City gearing up for multimillion-dollar renovation of historic Louisville Gardens

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A historic venue in downtown Louisville is about to undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation.

The Louisville Gardens on West Muhammad Ali Boulevard will be transformed into a soundstage for filmmakers called Louisville Studios at the Gardens.

Tuesday, Greater Louisville Inc. hosted a panel discussion with city, state, and local film industry leaders on how to turn the area into a premier spot for movie makers. The project at the Gardens is part of the plan.

"We hope that that will be a catalyst to create the creative and technical sector to kind of build the industry in downtown Louisville and grow from there," Merry Kay Poe, president of Unbridled Films, said.

Thursday, we'll get a look inside the building, which is more than 100 years old and has sat vacant for years, before the work starts. Some kind of announcement on the project and a tour of the building are also expected.

Construction on the Gardens project was originally slated to start later this year.

Known as the Jefferson County Armory when it opened in 1905, Louisville Gardens grew from a military site into a well-known entertainment venue that hosted concerts from Frank Sinatra to Bob Dylan, according to the Encyclopedia of Louisville.

It also served as a gathering place after monumental events of the first half of the 20th century. A memorial for victims of the Titanic shipwreck was held in 1912, people fleeing their homes during the 1937 Ohio River flood took refuge there.

The last concert there was a My Morning Jacket show in November 2006, according to a Metro government timeline. The Gardens closed in 2008 and has been used for storage in the years since.

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