Kentucky city doubles in size – overnight

But Louisville's historic downtown along the Ohio River is also blossoming. One-of-a-kind shops have moved into the West Main Historical District, the second largest collection of cast-iron storefronts outside New York City's Soho district. The city is moving toward the third phase of its river-front development. And people are moving back downtown.

"What I've seen in the last two years has been astonishing," says Lynn Winter, a local restaurateur and pioneer downtown resident. "People are getting out of their cars and they're walking around downtown. And that creates a whole different dynamic."

Whether the heart of Louisville stays downtown or moves to newly suburbanized areas remains for its residents to decide. So far, few seem to worry. "I don't think sprawl is a big problem here," says Paul Coomes, an economics professor at the University of Louisville. Unlike either Atlanta or Nashville, "we haven't had the big growth rates."

Local developers actually prefer the diversity. "All of a sudden, you can sell downtown, you can sell new suburban locations, you can deal with older industrial land," says Chuck Kavanaugh, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Louisville. "We've got it all."

Another unsettled question: How well will the new government run? Ever since voters approved consolidation last November, bureaucrats have been grinding through the details of the merger. The transition team has addressed everything from whose form to use for building inspections to accounting systems to, well, roosters. (The city has an antirooster ordinance; the county does not).

But beyond the absolute necessities, the big decisions will be left to the new mayor and metro council taking office Jan. 6. That's unusual, points out Stephen Haag Jr., who codirects the consolidation effort. While most places have merged departments ahead of time, and only later consolidated the elected heads, Louisville is merging the heads then deciding what the new government will look like.

That vagueness troubles some officials. "If you're going to change the form of government, you need a compelling reason," says County Commissioner Darryl Owens. But "we don't know what it's going to look like. We don't know how much it's going to cost. The reality is you don't have any specifics."

One likely trend is a loss of political clout for the city's African-Americans. Blacks now occupy a third of the seats on the current city council and one of three seats on the county commission (which Mr. Owens holds). But on the new metro council, they'll win less than a quarter in next month's elections, observers say.

On the other hand, consolidation has bolstered the city's self-confidence. And streamlining its bureaucracy will help the city move more nimbly when opportunities arise, supporters argue.

"When you have two people who believe they are in charge of the same community, sometimes they're in sync; sometimes [they] clash," says Abramson. "Most of the time, their staffs play games."

As the favorite to win November's election for the new mayor's post, Abramson plans to seize the political momentum and consolidate agencies and operations quickly if he's elected. Although such decisions are fraught with political risks, he relishes the challenge, he says. "It's very rare in one's life to be [present] at the moment of creation."

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