A Growing Role: Downtown Louisville’s Growth Has Meant More Responsibility For Hotelier Michael Howerton

Bizjournals.com:

What Michael Howerton remembers most clearly about his first visit to Louisville in the early 1980s is the large scrap yard on the banks of the Ohio River that greeted him as he drove into town.

It was not exactly an impressive sight, he recalls today, especially for someone working in the hospitality industry.

In those days, Howerton was director of operations and hotel franchising for Munster, Ind.-based Sweeney’s Specialty Restaurants, and he was working on a deal to open one of the chain’s concepts at the Breckinridge Inn on Breckinridge Lane.

Needless to say, his first look at Louisville left him questioning the long-term vision of the community.