Access Louisville

Jim Allen, vice chairman of Robert W. Baird & Co., is on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Baird is the sponsor of the podcast, but Allen was on the show with LBF Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy to talk about local business as well as other topics.  At the top of the program, Allen tells us about progress since the merger between Hilliard Lyons and Baird. The merger of the two legacy financial firms (Hilliard Lyons dates back to 1854 in Louisville and Baird 1919 in Milwaukee) was announced in fall 2018 [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2018/11/27/hilliard-lyons-to-be-acquired.html] and completed in April 2019. The companies celebrated the five year anniversary of that merger last year and it's been going well since, he said. "What has really made it go is the cultural compatibility between the organizations," Allen said. The business has really changed over the 44 years that he's been in it, he explained. Back at the time he began, Hilliard Lyons was much more of a brokerage and transaction business. Today it's more about wealth planning, which he says is a market necessity particularly as wealth is being transferred across generations.  "Things are going really well [for the business] despite market volatility," he said.  Allen also spoke about Downtown Louisville on the show.  He's worked in Downtown Louisville throughout his career and long advocated for it, including when the company re-invested in the Louisville headquarters in the 500W Jefferson building. Baird invested more than $20 million into relocating and renovating its office spaces within the top five floors of the tower. [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2022/03/03/cre-baird-relocation-and.html] The company began moving into the space, totaling roughly 100,000 square feet, in early summer 2021. In spite of calls by some to move to the suburbs, he wanted the company to stay in the heart of the city. "We need a strong urban core, a strong business center to really thrive as a city and as a region. And, of course, as we all know Louisville is a key economic driver for the commonwealth of Kentucky. Having a vibrant downtown is really, really essential."  A part of the company's commitment to downtown includes underwriting the taxable subordinate debt for the KFC Yum Center, he said.  Back before the arena opened in 2010, Hilliard Lyons financed that debt, which covered the suite level of the arena and was not eligible for tax-free financing, he noted. Goldman Sachs was the lead underwriter for the Yum Center and did not want to underwrite that portion. "And so we did it," he said. "that's a very big source of pride for us ... as we all know the Yum Center has been transformational for Downtown Louisville." The Yum Center's 15th anniversary is on October 10, 2025. You can hear more from Allen in the podcast, which you can listen to in the player above or on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Links to the show on both of those platforms are at the top of the story. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from LBF which covers news in Louisville and features some of the city's key business leaders.

A handful of significant commercial real estate deals top this week's Access Louisville podcast.  LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on this week's show and tells us about the sale of the Brown-Forman Cooperage [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/06/02/jack-daniels-parent-brown-forman-sells-cooperage.html]. As he reported recently. Lebanon, Missouri-based Independent Stave Co. purchased the 16-acre property at 402 MacLean Ave. from Brown-Forman for $13.66 million on May 1, according to a deed filed with the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office. The site includes several storage warehouses, two equipment shops and the more than 4,000-square-foot production facility. The cooperage, which opened in 1945, produced about 2,000 barrels a day before closing this year as part of a 12% cut to Brown-Forman's global workforce. [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/01/14/brown-forman-restructuring-layoffs.html] Stinnett also tells us about a Louisville company, Goodson Clothing and Supply Co., moving into new office space on Nelson Miller Parkway [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/06/03/goodson-clothing-and-supply-moves-to-new-office.html]. We also chat about a new Wawa opening along Veterans Parkway in Clarksville, Indiana [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/30/wawa-opens-first-area-store.html]. And we discuss a couple of recently revealed plans for new speculative warehouses — one in Shelby County [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/27/simpsonville-spec-facilities.html] and another at the River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/06/04/vantrust-real-estate-breaks-ground-at-river-ridge.html]. In the last part of the show, we talk about the Academies of Louisville program, which aims to prepare students at Jefferson County Public Schools [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/06/06/jcps-whats-next-for-academies-of-louisville.html], for their careers post-high school. Eight years after it was implemented, a number of business and education officials are calling it a success — though a leadership change at the school certainly makes us wonder about its future.  Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

What's behind the Kroger Co.'s recent push to invest in Louisville? Jake Cannon, Louisville division president for Kroger, is on this week's Access Louisville podcast to explain that and much more. LBF has been reporting on major investments from Kroger in the market during the last few years. In March we had a story about a $1.8 million remodel of the West Broadway location [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/03/13/kroger-sets-grand-reopening-after.html]. Before that, we covered a $2 million renovation of the Outer Loop Kroger [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2024/10/10/kroger-shows-off-renovated-store.html]. Those are just to name a few recent examples. As Cannon explains on the show: "it takes capital dollars invested into our brick and mortar stores to make sure layout of the store is right and that we have the right assortment [of products.] Thousands of items are introduced into the market each year." For example, he noted, that when he ran a Kroger store in the 2000s, there was only one energy drink on the shelves: Red Bull.   "Now it's an aisle ... everybody in the world has an energy drink and that's what the customers are looking for," he said. Late last year, Kroger also announced a $40 million new marketplace store on Beulah Church Road [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2024/11/04/kroger-marketplace-groundbreaking.html]. The company is facing new competition in town, including Publix's entry and expansion into Louisville [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/03/publix-confirms-third-louisville-store.html]. Cannon talks about competition as well — including what he looks for when he visits Kroger's competitors. As well as companies that he personally admires, including Starbucks and Chik-fil-a. Cannon, originally from Utah, started working in a grocery store when he was 16 as he explained in this 2023 profile story in Business First [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2023/07/17/jake-cannon-kroger-division-president.html]. That store wasn't a Kroger location but he found his way to the company from there. He worked for Kroger in Utah, Las Vegas and at the company's general office in Cincinnati, before coming to Louisville.  Cincinnati-based Kroger has served the Louisville community for 95 years now at 27 stores across Jefferson County. Kroger Louisville Division operates 116 retail stores in Kentucky, Southern Indiana and Southern Illinois. Kroger Co. is one of the largest employers in Greater Louisville. Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The temporary closure of The Dirty Bird restaurant [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/21/dirty-bird-temporarily-closing.html]— which has struggled to obtain a liquor license — tops this week's Access Louisville podcast. The Audubon neighborhood restaurant has garnered attention in part because of the suggestive names on its menu — the appetizers are referred to as "foreplay" and the fish sandwich is called "the hooker," for instance. Fred Pizzonia, the property owner and manager of The Dirty Bird, told LBF Restaurant Reporter Michael L. Jones that a state ABC representative has complained about the names and he believes it to be a factor in the liquor license issue. We discuss that with Jones on this week's episode.  Jones also tells us about a new restaurant in New Albany with a well known local name — Falls City Kitchen [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/20/falls-city-kitchen-opening.html]. It's owned by Neace Ventures, the same company that owns Falls City Beer and a few other local food and beverage brands.  We also hear from Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt about the latest with this year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown, Kentucky. The festival is adding new experiences, as it takes inspiration from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas as well as the PGA Championship and the Kentucky Derby. Full details on that here [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/21/kentucky-bourbon-festival-2025-upgrades-prasse.html]. We also hear from our sponsors at Baird this week. LBF President and Publisher Lisa Benson is on the show with an interview with Mark Nickel, who is president and chief investment officer at Baird Trust to talk about numerous topics, including what's known as "The Great Wealth Transfer."  Access Louisville, sponsored by Baird, is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. Follow us on popular podcast services to never miss an episode. A look at the latest happenings in NuLu, a little pickleball, a little golf and even a small restaurant recap. All of the above are topics in a loaded edition of the Access Louisville podcast. LBF Reporter Michael L. Jones is on the show to discuss how Gravely Brewing Co. shook the local brewery scene by announcing that it would be moving its taproom from Phoenix Hill to 905 E. Main St. in NuLu [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/13/gravely-taproom-relocating.html].  Gravely Brewing opened at 514 Baxter Ave. [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2017/08/14/new-brewery-opens-in-louisville-this-week.html], near Hull Street, in 2017. The taproom has been a community staple ever since.  Yours truly will also talk about my initial observations after I visited Fifth Third Bank’s new office in NuLu for a sneak peek [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/15/fifth-third-bank-office-opening-nulu-2025.html]. The 10,000-square foot space is on the fourth floor of the NuLu Yard development, a $115 million project being overseen by Weyland Ventures. Zak Owens, our digital editor, is also on hand to discuss how the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has signed a lease to move into 47,000 square feet of space at 515 W. Market St [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/13/jefferson-county-sheriffs-office-moving-downtown.html]., a building owned by the University of Louisville Foundation, as reported by Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett. Owens will also talk about how Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg recently pulled the plug on a $65 million project for a large pickleball facility [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/09/mayor-greenberg-cancels-tennis-and-pickleball.html] in Joe Creason Park in response to an outpouring of public outcry. Staying on the sports theme, I will talk about PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan visiting town earlier this month for the Kentucky Derby [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/06/jay-monahan-pga-tour-isco-championship-golf-2025.html]. He and another member of the PGA Tour leadership team were Derby guests of Jimmy Kirchdorfer, the CEO/chairman of ISCO Industries who is also a co-owner of Valhalla Golf Club. I spoke with Monahan and Kircdorfer before they teed off for a round at Valhalla.  The main topic of conversation was how the PGA Tour is fully committed to having the ISCO Championship in Kentucky, which will take place in July. It will be at Hurstbourne Country Club for the next three years, with options to move the tournament to other courses in Kentucky.  Monahan also said that he thought it was “when not if” Louisville will be able to host another major golf tournament after last year’s PGA Championship took place at Valhalla. Keep in mind that the ultimate decision is made by the PGA of America, not the PGA Tour. I will also talk about how the ISCO Championship has already sold out of its 18th green hospitality suites [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/12/isco-championship-hospitality-suites-golf-2025.html] with the event still two months away. And finally, we will top the podcast off with Jones talking about two of his recent headlines. The first is the future opening of Gaucho Urban Brazilian Steakhouse [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/14/gaucho-urbano-louisville-location.html] at 2013 S. Hurstbourne Parkway. Jones will also share the latest on Tavern To-Go [https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2025/05/13/tavern-to-go-opening.html], located at 111 E. Hill St.