Louisville Metro Council members agreed to provide a developer with millions in tax incentives to redevelop the Urban Government Center site. The incentives are part of a plan to sell the property to the Paristown Preservation Trust to transform the collection of abandoned buildings in the city’s core.
Paristown Preservation Trust has proposed a $249 million redevelopment project that would include more than 400 apartments or condos, as well as retail and office. The Trust has changed its development plans since it started negotiating with the city in 2021, leading to pushback from some neighbors who’ve called it a “bait and switch.”
Metro Council members voted 17-7 Thursday night to give the project final approval. Council Member Donna Purvis, a District 5 Democrat who voted in favor, said it was time for the city to finally address the blight.
“We have someone who has development plans, who has capital,” she said. “I just think it’s time to move forward. It’s not fair to the community that lives in that area to keep going back and forth.”
Those who voted against the proposed project were District 4 Independent Jecorey Arthur, District 15 Democrat Jennifer Chappell, District 21 Democrat Betsy Ruhe, District 3 Democrat Shameka Parrish-Wright, District 9 Democrat Andrew Owen, District 8 Democrat Ben Reno-Weber and District 20 Republican Stuart Benson.
Before casting his “no” vote, Arthur pointed to a June opinion piece by members of an advisory panel tasked with crafting a community benefits agreement between the developer and nearby residents. The group was ultimately unable to reach an agreement. In the op-ed, the members expressed concerns about inadequate affordable housing and questioned the need for more office space while many downtown buildings sit empty.
The Metro Council members in opposition said they feel the project was rammed through by the developer and the mayor without buy-in from most of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Reno-Weber, whose district includes the nearby Highlands neighborhood, said the project is a missed opportunity to take a big swing.
“[The property] is on a transit corridor, it is connecting a historically Black neighborhood to an up-and-coming immigrant neighborhood to the Highlands,” he said. “It’s exactly the sort of place where we should be really, thoughtfully putting together the kind of development that we as a community want to see. I have heard exactly zero people say, ‘Man, I’m excited about what’s coming here.’ The best thing I’ve heard about it is, ‘I’m just tired of dealing with it.’”
The Urban Government Center site is an 11-acre expanse of abandoned buildings that previously housed various city agencies, Louisville Metro Housing Authority offices and Kentucky Baptist Hospital. The property is bordered by Barret Avenue and Breckenridge and Vine Streets.
In addition to apartments and commercial space, the Paristown Preservation Trust has agreed to create a hotel with at least 80 rooms, a public green space and a large parking garage with space for at least 400 vehicles.
For its part, Louisville Metro Government will create a tax increment financing district, or a TIF, that encompasses the entire property. That means that as the property is improved, and the taxes owed increase, the city will refund the developers 80% of their property taxes for the next 20 years. The developer could save as much as $20 million in taxes over the life of the TIF.
Metro Council will still need to declare the property surplus and transfer ownership of the site before the deal becomes final.
Another possible hurdle
While the project proposed by the Paristown Preservation Trust now has the government approvals it needs to move forward with the redevelopment of the Urban Government Center site, the threat of a lawsuit from neighbors still looms.
In July, local architect and historian Steve Wiser and attorney Steve Porter threatened to sue the city over the proposed project, arguing Louisville was allowing the trust to sidestep the requirements outlined in the original request for proposals that was put out in 2020.
Wiser told LPM News in July that the trust’s initial proposal met those requirements, but the final iteration, in his assessment, does not.
“If they go back to the 2020 proposal… they could start construction today on that project,” Wiser said.
Wiser and Porter both say the developer should go back to its original proposal. If not, Porter said he thinks the city is required under state law to put the project back out for bid.
“At this point, if they're going to go with something that is totally different from what the original RFP was, they need to open it up to the rest of the community and any other developers who would say, ‘Hey, we'll do that.’ And they haven't done that,” Porter said.
Porter has represented disgruntled neighbors in numerous legal battles against developers, including the unsuccessful fight against Top Golf’s first facility in Louisville.
Porter and Wiser did not respond to inquiries Thursday ahead of the vote about whether they still plan to pursue legal action.
