TARC board authorizes talks to sell NIA Center to West Louisville Dream Team

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A west end organization will get two weeks to begin working out a deal to buy the NIA Center after the city's transit agency approved negotiations Tuesday.

The Transit Authority of River City board of directors voted unanimously to authorize TARC executive director Ozzie Gibson to start talks with the West Louisville Dream Team Inc., which has proposed acquiring the building in the Parkland neighborhood.

The move came after the board emerged from a closed session to discuss a "real estate opportunity."

The 14-day "exclusive" period will start once TARC responds to the Dream Team's letter of intent — no later than 5 p.m. Friday.

The TARC-owned NIA Center at Broadway and 29th Street houses businesses and offices, but it is only about 37% occupied, according to estimates provided late last month.

The TARC board previously approved selling the property to Goodwill Kentucky in late May. But that plan changed to include the West End Opportunity Partnership seeking to buy the property and lease it to Goodwill for an affordable housing plan.

The board of the partnership, which invests public funds in local neighborhoods, voted down the idea in July.

After that proposal failed, the dream team sent TARC its own offer for $2.1 million, the group's representatives said.

Shaun Spencer, a dream team director, told the TARC board during a public comment period Tuesday that her group plans to continue small business operations and youth and mental health programs, along with revitalizing an abandoned community space.

"We have the plan, we have the community support, we have the experienced support behind us to get the revisions and the things that we want done to move forward," she said.

But Spencer told WDRB News in a phone interview after the meeting that the TARC board's actions amounted to "stalling."

"They still don't want to sell it to us," she said.

Spencer also claimed that the 14-day negotiating period is much shorter than what was provided to Goodwill. A TARC spokesperson was not able to immediately respond to that allegation.

The NIA Center dates to the late 1990s and was envisioned as a hub for bus transportation, job training and business development.

This story may be updated.

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