Louisville leaders hope $90 million JCTC expansion is model for future downtown development

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- As trade jobs grow in demand, a Louisville college is taking that momentum and expanding, a project that could have bigger impact on the city than just the students it'll serve.

With pens in hand, representatives from Jefferson Community & Technical College, along with city and state officials, signed a beam Monday in downtown Louisville as part of a topping off ceremony for the school's latest expansion. The first phase of the overall $90 million "Jefferson Rising" project will include a new science center, built on what was a parking lot.

"We have been a landlocked sort of college ever since its founding," JCTC President Ty Handy said. "And so since day one, we had no choice but to park vehicles right in the center of our campus."

JCTC Construction Site — In addition to the 40,000-square-foot center on the north side of Broadway between 1st and 2nd streets, the project will have a green space and a parking garage that will have retail space on the ground level. Aug. 5, 2024. *(WDRB Photo)*

In addition to the 40,000-square-foot center on the north side of Broadway between 1st and 2nd streets, the project will have a green space and a parking garage that will have retail space on the ground level. The parking garage will also have a large screen facing Interstate 65, where JCTC will feature messages for the community as people enter downtown.

And the centerpiece of the new JCTC project between the science building and parking garage will be a large green space. It will include an outdoor classroom, lawn, and rec space, which will feature a disc golf basket.

The green space will be second-largest in downtown Louisville to Waterfront Park. It will serve as a gathering space for students and staff members. And because JCTC is a school with commuters, overall goal of the project is to give students and staff an updated place to gather, study and relax between classes.

"It has been a dream for 30 years to be able to do something to elevate a parking structure to be able to create a campus quad and a downtown environment that felt like a college," Handy said.

The science building will replace the outdated Hartford Hall at South 1st and East Gray streets, which will be torn down and replaced with a math-focused academic building once the science hall is complete. The new building was made possible through a $22 million investment from the Statewide Capital Improvements Plan.

Donte Brian, who lives in the area, said Monday he believes the new campus will reshape the entrance into the city.

"I am optimistic about the college being kind of the uplift in the return of the community," Brian said.

And that resurgence is already underway. New loft apartments were added in the old University of Louisville Myers Hall at Broadway and South Brook Street, and JCTC is looking to purchase the closed Thornton’s gas station on the south side of Broadway as part of yet another expansion. And JCTC is one of four anchor tenants — along with Norton Healthcare, UofL Health and the UofL — of LOUMED, a planned medical and education district covering a large section of the city's downtown core.

"They are walking between us and the hospitals for clinicals all the time, and so this pathway we are talking about, the development of Chestnut Street, the LouMed Gardens all that is going to help make the environment safer and nicer," Handy said,

City leaders hope the development of the JCTC Broadway site is a stepping stone to even more development on empty parking lots throughout the city.

"This development not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of the area but also fosters economic growth and community engagement, breathing new life into the urban landscape," the Louisville Downtown Partnership said in a statement Monday. "Converting and developing underutilized spaces into vibrant, active areas is crucial for our Downtown streetscape."

The state, JCTC, as well as private donors are all contributing to the $90 million price tag. The new science building is scheduled to be finished late next summer.

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