Fifth Third Bank building in downtown Louisville sells for $9M

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One of Louisville's tallest buildings now has a new owner and plenty of plans for its future.

The Fifth Third Bank building on South Fourth Street in downtown Louisville will soon have a new landlord.

"The location is almost 100% of the draw," said Angela Couture. "Everyone is very excited. It's quite contagious, so we are all getting more and more excited."

Couture works on the 14th floor of the 26-story building recently purchased by KennMar, an Indianapolis real estate investment firm, for $9 million.

Downtown Louisville’s 5/3 Bank building getting a makeover after $9M purchase and $10M upgrade planned. @WDRBNews 6p @Downtown_Lou pic.twitter.com/9SOHyY1PvN
— Joel Schipper (@JSchipperWDRB) April 5, 2023

"These towers usually do have one ownership group, so this is a very normal kind of transaction," said Rebecca Fleischaker, with Louisville Downtown Partnership. "I am super excited to see it because it does mean new investment downtown."

In addition to the purchase price, KennMar is putting in millions of dollars in improvements into the building, something current tenants say is needed.

"Building maintenance has not been a top priority for prior owners, broken things here and there," said Couture.

The money will be used to upgrade the building's main lobby, conference rooms, tenant lounge, offices and a gym.

"That amount of money, $10 million, is not insignificant and does mean really nice improvements to the common spaces," said Fleischaker.

In a statement, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said "We look forward to the next chapter of this iconic building in the heart of our city. We are excited about downtown Louisville's momentum and will continue to invest in its future."

Right now, the building is just over 50% occupied, something those with Louisville Downtown Partnership believes will change with the new acquisition.

"With the ability for employees to have the choice to work from home, that there needs to be some different sort of amenities that is being put and invested to these buildings and we are seeing it in a lot of our office towers," Fleischaker said.

The nearby Baird building also underwent its own multimillion-dollar renovation and, it too has several floors in need of tenants.

"I think it's a win-win, they also are very excited about downtown in particular, this building of course, and always want to look at other properties around downtown," said Fleischaker.