Derby City Gaming Downtown

Derby City Gaming Downtown, located in the heart of Louisville, KY was transformed from a historic bank building and parking garage into a fashionable facility. This 105,000-sf action-packed adult play-place brings gaming, restaurants, bars, entertainment and three levels of parking above the facility to downtown Louisville. In true Kentucky Derby fashion, this building was adorned with the legendary Garland of Roses. Strong Tower joined Messer Construction Co. to bring this beautiful vision to life.

The roses were made of oversized aluminum laser cut panels designed by Strong Tower. Support and anchoring of the panels were provided by 2” X 4” aluminum tubes to provide stiffness to the perforated 5’ X 12’ panels. In addition to their structural function, the aluminum tubes also provided a gap between the panels and the structure. After assembly, the panels were painted with a silver Kynar finish. Care was taken to maintain the panel markings as each panel was unique in the building sized pattern. The wall behind the panels was painted red and light fixtures were added in the gap. The illuminated red wall allows the laser cut roses to appear red in the evening hours.

Strong Tower also provided and installed round top interior storefront frames in the gift shop and a glass guardrail surrounding the opening in the floor for the escalator. In addition, Strong Tower installed decorative glass in the “Speakeasy”, laminated glass with speak holes in the “bank” and a large transaction window in the security office.

Strong Tower also provided automatic sliding doors, a gift shop display case and an extensive custom louvered screen wall which helped create an open-air gaming area. Louvers and a glass canopy were also procured and installed on the exterior façade. Additionally, Strong Tower had a considerable amount of work inside the building.

Strong Tower had to provide much more logistical support than is normally required. Due to the location of the site, there was no storage area. The materials had to be handled “just in time” and in the proper order for the project to proceed.

The challenges of this project were accentuated by the downtown location at the corner of two busy streets. Setting the large decorative rose panels took coordination of multiple man lifts. The rose panels only anchored at the corners; holding a precise gap on all four sides to maintain the pattern took attention and patience. The precise completion date, due to the facility’s grand opening set 150 days prior to the 150th Kentucky Derby, was a driving force to maintain schedule.