Developer intends to build nearly 200 apartments on former site of Brown Brothers Cadillac in downtown Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An old car lot is driving growth in downtown Louisville.

Just across the street from the Brown Hotel, between South 5th and South 4th streets on West Broadway, the former Brown Brothers Cadillac site will soon be transformed into 186 apartment units.

Michael Blanford works near the well-known site and said the new apartments are a good thing.

"So, downtown, definitely from urban renewal, has a problem with parking lots and tearing down and just a lack of buildings or anything urban infrastructure-wise, so I think it's good if we're filling in abandoned lots with apartments," Blanford said.

LDG Development bought the empty site in December for $6.5 million. Christi Lanier-Robinson, with LDG, said they've had their eyes on the 5-acre site for several years.

"It's close to shopping. It's close to the arts. It's close to all the things that people want to live by in an urban environment," Lanier-Robinson said.

Kendall Meiller works for Black Jockey Lounge on Fourth Street Live, which is right around the corner.

"So, on the weekends, this place is hoppin with people walking down the street," said Meiller.

She said the new units are an "amazing opportunity."

"After 2020, for sure, you got hit really hard. Downtown got hit really hard, and people don't want to come down here anymore," she said. "And we're like no, please. It's so fun. It's lively. There's plenty of things to do. So, I think this is going to be a really good opportunity to bring, circle back downtown. In fact, for streets, especially South Fourth Street."

LDG wants to call the future complex "Motorworks."

"Given the site's history, as a Cadillac show room, we wanted to come up with something that acknowledged its rich history and past, but was also something that, you know, sort of fits the urban environment, which it is situated," said Lanier-Robinson.

Developers also plan to keep one of the buildings, and wants to eventually make it a clubhouse.

"That's a historic building, so anytime we are able to incorporate something historic in the site, while building it, into the masterplan, we're going to do that," Lanier-Robinson said.

For Blanford, any development is good.

"The more people we can bring to live downtown, the more businesses will come downtown; and the more life we can breathe back into the city," he said.

LDG doesn't have an opening day yet, or an estimate on how much it'll cost to live there.