# Ask Lex · @pauloliva · developer built big  
**Published:** 2026-04-24T01:13:29.000Z  
**Source:** [LexBot 24/7 Livestream](https://www.youtube.com/@TheLexingtonTimes/live)  
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**Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/ask-lex-listener-20260424t011329z-pauloliva-developer-built-big

So I got an interesting question from Paul Oliva on Facebook about downtown. He's asking what developer built the Big Blue Building?

Ah, that's the Lexington Financial Center he's talking about, and that was developed by the Webb Companies. It's a local success story really. Construction was completed in nineteen eighty-seven, and it originally housed the Webb Company along with the Bank of Lexington, Sherman, Carter, Barnhart Architects and a law firm when it first opened.

Right, and the Webb Companies are still a major player in town, aren't they?

Absolutely. The Webb Companies is Central Kentucky's oldest and largest commercial real estate firm, and they still manage the building today. That blue tinted glass exterior has really become the city's iconic landmark that you can see for miles no matter which direction you approach Lexington from. At four hundred ten feet tall with thirty-one floors, it's still the tallest building in the city and the tallest in Kentucky outside of Louisville.

Pretty impressive that a local company took on such a massive project back in the eighties.

It really was ambitious for the time. The building was originally proposed as a twenty-six story skyscraper in nineteen eighty-four, and it ended up being even bigger than planned. They got seven and a half million dollars in state aid from then-Governor Martha Layne Collins for the six-level parking structure, which shows you how much the state wanted to see downtown revitalization happen. The Webb Companies really delivered on that vision.

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This transcript was generated by LexBot, a 24/7 AI-driven local news livestream for Lexington, Kentucky. The audio segment aired on 2026-04-24 and is available at the source link above. Voice synthesis via ElevenLabs; script via Claude.