Frankfort was not immune to the Urban Renewal craze of the mid-20th Century. The historically African-American neighborhood known as Crawfish Bottom, which had existed since the early 19th Century, was completely razed in the mid-1960s with the aid of federal Urban Renewal funds. This was due to the perception that the area was crime-ridden, seedy, and "blighted." The approximately 400 families and multiple businesses in the neighborhood were displaced, and the stark, modernist Capital Plaza development emerged in its place. Capital Plaza, which was constructed from the mid-1960s into the mid-1970s, takes the modernist vision of pedestrian separation from vehicles, stark, sleek towers, car dependency, and lots of open space to its originally intended conclusion, but is very heavily underutilized and has been seen largely as a failure, with the state of Kentucky calling for redevelopment of the site. Back in May, an article was published stating that the tallest building in the city, and centerpiece of the Capital Plaza Development, the Capital Plaza Tower, is slated for demolition this fall. Constructed in 1972, the 28-story office tower is the tallest in the city, but has been vacated by the state government, and a five-story building containing more office space and with a more efficient layout is slated to take its place. The entire area is planned to undergo quite a bit of incremental redevelopment in the coming years, which will hopefully tie it back in to the surrounding city and make Frankfort a more beautiful and vibrant city.
Posted by w_lemay on 2018-05-14 03:45:13
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