Officials, politicians and community members gathered at the vacant lot at 28th Street and West Broadway Street Tuesday afternoon for the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus groundbreaking.
Earlier this year, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky announced plans for the site. it will be home to the headquarters of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky and a new Norton Health hospital.
Space for community partners
The 120,000-square-foot building that houses Goodwill HQ will also offer space to several nonprofits, including the YMCA, Big Brother Big Sisters, Volunteers of America and the Legal Aid Society.
It’ll also host the Park Community Credit Union, the Kentucky College of Barbering and the Shawnee Christian Healthcare Center. The University of Louisville’s School of Dentistry plans to open a clinic at the campus to provide oral health services to residents.
The construction and development of the 20-acre space will create a reported $100 million dollars investment in west Louisville.
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky CEO and president Amy Luttrell said Goodwill hopes to create an environment where people can be “ripe for success”.
“We see a lot of people who have never in their lives had conditions that were favorable for their success,” Luttrell said. “When those conditions are favorable we see them do great things.”
Luttrell says that Goodwill and Norton are dedicated to creating those conditions.
“We’re gonna bring the right resources to this campus to absolutely knock down the barriers that have held people back during their life,”
New hospital comes to West End
Other than Goodwill’s building, Norton Healthcare will build a 40,000-60,000 square foot hospital valued at $7 million.
The Norton West Louisville Hospital will be the first built in the West End since 1845, according to Norton Healthcare president and CEO Russell Cox.
The facility will feature preventative and specialty care, a 24-hour emergency room, 20 inpatient beds and some surgical operations.
“By having specialty services such as women’s health services, cardiology, orthopedic care, endocrinology and other services available at 28th and Broadway we can all begin to move the needle and see improvement in health outcomes,” Cox said.
Cox said that by offering preventative care, Norton Healthcare officials hope to improve trust between the community and health providers in addition to working to close the health gap.
“No longer do we want to see a life expectancy that is 10 years less for those living in West Louisville than residents living in other parts of the county,” Cox said.
Construction begins
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky and Norton Healthcare officials have also made a goal to address financial disparities.
Officials from both organizations said they plan to spend 27% of their construction budget on minority-owned businesses. They also said they are committed to having at least 25% of the construction crew be from minority backgrounds.
State House Rep. Keturah Herron, a Democrat, also spoke at the groundbreaking. The campus resides in her district.
“Today is a day we can start healing, we can start having some reconciliation, but this is only the beginning. We have so much work to do,” Herron said.
She said one thing she didn’t hear enough of during others’ speeches are plans for long-term recovery efforts.
Herron hopes that the campus is just the beginning of investment in the area.
“As long as we continue to develop the West End and give it the resources and things that it needs, we are going to be okay,” Herron said.
Goodwill’s “Opportunity Center” is slated to be completed by 2023, while the Norton West Louisville Hospital should finish construction in 2024.
