The World Coal Center was a proposed skyscraper in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

where the Phoenix Hotel had once stood at South Limestone, East Main Street and East Vine Street.Duke, Jacqueline. "Plans call for 'Lake Wilkinson' to be replaced by temporary park.' 11 May 1984. Herald-Leader exington 16 November 2006. The $100.5 million project would have included the 41-level skyscraper and a retail shopping center. It is today home to the main branch of the

Lexington Public Library The Lexington Public Library opened in 1905 in Lexington, Kentucky. It incorporated the collection of the former Lexington Library Company (est.1801) and the former Transylvania Library (est.1795). Today the main location of the Lexington Public ...

, Park Plaza Apartments and Phoenix Park.

History

Wallace Wilkinson Wallace Glenn Wilkinson (December 12, 1941 – July 5, 2002) was an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the state's 57th governor. Wilkinson dropped out of college at the Univer ...

, who later became Governor of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, had proposed the World Coal Center for Lexington in the early 1980s. In 1981, Wilkinson purchased the Phoenix Hotel and demolished it in hopes that the 41-floor skyscraper would be constructed on the site. The property would remain a rubble-filled site until 1984, when Wilkinson proposed that a temporary park be constructed over what had become known as "Lake Wilkinson." He proposed benches with tables, a "meandering path" constructed of crushed brick and stone from the old hotel, three entrance plazas, a small amphitheater, several shade trees, and fountains that would replace the demolished hotel until a suitable structure could be erected in its place. This announcement came before the finals for the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

basketball tournament that was to be held in Rupp Arena in 1985. The World Coal Center by this time had been reduced to a 25 floor high-rise. It was joked that the park be named after the Phoenix Hotel since it will "rise from the rubble" that had covered the property. Ironically, the park that did replace part of the old hotel site was named Phoenix Park.

History

References

See also