City leaders break ground on mixed-income housing complex in Louisville's Phoenix Hill neighborhood

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- City leaders held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday for a new mixed-income housing project in Louisville's downtown medical district.

The Prestonian will be a 343-unit complex from LDG Development at the corner of South Gray and East Clay streets near Louisville's Phoenix Hill neighborhood. It's expected to include on-site health and education services to better the lives of its residents.

"We can turn concrete and wood and steel into a foundation for peoples' lives," Mayor Craig Greenberg said. "Safe, affordable and quality homes."

The complex will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for families earning up to 80% of the area median income, or up to $71,760 for a family of four.

LDG received $10 million to create 145 affordable housing apartments within the development. In total, LDG said the project is a $113 million investment.

It comes just two days after the groundbreaking of the fourth and final phase of the Beecher Terrace revitalization project. Once the phase is completed, it will include 210 brand new units to the mixed-income community.

Louisville Metro Housing Authority received a $29 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2016 to make the project a reality, creating a 620-unit live-work housing development for low-income residents, seniors and others.

It gets Greenberg's administration closer to a goal of developing 15,000 affordable housing units in Louisville.

"There needs to be high quality, safe affordable housing in very part of Louisville," Greenberg said. "Not just in downtown, not just in the west end, not just in the south end, but in the east end and every neighborhood in our city needs high quality affordable housing."

While the developments point to the mayor's top priorities, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is also prioritizing more affordable housing in his next budget.

"What that does is it uses a certain amount of public dollars to leverage a much larger amount of private dollars, Beshear said. "That should spur an additional development in affordable housing state wide. We need it everywhere."

Work will be complete on the Phoenix Hill development late next year.

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