I wanted to focus this post on a few pieces of good news related to Fort Thomas lately:
1. Being a newer transplant to Fort Thomas I didn’t realize that Jeff Walz was a Fort Thomas kid. For those of you less sports inclined, he is the coach of the lady Cardinals (U of L) who took the team on a somewhat cinderella trip to the national championship game. Despite the fact that I am a UK grad, had a known he was from Fort Thomas I would have almost been persuaded to cheer for them. Almost.
2. Anyone seen the progress being made at the Newport Pavilion lately? The large mound of dirt near the southbound Grand Ave exit is almost leveled. The Kroger building continues to make significant progress. The cash infusion provided by BofA seems to be sustaining the development and lets hope for continued progress.
3. Lastly, how exciting that we could be a couple of short months away from the sell of the officers’ houses in Tower Park? We get this news yesterday that the last hurdle has apparently been cleared and the city and VA has agreed on how to manage the lead paint issue. The city will abate the asbestos and lead paint and reduce the purchase price by the appropriate amount. The last assessed value of the properties was in 2007 at $2.48 million for the 10 structures or an average of $248,000. Given the continued deterioration and falling home prices the bids submitted should be at least $215,000 but it will probably depend on how aggressive the 300 people on the list are interested in getting.