ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- Several empty lots on the south side of Elizabethtown could soon be welcoming new businesses, as city leaders work to revitalize the corridor.
Before the construction of Interstate 65, that area of town was booming, said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory.
"All the motels and all the businesses that we had on this south side of Elizabethtown were really affected," Gregory said. "And basically a lot of them went out of business because they weren't seeing the same kind of traffic because of the new interstate."
Gregory and city officials have worked to revitalize that area for the last several years, hoping it can one day mirror the north side of town, where hotels and restaurants line the interstate exits.
The city has already invested $4 million to upgrade utilities, and another $11 million from the state will fund major infrastructure improvements.
Gregory said those improvements will include "street lights, bike paths, sidewalks and a brand new street on 31-W on the East Dixie corridor here in Elizabethtown."
In a few years time, Elizabethtown has ushered into that corridor two new truck stop gas stations, a new fire station and several other local businesses.
The next development the city is welcoming: a new Hyatt hotel.
Louisville-based development group, BKS, announced last week its plans to build a Hyatt on East Dixie Avenue in the city's south end.
This is a vacant lot on the south side of Elizabethtown that will soon be transformed into a hotel. (WDRB image)
The group purchased the vacant property for $1,080,000. The hotel will be constructed on a 2.5 acre piece of the 12 acre lot.
"This is going to be a beautiful development with a new hotel, more restaurants, more lodging, things like that," said Elizabethtown Business Development Director Terry Shipp.
BKS, a development group based in Louisville, is hoping to develop this Hyatt-branded hotel on one of the vacant lots on East Dixie.
Shipp said the million-dollar development can pave the way for more.
"Each business that we land, and each project that we get for this side of town, it just perpetuates itself with the next because success breeds success."
The city is playing the long game, building momentum one project at a time in hopes that the south side of town will thrive again.
"We think in five to seven years that you're not going to be able to recognize 31-W, East Dixie and Elizabethtown, because we have so much growth that we expect to come," Gregory said.
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