Town of Clarksville's $5.5 million Main Street project expect to benefit businesses

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Clarksville is taking another step in creating its new Main Street.

Crews with MAC Construction are in the process of demolishing the current flood wall opening near the intersection of Main Street and Riverside Drive. The project is intended to allow for better access between businesses and people who use the waterfront area.

Clarksville Redevelopment Commission celebrated the opening of Main Street in November 2021, but connecting Riverside Drive to Main Street has to wait until the flood wall project can be completed. The new flood wall expands the view of the Ohio River and adds sidewalks, bike lanes and two lanes of traffic to Riverside Drive.

"Of course we need to have the floodwall, it needs to be there but we can also beautify it at the same time and give a better sight line from our new Main Street to the river," said Ken Conklin, Clarksville communications director.

Hurra Season has owned his barber shop in the Bolt and Tie building for nearly three years.

CLARKSVLLE MAIN STREET PROJECT — Hurra Season cuts hair at his barber shop on June 14, 2023.

Season and other business owners believe the project will allow for more foot traffic and make the area more desirable.

"There is a lot of bike riders that ride the riverfront and so they can come through and see the development that is popping over here," Season said.

Ashlee Thomas opened her nutrition store less than a year ago. She likes the changes she is already seeing.

"We knew the area would boom but just seeing all this being a field and a couple of houses here and there to a whole building that's ready to open up, it's blown my mind," Thomas said.

The former Colgate-Palmolive plant building sits near Main Street, left with a lone tenant. Clarksville offered $6 million to buy the Colgate property earlier this year.

Before becoming the Colgate-Palmolive plant, it was the site of Indiana's first state prison in 1847 and became a state reformatory 50 years later. It was acquired by Colgate in 1924 and is also on the National Register of Historic Places. The famous clock on the building, built in 1906, was moved from Jersey City to Clarksville for the grand opening.

COLGATE CLOCK WORKING AGAIN — Colgate clock on June 13, 2023 in Clarksville, Indiana.

Colgate-Palmolive relocated the plant in 2008. It was purchased in 2011 by Boston Development Group before being transferred to Clark's Landing in 2014, officials said. Clark's Landing is owned by the same group as Boston Development.

The building's future is up in the air with a developer wanting it to become a hotel and apartments, while the town of Clarksville wants to keep the 100-year-old building's integrity.

"Unfortunately right now we are in the middle of litigation with them as the town is trying to preserve and protect the building and the clock," Conklin said.

The clock recently started working again.

Those in the area hope its a foreshadowing of what time has instore for the area and it's continued growth.

"You got the waterfront right down the street a couple miles down," Season said. "It's going to be crazy. I am just glad to be part of it."

The project, expected to cost around $5.5 million, is estimated to be completed late 2023 or early 2024.

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