By Jeffrey Morris

When the Central Station Shopping Center opened in the summer of 2004, developers billed it as a draw for student shoppers, but it hasn’t taken off as quickly as some students hoped.

Located at the corner of Third Street and Central Avenue on what was previously an abandoned industrial site, it became the first major commercial development in the campus area in more than 20 years. But although it was completed more than a year ago, the center still has plenty of vacancies, leaving some students frustrated with the lack of shopping options. Today the center contains a Kroger, UPS Store, nail salon, video game store, several restaurants and a lot of unleased space.

Despite its location in the heart of the city and near a college campus, Central Station has several problems working against it, said Bill Dakan, the University of Louisville geography professor who drew up the new Louisville-Jefferson County merged government council districts.

“As a new facility, even with a major anchor like Kroger, it will take a while for the center to fill up,” he said. “The first 1,500 feet around a community center is critical for survival. Within that 1,500 feet [of Central Station] there is a football/baseball complex that provides no customers.

“Similarly, Churchill Downs does not offer a demographic base,” he said. “There is virtually no market to the west across the tracks.”

Dakan added that the median income of the Wilder Park and South Louisville neighborhoods in which the center is located also doesn’t help business.

“In terms of the residential market, the bulk of the housing is relatively lower middle class, and residents may not find anything of interest in the center except Kroger. People in Old Louisville will make the trip to Kroger but are unlikely to combine the grocery trip with going to a restaurant, although the take-out Chinese and Sub place should do well.”

The owners of Central Station aren’t talking about why the center remains mostly vacant. Steve Higdon of Faulkner and Hinton Real Estate Corporation said they would prefer not to discuss the unleased space, “as we have several deals in the pipeline that I don’t want to jeopardize,” he said.

Dakan said there are good reasons why the owners wouldn’t talk. “Many chain retailers do not want it known, for competitive purposes, that they are thinking of locating in a particular center. Loose talk by the owners can blow a deal in the works.”

Jimmy Jhuo, a manager at Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant, which opened at Central Station in May, said strict management keeps some retailers from leasing there.

“They make sure everyone has insurance and keeps up their property.” He also said that students currently make up only about 10 percent of his business, a number the restaurant hopes to increase. “If there were more restaurants in here that would bring more customers to us also.”

Now, Faulkner and Hinton are left with the question of which businesses to recruit.

“If I were the owners, I would push for cleaners, Laundromat and other services that appeal to renters and buyers,” Dakan said. “Take-out food has potential when grouped together, a food court of sorts. The center is too deep physically to attract pedestrian traffic.”

Based on information on Faulkner and Hinton’s Web site, http://www.faulkneronline.com, these may be the types of businesses with which the company is looking to fill the remaining space. The Web site sells the center’s amenities as being “strategically located in a high-density area with over 275,000 rooftops in a 3-mile radius … in an area populated by consumers who are looking for convenient services – the ideal site for quick service restaurants, movie rentals, laundry and personal services like hair and nail salons.”

They also state that the center is “highly visible – to take advantage of the high-volume traffic flow to and from the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, the University of Louisville, Churchill Downs and Papa John’s Stadium.”

Central Avenue has faced dramatic changes since the street was widened and extended from Third Street to Crittenden Drive. Other developments are currently ongoing in the area. Separate companies have plans to convert both the old pasta factory on Floyd Street and Reynolds Metals building into condominiums by 2006. U of L is also working with the “Housing Partnership” to restore undermaintained homes on Third Street from Winkler Boulevard to Southern Parkway.