Army Corps of Engineers plans to move Louisville HQ to prominent downtown office tower

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A well-known downtown office building is losing LG&E as its main tenant, but it stands to gain a new one: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps announced Tuesday it is negotiating a lease in the 24-story building at 220 W. Main St. that LG&E plans to vacate when its rental agreement runs out next year. The federal agency has been headquartered at the Romano Mazzoli Federal Building since 1969.

In all, according to the Corps, 750 workers would move into roughly 150,000 square feet on 11 floors in the tower at 3rd and Main streets across from the KFC Yum! Center by late 2025 once construction of the new space is finished.

"This move marks a significant milestone for our district. The new facility will allow us to serve our workforce, our community, and the American public for years to come," Col. L. Reyn Mann, the Corps' Louisville district commander, said in a statement.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the Corps' move "will further enhance our city's economic vitality and contribute to the ongoing revitalization of our downtown."

Among other things, the Louisville district oversees seven locks and dams on the Ohio River and manages permitting and other programs related to waterways. It recently issued a cease-and-desist order to New Albany city government for unauthorized work on the Silver Creek Dam.

LG&E announced last year that it will leave its 14-story footprint at the downtown tower known as the LG&E Center at the end of 2025. The privately owned, publicly regulated utility company already has moved employees to its new headquarters at 820 W. Broadway, spokeswoman Chris Whelan said.

Whelan said other "shared services" employees will be working at a building on Eastpoint Parkway in eastern Louisville owned by LG&E's parent company, PPL Corp.

LG&E still is using several floors at the W. Main Street building but would be willing to renegotiate its lease agreement if it would help the Corps' move, Whelan said.

Commercial real estate firm CBRE, whose Louisville office leases the building, declined to comment for this story.

About 24% of the prime "Class A" office space downtown was vacant during the April-June period, according to the most figures from real estate broker JLL. That rate was essentially unchanged from the same period the year before.