Churchill Downs Inc. after "selling out its nearly 300-seat Mansion at prices of $7,000 and up" for this year's Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby is "planning another new seating area -- the Churchill Downs Rooftop Garden," according to a front-page piece by Gregory Hall of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. Plans show the track "would build the two-story facility on two acres near the big race’s starting point, at the top of the homestretch." The project "anticipates adding second-level seating overlooking the track near the quarter pole." The facility would "include betting windows and machines, a food court, at least one bar and a VIP area." Meanwhile, the rooftop garden plans "show two buildings would be torn down and a two-level terrace being built behind the northern-most section of the grandstand." The new structure would be 48-feet-high and would "have 22,500 square feet of renovated space and 52,300 square feet of new construction on the first floor and 44,800 square feet of renovated space and 5,300 square feet of new construction on the second." The development plan "did not specify how many people the new structure would hold or provide an estimate of its cost" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 7/25).
