Givaudan won't rebuild in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood after plant explosion

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Givaudan won't rebuild its location in Louisville after a deadly plant explosion last November.

Two men were killed at Givaudan Sense Colour in the Clifton neighborhood Nov. 12 after an explosion at the plant. The explosion also injured 11 people and damaged homes around the plant on Payne Street.

In a news release Tuesday, the company said it will consider different options for a future facility on Kentucky and neighboring states.

"As we are still in the early stages of this process, and nothing definitive has been determined, we don’t yet have more detail about location or timing," Givaudan said in a news release.

Investigations at the site are expected to continue for the next few weeks and months. The Chemical Safety Board is conducting the primary investigation and have been on-site regularly since November. OSHA and EPA are also conducting investigations.

Givaudan expects increased activity at the site and more visitors in the first two weeks of February. Attorneys and engineers from any company on notice will be able to visit and investigate in February. Givaudan expects representatives from around 30 companies to visit.

Givaudan said Crawford & Company insurance teams have been conducting damage assessments since November. According to a news release, most of the properties that have been reported have been assessed for damage. The insurance company is in the process of issuing payments to be used for repairs.

Neighbors who live nearby are relieved the plant will not be re-built.

"That's great, man. Them houses over there, they are closer. If it happens again they could even knock them down. They are lucky it didn't knock them down this time - I am glad for them that they are not going to build over there," said Thomas Hines who lives across from the plant.

The company has been holding community sessions at United Crescent Hill Ministries since the explosion. The last one of scheduled Jan. 22, but another session is tentatively planned for Feb. 12.

The explosion was the second in just over two decades at the plant, which has been operated by Switzerland-based Givaudan since 2021. One worker was killed in 2003 when a tank overheated and burst, according to federal investigators' conclusion of what likely happened at the facility then operated by D.D. Williamson & Co.

The explosion at 1901 Payne St. shattered windows and shook homes in the Clifton neighborhood, just east of downtown.

Louisville first responders quickly responded to what it called a "hazardous materials incident" and issued a shelter in place for a 1-mile radius from the area. By 4:40 p.m., EMA lifted the shelter-in-place but said an evacuation order for the two blocks surrounding the building remained in place.

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