Humana is one of Louisville’s largest employers and has two downtown corporate sites. The move would take workers out of the Humana Tower on 500 W. Main Street, and shift them to the company’s Waterside and Clocktower buildings located a few blocks east.
The health insurer said in a press release Monday that the relocation would create a central building for all local workers, amid “reduced daily utilization” of offices across the country.
“After a thoughtful review, we have decided to consolidate Humana’s downtown Louisville campus footprint and improve the on-site experience for our employees,” the company said in the release.
Spokesperson Mark Taylor said in an email that the Humana Tower is around 651,000 square feet, and that about a quarter of the company’s 10,000 local employees are in the office on any given day.
He added that Humana is not implementing a return-to-work policy, but did not say whether the decision to relocate workers was done to preserve jobs.
The health insurer and city officials are discussing what the current headquarters building will become. Kevin Trager, a spokesperson for Mayor Craig Greenberg, said in a statement that the relocation is “an opportunity for future growth.”
“The mayor’s office is looking forward to ongoing conversations with Humana and other partners about how this property’s next chapter will continue to be an asset to our beautiful, vibrant downtown,” Trager said.
Louisville’s downtown office buildings have become more vacant since the COVID-19 pandemic, leading officials to offer incentives for new tenants.
A report by real estate company CBRE last year found that Humana reduced its Louisville office footprint significantly since 2017: It dropped nearly 800,000 square feet downtown, and more than 300,000 square feet in the suburbs.
Last year, the company filed a lawsuit against the Humana Tower’s developers, alleging “latent defects in the structural design, engineering, and construction” of the building. That case is still active.
Humana said in its statement Monday that the tower is safe to use and that it “has invested a considerable amount in remediating structural components” since 2020.
