Tagged: cordish companies

Remember five years ago, when the Louisville Metro Council and then-Mayor Jerry Abramson fought over the Center City project?

Center City was to be a retail-focused expansion of the 4th Street Live entertainment district bounded by Second, Third and Liberty streets and Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

A Louisville man is claiming that the Maker's Mark Bourbon House and Lounge at Fourth Street Live refused to allow him to host a party at the venue because all of the party-goers would be African-American, says a lawsuit filed this week in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Andre Mulligan alleges that the Maker's Mark Lounge "officials" asked him about the "'ratio' of 'black people' to 'white people' at the planned party during a meeting, the lawsuit said.

After receiving roughly $30 million in public subsidies, and after nearly a decade in business, Fourth Street Live hasn't turned enough of a profit to pay Metro Government any dividends.  The entertainment district is run by The Cordish Companies, a Baltimore-based developer. But by their calculations and accounting practices, Fourth Street Live isn't profitable -- at least not to the city per se.