LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A historic church damaged by fire this month was declared legally abandoned Tuesday after Louisville Metro government determined that the property is a "clear danger to the community."

The notice, which was posted to a fence outside the former St. Paul's German Evangelical Church on East Broadway, is addressed to Matthew Williams of Nashville, Tennessee, who has handled business registration for the property's legal owner, KY Medical Center Hotel LLC.

Metro's action will let city officials enter the site and ensure it is vacant and free of any hazards, according to Emily Martin, spokeswoman for the Department of Codes & Regulations. She said Williams hasn't been able to be reached.

"We are wanting the owner to take responsibility for this building," she said.

Meanwhile, an inspector issued additional citations last week and an $800 fine for code violations. In all, Metro has levied penalties of $4,700 since the hotel company bought the property in 2021 and made 25 property maintenance visits since July 2020. 

City figures show that $483.04 has been paid. In recent years, city officials have said, the vacant building has become a homeless encampment.

Martin said Metro is waiting on an engineer to evaluate whether the building's façade can be salvaged, but it's not yet known when that will happen. The church, an example of Gothic Revival architecture, was built in 1906 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Williams has not responded to WDRB News' requests left with Essex Development, where he serves as managing partner. The company's Goshen, Ky. office has the same address as KY Medical Center Hotel LLC.

That company detailed plans for the site in 2020 that called for an $80 million, 11-story development with hotel rooms and extended stay apartments for workers at nearby hospitals and medical offices.

The project hasn't happened, although Williams told a reporter in a brief interview the day after the fire that there still were plans to build there.

Metro government has placed several liens on the property in order to get paid for previous maintenance work.

Property taxes on the site also have gone unpaid, resulting in a Tennessee-based company buying the tax debt. Such "certificates of delinquency" often occur before foreclosure actions. 

One person may have been hurt in the three-alarm fire on October 9, according to the Louisville Fire Department, but no one was killed.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, said Maj. Kevin Fletcher, chief of the Louisville Metro arson bureau. In a statement, he said investigators have been interviewing people believed to be inside during the fire and getting surveillance video from the area.

The building's owners and others connected with the property also will be interviewed, Fletcher said.

"As with all fires of this magnitude, this will be a difficult investigation with a possibility that a cause will not be able to be determined to an acceptable level of certainty," he said.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.