as we dive into the latest market insights. The event includes networking, breakfast and a spirited discussion of the latest news in our area. Our panel includes: Stacy Durbin, Semonin Realtors, Jakeeva Lee, Greater Louisville Association of Realtors and Jon Mand, Lenihan Sotheby's. Tickets and registration are available here.A Louisville brand with financial troubles and a new fast casual chain top this week's Access Louisville podcast. This week we dive into the latest restaurant news in the area, including the recent bankruptcy filing by Louisville-based coffee chain Please & Thank You. The business, famous for its chocolate chip cookies, is remaining open as it navigates a financial restructuring via a chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.Reporter Michael L. Jones is covering the story and is on the show this week to talk about some of the factors that led up to the bankruptcy, including a difficult environment for restaurants and a social media controversy that went viral. After that, Reporter Olivia Estright is also on the show to chat about a new fast casual restaurant concept coming to the area. Denver-based Teriyaki Madness has leased space at 1225 Veterans Parkway in Clarksville, Indiana, between Chillburger and The Joint Chiropractic.We also chat about a change in menu at Louie's Hot Chicken (it's going back to hot chicken after a brief flirtation with soups and sandwiches), a bakery that just moved into Floyds Knobs and the revival of Porkland BBQ following a zoning saga. Later in the show we talk about how the shutdown of I-65 is treating us thus far. The interstate closed on Monday and is to remained that way for two months as bridges are being repaired along it. We get into whether the relative smoothness of the shutdown bolsters the case for supporters of the 8664 plan. 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.

May 29, 2026Episode 34224 min

Bringing people back

Attracting former residents back to Louisville — boomerangs, as they're known — could potentially be a way to increase the city's population. But there are challenges to it. LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett joins us to talk about some of those issues on this week's Access Louisville podcast.Stinnett just wrapped up a cover story on the topic of boomerangs and how they fit into Louisville's growth strategy. The biggest stumbling block is the job market. In spite job gains in some sectors, Louisville doesn't have a lot of options for people holding advance degrees. Those jobs are often confined to bigger metropolises. Stinnett also looked at programs that small cities like Topeka, Kansas and Tulsa, Oklahoma have implemented in order to address a similar problem. After the boomerang discussion, we chat with Reporter Michael L. Jones about the financial troubles being experienced by Memorial Auditorium in Louisville and how a looming Metro budget cut may impact it. We also chat about an upcoming move by The Whirling Tiger, the closure of the Bristol Bar & Grille restaurant in Downtown Louisville and a pending relocation for Texas Roadhouse in Clarksville. 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.

May 22, 2026Episode 34125 min

Building up NuLu

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.

May 15, 2026Episode 34029 min

Louisville teams confront financial realities

Some of Louisville's highest level sports teams are facing serious financial realities, which we discuss on this week's Access Louisville podcast.First, we chat about Racing Louisville FC, the city's National Women's Soccer League franchise, which is looking for an equity investor. According to a story from ESPN, Soccer Holdings, LLC — the owner of Racing Louisville FC — is seeking an equity partner to keep the team competitive in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). A representative with Soccer Holdings told ESPN that its chairman, John Neace, was not interested in giving up controlling ownership or moving the team. Right now both Racing Louisville and Louisville City FC are locally owned, via Soccer Holdings. We discuss the implications of taking on outside investment — from positive outcomes (like higher caliber players) to negative outcomes (such as selling the team.)In a separate sports business story, we also chat about the financial consequences of Name Image Likeness rights and salaries for college athletes. Leaders at the University of Louisville have sounded the alarm about the lack of sustainability for situation. On this week's show, we also talk about a sweeping new plan for a $500 million development at the former Colgate-Palmolive Co. plant in Clarksville, Indiana. The plan would turn it into a mixed-use development, known as the Clockworks, which will have a large hotel and sports venue. We chat about a developers plans for a downtown-like area in Prospect.And we talk about the latest with the Louisville Zoo. And there's a brief mention of this new art gallery at the River Ridge Commerce Center.Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First.

May 4, 2026Episode 33934 min

An education leader's take on Downtown Louisville

Anne Kenworthy has her hands full. As president of Spalding University, she's in charge of leading an educational institution at a challenging time for that sector. In addition to everyday challenges, like keeping current on the artificial intelligence tools that are available to students, post secondary education is also facing an expected enrollment cliff (related to declining birthrates) as well as skepticism about the return on investment for a college education. Kenworthy, who was named as Spalding's president in 2024, talks about all of the above, and more, on this week's Access Louisville podcast. We even talk about how Spalding fits into downtown Louisville and some of the development taking place around thereShe said when she came into the job many people told her about Downtown's past — but she's interested in it's future."I'm excited about what is happening ... even just the last 18 months of downtown," she said. "I think the redevelopment of downtown is strong and just keeps getting stronger. You're publishing these stories every day where people are making significant investments into downtown."She praised the leadership of Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, Louisville Downtown Partnership and others. [By the way, if you like podcasts about downtown — also be sure to checkout recent live episode Access Louisville: Heart of the City].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, which are linked above.

May 1, 2026Episode 33829 min

Hopes for a 20-story Louisville building

There are some big commercial real estate projects on the horizon around town and we go over them on the Access Louisville podcast this week.LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett starts us off with an update on the 20-story Kentucky Home Life building. The historic Downtown building located at 237 S. Fifth St. was purchased at auction recently by Thrash Group. The 112-year-old building is one of the more high-profile vacant properties Downtown, sitting directly across Fifth Street from Metro Hall. The sale news comes after Business First reported last year that Thrash Group and an unnamed local partner were planning to convert the Kentucky Home Life Building into a mixed-use development with residential units, a hotel and first floor retail, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the project.After that, we chat about the latest with the Mid City Mall in the Highlands, including the closure of ValuMarket. And we discuss the Girl Scouts putting its office building on the market, a new Downtown health sciences building for UofL building and some updates to the Apple store at Oxmoor Center. After that, we share some Kentucky Derby advice as well as favorite stories (spoiler: Stinnett has some banger stories, including selling a Mint Julep to an infamous celebrity.) 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.

April 24, 2026Episode 33744 min

The state of dining out in Louisville

Many restaurants seem to live within four weeks of closing.Lawrence Weeks, chef and co-owner of Murray's Creole Pub, brought up that chilling point during a live recording of the Access Louisville podcast earlier this week. "If we do a month that's bad, it's hard to recover from that," he said on the show. That's why matters like food costs, the economy and consumer behavior are so important to the industry. Murray's Creole Pub is located in a 2,500-square-foot, two-story building at 1576 Bardstown Road in the Highlands. It offers a casual, pub‑style space on the first floor and a high‑end dining room upstairs.Weeks was joined on the podcast by Noam Bilitzer, of NuLu Mediterranean restaurant MeeshMeesh, Anne Shadle, of Mayan Cafe, also located in NuLu, LBF Restaurant Reporter Michael Jones and LBF Managing Editor David Mann. The panel discussed the impact of the delayed Kentucky Oaks post time during Derby week, staffing difficulties and turnover, thin profit margins (average around 4%) and the importance of community support and collaboration among local restaurants.The show was called "Access Louisville: The State of Dining out" and was recorded in front of an audience on April 21 at the Baird Conference Center at the 500W building. 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.

April 17, 2026Episode 33621 min

Inside a growing Louisville attraction

Louisville's Waterfront Botanical Garden is growing.Yeah, that's a pun — but it's also a true statement, considering the massive expansion project taking place there. This week Philip Koester, CEO at Waterfront Botanical Gardens, joins LBF's Access Louisville podcast to tells us about everything happening place there. Waterfront Botanical Gardens, 1435 Frankfort Avenue, is an urban botanical garden just east of Downtown Louisville, built on the site of a former landfill that was closed in the 1970s. The project opened to the public in October 2019.The first phase of a four-phase masterplan has been completed, representing the development of approximately five acres of the 23-acre site. Phase 2 will include the addition of the Bonsai House and Display Gardens, an approximately $8 million project. The garden already has about 50 trees in its collection. "Over the next several years we plan to have a total of 150 bonsai trees," Koester says on the show. One of the trees — found at the top of a mountain in Wyoming — is estimated to be 1,100 years old."That tree is gonna be the centerpiece of the fifth outdoor room [in the bonsai house exhibit]," he said. The five rooms will each hone in on one of the elements of Japanese Buddisst philosophy— fire, water, wind, earth and void (space)."It's going to be a huge selling point, a huge curiosity," he said. You can hear more from Koester in the interview, which is available in the player above. Waterfront Botanical Gardens had 2024 revenue of $7.4 million, up from $5 million the year prior, according to federal tax filings. It had net assets approaching $25 million. It welcomed 64,000 visitors last year.Waterfront Botanical Gardens is free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of $10.Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. Join us live: Our next live podcast, "Access Louisville: The State of Dining Out," is set for 4 p.m. April 21 at 500 West Jefferson. Three local chefs are coming on: Noam Bilitzer, of MeeshMeesh, Anne Shadle of Mayan Cafe and Lawrence Weeks of Murray’s Creole Pub. We’ll talk about issues facing the industry, including food costs, changing neighborhood dynamics and more. Tickets are available here.

April 10, 2026Episode 33528 min

Restaurant news roundup

It's April in Louisville so plenty of restaurants are opening around town. We go over the latest on this week's Access Louisville podcast. We start off the show with a conversation about Web and Honey. This deli is coming to the former ShopBar space at 950 Barret Ave. The deli is being launched by Melissa Ann Culton, the former co‑owner of Bluegrass Pizza & Pub in Danville, Kentucky.ShopBar closed in June 2025 after six years in business.After that, we chat about Harry's Taphouse, a Jeffersonville bar and restaurant that's coming to Georgetown. And we discuss Smoketown’s Trellis Brewing, which is launching an in-house kitchen to produce food designed specifically to pair with the brewery’s beers. We also discuss a new soul food restaurant coming to Russell, called GiGi's Kitchen, a new location for Indi's Chicken in New Albany and the story behind My Brotha's BBQ, which opened recently in Jeffersonville.Our next live podcast, "Access Louisville: The State of Dining Out," is set for 4 p.m. April 21 at 500 West Jefferson. Three local chefs are coming on: Noam Bilitzer, of MeeshMeesh, Anne Shadle of Mayan Cafe and Lawrence Weeks of Murray’s Creole Pub. We’ll talk about issues facing the industry, including food costs, changing neighborhood dynamics and more. Tickets are available here.After the restaurant talk, we get to talking about residential real estate. The Louisville region is projected to create jobs, but affordability remains a major concern with one-third of the workforce struggling to afford a one-bedroom apartment, as One Louisville CEO Trevor Pawl noted at a recent event. LBF Reporter Olivia Estright also just had an interview the president of Kentucky Realtors about the issue of affordability and more.Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.