Imagine Nicholasville Road Lexington, Kentucky

Services Provided

Urban Design
Planning
Transit Oriented Development
Transportation Planning
Corridor Planning
Engagement

People Involved

Andy Knight
Luis Calvo

Awards

2021 KYAPA Special Merit Award for Outstanding Corridor Plan

A comprehensive and transformative transit-oriented development plan for the revitalization of a key urban corridor

The final plan re-imagines Nicholasville Road as a premium transit corridor and includes concepts for three catalyst sites. The sites, which include an aging retail shopping center, a traditional suburban mall, and a research farm owned by the University of Kentucky, were selected using a methodology involving objective criteria and input from the community. The concepts illustrate how TOD can occur on Nicholasville Road as commercial properties redevelop, and how this can help address Lexington’s housing needs. The study’s proposed transportation improvements create a vision for how to create a more pedestrian and transit-oriented street, with the goal of improving and increasing public transit use to move people more efficiently along this important regional corridor.

Recommendations from this study will be used to guide future development efforts and decision-making for Nicholasville Road. The study will also be used to prioritize transportation investments and coordinate them with redevelopment as it occurs over time.

MKSK was part of a multi-disciplinary team that engaged the Lexington community to create a vision for Nicholasville Road, a major arterial that connects Downtown Lexington with neighboring Jessamine County. The study focused on creating a joint transportation and land use vision for the corridor that pairs Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The study reached a wide demographic of the Lexington community through a vigorous engagement process. This included two public meetings, one of which took place entirely online and attracted more than 3,000 total views. An online survey with more than 5,000 responses was used to understand existing conditions and gauge community support for development and transportation improvements.

The 26 sites were selected by the project team, following a baseline analysis that included examining current zoning, land use, and major users.

Four Development Typologies

Each station is categorized as one of four development typologies identified in the graphic below, responding to the station’s surrounding character, land uses, and overall context.

The Three Sites

The three sites selected for this study, shown in the accompanying map, are the South Park and Crossroads Shopping Centers, the Fayette Mall and The Plaza at Fayette Mall properties, and University of Kentucky’s Emmert Farm property at the corner of Man-O-War and Nicholasville Road. These three sites, all of which are located on Nicholasville Road south of New Circle Road, received among the highest scores in the selection criteria rankings, and were identified by members of the community as sites with opportunity for development.

The three sites, as exhibited by their respective results in the criteria, have advantageous traits that make TOD feasible. For instance, the sites are generally larger than 10 acres in size, have significant frontage along Nicholasville Road, and are controlled by less than five owners.

The concept for South Park and Crossroads infills large parking lots fronting Nicholasville Road with mixed use development and town center spaces. New plazas and open spaces create a walkable connection between existing shopping areas and new infill development and transit.

The concept leverages the mall and its success as a regional draw to create a walkable and compact district. Existing surface parking lots both in the front and back of the property are re-imagined as mixed-use districts that create a new front door to the mall. The site’s concept places a future transit station within the interior of the site, near a new town center with restaurants, stores and apartments connecting to the mall’s main entrance. Properties along Rojay Drive are also shown with future redevelopment, though smaller in scale and more retail-oriented approaching the site of the new hotel near The Plaza currently under construction.

The design concept imagines a 20+ year scenario for this site built around establishing large and welcoming open spaces that build on the site’s history as a working farm. The concept concentrates mixed use developments along the corridor itself, at both Man O’ War Boulevard and Waveland Museum Lane. A future transit stop is located closer to Waveland Museum Lane, and the design leverages this transit amenity with an office, retail, and apartment development within a convenient walking distance. A smaller neighborhood-scale town center is located in the interior of the site, providing recreation and open space amenities for future residents of the townhomes and flats located within walking distance.