LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Dallas-based real estate company XEBEC had proposed building five warehouses in a fast-growing part of eastern Jefferson County home to houses and rolling fields. The families who lived there would sell the land.
But XEBEC first needed a zoning change. And while the Louisville Metro Planning Commission backed the land-use switch in 2023, the Metro Council later that year voted against it because of concerns over traffic and other impacts from more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space planned for Tucker Station and South Pope Lick roads.
XEBEC no longer is interested, according to court documents, but the land now is part of a larger tract being annexed by the suburban city of Jeffersontown. By bringing 138 acres into the city limits, J-town will have the final say over future uses there.
City officials say they're not aware of new plans for the properties but acknowledge the land near existing commercial businesses, including Papa Johns' corporate campus, is likely to be built up. One of the tracts is owned by Hosts Development LLC, which is managed by top executives at prominent Louisville developer Hollenbach Oakley.
J-town also is leading a new rezoning effort for the land described as a "proposed expansion of Bluegrass Commerce Park." A public hearing on that plan is set for Oct. 31.
"We want to expand our industrial park and we want to make sure that it's kept like our industrial park is kept right now," Mayor Carol Pike said.
Pike said bringing the land — a collection of tracts between Blankenbaker Parkway and the Gene Snyder Freeway — into J-town has been a priority since she took office in early 2023.
Land being annexed by Jeffersontown also would be rezoned for an expansion of the Bluegrass Commerce Park (WDRB map based on public documents)
While that work occurred, XEBEC was moving through Metro government's planning process to get the land rezoned for its project. Concerns about traffic impact and traffic flow were raised in a planning commission committee before the full planning commission voted to recommend that the Metro Council approve the rezoning.
But the council chose not to.
Council member Kevin Kramer, R-11, who represents the area, told a council committee in August 2023 that he found himself in an "unusual situation" of wanting to vote against the planning commission's recommendation. But he said several issues, including traffic concerns, led him to that decision.
"This is simply too large a development onto two smaller roads and requires too many factors to get it up to anything resembling appropriate standard," he said.
The full Metro Council later voted not to approve the rezoning.
Some neighbors who spoke with WDRB remain concerned that the surrounding area can't handle more development. Others are relieved that Jeffersontown is annexing the land.
"The city of J-town should be able to bring a whole lot more resources to the area," said David Kaelin, who lives on Tucker Station Road. He said he'd like to see a traffic signal at Bluegrass Parkway and Tucker Station Road, for example.
Attorney Steve Porter, who also lives nearby, said he doesn't think neighbors would oppose a "reasonable development" there once the land is part of Jeffersontown.
"If it looks like XEBEC, I would hope they would turn it down," he said. "If it looks like something more acceptable, then I hope J-town would approve it."
The annexation is the first since the Kentucky General Assembly changed state law, letting small cities in Jefferson County add property without Metro Council approval as long as certain thresholds are met. Those include having at least 75% of the proposed annexation area's voters in the most recent presidential election ask to be brought into the city.
The area being annexed meets that requirement, according to public documents.
The Metro Council must approve the annexation in an ordinance within two months or it takes effect regardless. No ordinance has yet been filed.
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