LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Developers are transforming a historic, long-vacant building on West Broadway into affordable housing as part of a $48 million renovation that has been years in the making. 

Construction is well underway at the building on South 15th Street and West Broadway that started out as a candy factory in the early 20s. When crews are finished with renovations, it will be affordable housing for senior citizens. 

Muhammad Ali outside veterans affairs office in Louisville in 1966 - AP

FILE - In this March 17, 1966 file photo, heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali greets a friend as he arrives at a veterans administration office in Louisville, Ky., to appeal his 1A draft classification. Citing his religious convictions, Ali refused to be drafted in the U.S. Army. He was stripped of his heavyweight title and didn’t box for more than three years. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction on draft evasion charges. (AP Photo)

The old, rundown warehouse is steeped in history: it was a candy factory, a cigarette manufacturing facility and a veterans affairs office, where Muhammad Ali would appeal his draft classification for religious reasons. 

It has remained vacant — frozen in time — since the 1970s. 

"There's a lot of history here," said Landon Burcham with The Housing Partnership, LLC, a nonprofit real estate development organization.

Quinton Gray, 31, said he has lived in the Russell neighborhood his entire life, and didn't expect to see the building put back into use. Gray said he is accustomed to walking past broken glass, boarded windows and brown bricks.

"I didn't think that they was going to be doing anything with this building, as it's been sitting empty for years,"  Gray said. 

Quinton Gray, west Louisville resident

Pictured: in this image grab taken from video dated Oct. 4, 2023, Quinton Gray talks about the $48 million renovation of a vacant building at 15th and W. Broadway in the Russell neighborhood of Louisville, Ky. (WDRB image)

The building is still standing and remains viable, surviving several fires and the 1937 flood. 

Now there's hope that it will be put back into productive use. 

"I really hope that they work some wonders, because I mean, we need it," Gray said. 

In the next two years, the aging building will be transformed, and the 5-floor warehouse will become "The Gateway on Broadway Senior Apartments," with 116 units of affordable housing for people 55 and older.

Landon Burcham

Pictured: Landon Burcham with The Housing Partnership talks about affordable housing units being built at the site of a now vacant building at 15th and West Broadway in the Russell neighborhood of Louisville, Ky. (WDRB image)

Burcham said the rent will be based on ability to pay. Tenants will not have to pay more than 30 percent of their income. 

Burcham said the Housing Partnership is "trying to do neighborhood restoration, and trying to work for the folks within these neighborhoods."

Developers first announced plans to transform the property in 2019 but now, thanks to tax credits and help from the city as well as private financing, it's finally happening. 

"We had some challenges with COVID," Burcham said. "It took a lot of people to come to the table to make it happen." 

Gray hopes the renovated building will curtail crime and restore some of the beauty to the historic area. "Hopefully, it can upgrade and change a lot of things down here."

Construction is scheduled to be finished in the spring of 2025. 

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