The Transformation of Old Henry Road Corridor

David Peterson, the owner of Tafel Motors, said he could see this bright future back in 2004.

He started looking around Louisville after his Mercedes-Benz dealership’s location started showing a limited potential due to its restricted size.

“The automobile business, pretty much like every business, has things that work for a specific period of time and then smart companies evolve,” Peterson said during a recent interview. “It’s impossible to fit 10,000 potatoes in a five-pound bag.”

He also was convinced Old Henry Road and Factory Lane would be a focal point of this growth as improvements were being considered along that corridor.

He hired an architect and started molding an early vision of his plan, walking this corridor at least half-a-dozen times in knee-high boots because the grass was severely untended and long.

Peterson purchased his first parcel in the area during the mid-2000s and held onto the land for about a decade, watching other developers and projects start to hone in on the same location. The risk looked like it’d pay off.

Nowadays, the Old Henry Road and Factory Land corridor is packed with businesses. From Apartments to Office Buildings, Headquarters and Hotels – hundreds of millions of dollars are now invested in the area.

Peterson’s 20 acres blossomed into a dream come true, as he opened a large Mercedes-Benz of Louisville dealership off Old Henry Road.

“In general, this area is still very fresh,” he said. “I am surprised that restaurants haven’t been a little more aggressive coming this way.”

The Full Article was posted September 2020 by Marty Finley