LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The city of Louisville is celebrating another investment along the historic museum row with the addition of the Dream Hotel.
It’s something that didn’t seem possible when Mayor Greg Fischer first came into office in 2011.
“It’s tough right now but we gotta dream big, we have to dream for better days ahead, we have to dream for all the good things that we are going to be able to do to impact the city that we all love,” Fischer said.
That is the message he gave in 2011. Since then, Louisville has created 80,000 new jobs, 3,000 new businesses and now only has a 3% unemployment rate throughout the city.
With the approval of the Dream Hotel, 2022 is the best year yet for economic investment in the history of Louisville.
“It’s really critical that we filled in this block here, the Frazier here and, of course, we had the buildings next door,” Fischer said. “They were looking for some love and care for several years and boy, did they ever find it with the Dream Hotel.”
The eight-story hotel will stretch from 811 to 823 West Main Street and include 160 rooms, six food and beverage outlets, a rooftop event and meeting space, and a public courtyard space.
“To build on what’s here at Main Street, the integrity, the city, the revitalization, the adaptive reuse of buildings, and keep growing and showing that it is one of the most iconic streets in the United States,” Laurie Anne Roberts, executive director of the Main Street Association, said.
The team at Louisville Forward has secured projects totaling over $2 billion in 2022. In total, this year the team has located 46 projects that will create more than 3,500 new jobs in our city and pay an average wage of $61,910.
Fischer also announced other additions coming to downtown Louisville, including the Ed Lee restaurant on East Main Street, the 9th Street renovation starting in 2024, the Waterfront Park Phase 4 and Beecher Terrace.
“Historic preservation has kind of gotten a bad rap, it’s a bad name but really we are so lucky because it is the intersection of knowing our history, looking back at our legacy but moving forward with progress and the dream hotel does that,” Rebecca Fleischaker, executive director of Louisville Downtown Partnership, said.
Fischer also discussed that Bourbonism draws 19 million visitors to Louisville and generates nearly $3.5 billion in economic impact. The 2022 results are exceeding pre-pandemic records.
The project for the Dream Hotel is set to begin in 2023.