Business and the Economy

Off-road parks are expanding into a new region of Kentucky.  The privately-owned “Rush Off-Road Park” is situated just outside Ashland.  The seven-thousand acre facility opens April 20th.  Besides traditional off-road vehicles, Kentucky Adventure Tourism Assistant Director Seth Wheat says such parks also accommodate more recent designs.   “And then, they also have trails that can accommodate your newer style side by side vehicles like Polaris Rangers and things of that sort.  They’ve got trails for jeeps and four by four trucks that have been modified and customized to climbs rocks and climb hills,” said Wheat.

A billionaire Kentucky native is buying the travel guide publisher Lonely Planet for $77.3 million. Lonely Planet's current owner—British broadcaster BBC Worldwide—announced on Tuesday the sale to NC2 Media, which is run by Daniel Houghton, a Western Kentucky University alum. He'll become Lonely Planet's chief operating officer, pending approval of the sale by the BBC Trust.

Amazon’s decision to build a customer service center in Winchester earned an award from a national magazine for investment and community impact. Trade & Industry Development magazine listed Amazon, General Electric in Louisville and Berry Plastics in Madisonville among the nation’s top 30 economic development projects from 2012 and winners of the magazine’s Corporate Investment & Community Impact Awards.

Developers of the Ark Encounter theme park expect to begin construction this year at its Grant County site. The attraction, which developers estimate will draw 1.6 million visitors the first year, is envisioned as a full-scale wooden ark that would ultimately include museums, theaters, amenities, event venues and outdoor parking.

FRANKFORT – Site Selection magazine’s annual Governor’s Cup rankings have placed Kentucky 10th in the nation for new and expanded industry activity in 2012. In 2012, Kentucky announced 354 location or expansion projects, resulting in 14,075 projected new full-time jobs and a capital investment estimated at nearly $2.7 billion.

The Department of Labor is sending more than $5 million to Eastern Kentucky to help laid-off coal miners and their families. $5,192,500, to be exact. The federal government announced the emergency grant today. In a press release, the agency said the money would go to providing re-training for miners and their spouses.

FRANKFORT — A new report from the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics shows 61 percent of graduates from the state’s public or private colleges in 2006 appear to be employed in Kentucky five years later. “This information is important to policymakers because it provides a preliminary gauge for the return-on-investment for education programs, and it helps us understand how likely our college graduates are to remain in Kentucky after they finish their credentials,” Charles McGrew, executive director of KCEWS, said in a statement.

Lexington is becoming a city known for its gamers.  Actually, it might be more appropriate to say the bluegrass town is a home to a significant number of on line game creators.  Jenna Greathouse is with Commerce Lexington, the city’s primary business collaborator.  “We’ve got an awful lot of young people here that are developing on line software games, so we’re trying to help build that cluster of companies.  So, we want people outside of Kentucky to know that we have the ability to do it here in Lexington and it’s actually taken place now,” said Greathouse.

The almost age old smell of roasting peanuts along Lexington’s Winchester road is expected to continue for years to come.  J.M. Smucker is investing more than 40 million dollars in Lexington’s Jif plant.   Daniel Lowry with the Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet says the investment is important for the state’s economy.  “They’re gonna make the plant better, you know they’re upgrading machinery.  They’ll expand their production line to meet increased demand.  So, things are going great for Jif.  That’s what we want to hear.  We want to make sure they can continue to compete and stay here in Kentucky,” said Lowry.

Kentucky grocery stores are fighting a proposal in this year's state legislature that would block their longtime goal of selling wine and liquor alongside other groceries. Some stores are distributing fliers to customers, urging them to tell their lawmakers to oppose House Bill 310. A consortium of grocers also ran full-page ads during the weekend against the legislation in newspapers in Lexington, Louisville, Ashland and Owensboro. Pushing the bill is a group formed late last year by independent liquor stores called Fighting Alcohol Consumption by Teens, or FACT.

Kentucky's agriculture leaders are supporting a new five year strategic plan to help the industry in the state. The plan, put together by the Kentucky Agriculture Council, puts emphasis on agriculture education, creating new markets and recruiting new people to farming.

Work on a plant that will neutralize chemical weapons at the Bluegrass Army Depot has hit a major milestone.    The Munitions Demilitarization Building is now under roof.  But work there could slow, unless Congress acts.  Site Project Manager Jeff Brubaker says the money could run out next month.  "We believe that additional funding will be made available shortly there after to keep the project moving forward.  However, we cannot with 100 percent certainty say that there may not be some impact later in the year,” said Brubaker.

In response to criticism, Maker's Mark has decided not to reduce the alcohol by volume of its bourbon after all. The distillery had move to a 42-percent alcohol by volume; the switch back to the traditional 45-percent alcohol by volume is immediate. The Loretto, Ky., distillery has posted this statement to its website—which Sunday afternoon wasn't loading properly—and Facebook page.

Imagine a top-flight racetrack in Eastern Kentucky with all the glamour and prestige of a premier entertainment venue married to the speed and electricity of Quarter Horse racing. Keeneland is envisioning just that. The Lexington Thoroughbred racetrack and sales company is teaming with Nevada-based Full House Resorts to buy the Thunder Ridge harness track in Prestonsburg for an undisclosed price and reinvent it as a Quarter Horse racetrack in the Corbin area, according to an exclusive story in Friday's Lexington Herald-Leader.

Since the recession that began in 2007, Lexington's housing market has been seeking a bottom from which to build. The market found it in 2012. Last year marked the first time since the mid-2000s that home sales grew compared to the year before, according to data released recently by the Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator's office. "That should be considered very encouraging," PVA David O'Neill said.

Officials leading to group that’s expected to reopen the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park say their team is on the ground and money has been spent. The state fair board approved a lease agreement last month with the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Company led by local businessman Ed Hart, who once operated the park before Six Flags took over. Hart's group agreed to spend $45 million in private funding over the first few years to reopen the park that’s been closed since 2009.