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More shopping options and professional services soon will be headed to far eastern Jefferson County as the result of Louisville commercial real estate expansion under way at Landis Lakes TowneCenter.

Faulkner Real Estate Corp. has started construction of a second, 42,000-square-foot retail and office facility at the burgeoning commercial development at Shelbyville and South English Station roads, east of the Gene Snyder Freeway.

The $8 million Louisville commercial real estate building, which will have retail space on the first floor and office space on the second, is being constructed on a speculative basis and is scheduled to be completed in late August or early September.

The new Louisville commercial real estate structure is the twin of another retail and office building that Faulkner opened at Landis Lakes in 2004. That facility is fully leased with businesses such as Apex Physical Therapy, East End Obstetrics & Gynecology, Elite Fitness for Women, Java Brewing Co., Landis Lakes Cosmetic and Family Dentistry and Quiznos Sub.

Newly signed tenants for the existing building include Gourmet to Go, which offers prepared foods, a boutique grocery and cooking classes, and Honey Beez, a children’s clothing store specializing in private school uniforms.
Second building expected to lease quickly

Fred Faulkner, president of Faulkner Real Estate, said he expects the new Landis Lakes building — based on the demand that he has seen — to be close to fully occupied shortly after it is completed.

“We’ve had steady interest in the retail section and the office section,” he explained. “We anticipate that it will lease up pretty quickly.”

Landis Lakes TowneCenter is the 9.3-acre retail component of the 206-acre Louisville commercial real estate Landis Lakes mixed-use development, which is located across from the Lake Forest subdivision, straddling both sides of South English Station Road as it heads toward the Christian Academy of Louisville campus.

The residential portion of the development, overseen by other developers, is composed of five separate subdivisions with homes of various styles, sizes and prices.

In addition to the two retail and office buildings, Faulkner Real Estate plans to fill out its part of the project by developing space on an outlot for restaurants and banks. The exact mix and the timing of that development haven’t been determined, Faulkner said.

The developer said the project is located in a growing area with a “great income level demographic.”

“As we bring it online, it’s being well-received,” Faulkner added. “We’re seeing a lot of growth.”

When the Landis Lakes TowneCenter was proposed in 2001, it was hailed as the first Louisville commercial real estate project to adhere to the guidelines of Cornerstone 2020, Jefferson County’s long-term development plan.

The plan called for mixed-use projects with increased access for pedestrians.

It also said commercial centers should be oriented to their surrounding neighborhoods and not to major thoroughfares.

Cornerstone 2020 encourages residential developments to include a mix of home styles and prices to create blended socio-economic communities.

A key objective of the guidelines is to establish settings that reduce commuting distances to work, churches, schools and shopping.

Charles Cash, director of Louisville Metro Planning and Design Services, said the thinking behind Cornerstone 2020 is that “the daily needs of citizens can be met without necessarily driving all over the larger community.”

He pointed to large projects such as Norton Commons and Park du Valle as examples of developments where “the basic aspects of life are all close by.”

In the case of Landis Lakes TowneCenter — which is designated as a “neighborhood activity center” under Cornerstone 2020 — the idea is to get away from “linear development patterns,” such as the ones that occurred along Dixie and Preston highways and parts of Shelbyville Road as those areas grew.

Neighborhood activity centers are “more compact” developments, Cash said, that serve the surrounding region and create “more of a circular pattern around a major intersection.”