The building today is shared by Panasonic and Wausau Paper, and they take up most of the nearly 800,000 square feet.
It's encouraging that people who invest millions in this kind of property find this one worth so much. It suggests that those who are there intend to stay, and that the prospects of filling the rest of the space are good.
Most people don't yet realize the impact that hosting the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will have on Kentucky, and particularly on those communities of central Kentucky so close to the site of the event, the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
Since the announcement was made that the games would come to the United States for the first time ever, and more importantly to Kentucky, those charged with preparation have been visiting communities across the state to alert them to ways they can capitalize.
With connections like Phil Osborne, whose marketing company is heavily involved in the event, and facilities like the Norton Center for the Arts with event organizers like Debbie Hoskins and George Foreman, Danville and Boyle County should be able capitalize plenty.
We reported last week that Hoskins and Foreman will produce the Alltech Fortnight Festival, a series of performances coinciding with the games, and others serving as previews both this year and next.
The Norton Center is, of course, not the only venue, but it graces a list of sites that rest in Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati. That serves only to remind us how lucky we are to have such a facility in such a small town - and the expertise to operate it, expertise that is respected enough to provide leadership in this major undertaking.
We find no fault in Lancaster City Council's discussion last week, nor in the discussion to come on Monday, about the city's potential class change from fifth to fourth.
Yes, the timing of the first discussion was bad, at least to some.
Mayor Don Rinthen brought it up after the Fiscal Court discussed the possibility of a local option vote to accommodate liquor sales at a proposed lodge and state park on Herrington Lake in northern Garrard County.
Rinthen's brainstorm could easily have been interpreted as a kneejerk reaction. One could speculate that he was looking to take advantage of an opportunity, in part to position the city for package liquor sales in advance of the lodge's development. His motive might be to soften the development blow to Lancaster that liquor sales at a lodge in nothern Garrard might engender - one could speculate.
But there are many more reasons that Lancaster should be a fourth class city. They have to do with the availability of grants (which Rinthen addressed) but also with homeowners insurance rates and fire protection and an assortment of other enhancements.
Rinthen didn't do a particularly good job of selling this plan, but he is right that it should happen.
What we can't figure out is why the council need be involved. Yes, perhaps it's the courteous thing to do, but a city's class designation is based on population, pure and simple, and the legislature can make it happen without the city's blessing. In fact, it should.
Why is there not a system in place to make the change automatic with each census report? Why has this city, which has been eligible for fourth class benefits for some time, not been given the designation it deserves without all the debate.
Save the debate for local option votes. They happen then, anyway.
