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.

Louisville Business First and Access Louisville did a poll asking: What is the most important project in Louisville? We talked about the results of the poll all these projects this week's Access Louisville podcast. Here's a look at the top five priorities that Louisville must take action on.

1. Finding a new use for the Humana building: In early 2024, Humana Inc. announced plans to vacate the iconic tower and consolidate its local employees in the recently renovated Waterside building and neighboring Clocktower building. The Humana tower is now for sale and Chicago-based Cushman & Wakefield U.S. Inc. has been retained as the exclusive listing agent for the building — a 27-story structure at 500 W. Main St.
2. Two new Downtown hotels: Louisville Business First broke the news on both of them. The most recent one is a 1,000-room hotel tower at the now-vacant site next to the Muhammad Ali Center, which is in the “predevelopment” phase by Louisville-based Poe Cos. There’s also a 300-room, 27-story hotel tower being planned by Zyyo, led by founder and CEO Nick Campisano.
3. Converting the Starks Building: Back in 2020, Underhill Associates unveiled a plan to convert the empty office building at the corner of Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Fourth Street into apartments with first-floor retail. As proposed, the primary tenants would be artist and the units would be offered at rates affordable for that income.
4. Residential/retail development near Lynn Family Stadium: In March, Soccer Holdings, the parent of Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville FC, announced an agreement with Denton Floyd Real Estate Group and LDG Development to build a mixed-use development with 200 luxury apartment units along with dedicated retail spaces on the first floor.
5. A new use for the former Jeffboat site: Right now, it's a massive, rustic slab of concrete but it could be so much more. The vision is for a $1 billion mixed-use development transforming a former shipyard in Jeffersonville, Indiana, into a waterfront residential and commercial area. Columbus, Ohio-based Thrive Cos. is the developer. Site work and demolition have received grant money from the state of Indiana but it's all still in the early stages.

The show, sponsored by Baird, was episode 300 of Access Louisville. It was recorded in front of a live audience at the Baird Conference Center on the 29th floor of the 500W building in Downtown Louisville.

The program included three special guest:

• Earl Winebrenner, owner and president, Winebrenner Capital Management
• Michael Gross, development director, LDG Development
• John Hollenbach, managing partner, Hollenbach Oakley

The show was moderated by me and Joel Stinnett, senior reporter at Business First. You can find a few quotes from the our panelist in below but be sure to check out the program in the player above for the full show. Access Louisville is also available on popular podcast services, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.