LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville-based developer Underhill Associates hopes to transform a downtown building into a mixed-use development of apartments and art studios.
The 14-story Starks Building was initially built in 1913 in the shape of an “L” at the corner of Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Fourth Street. The office building was a hub of activity for downtown. Then, in the 1920s, another wing was added to the building to create a rectangle with an atrium in the center.
"This is a fabulous opportunity," Jeff Undershill said. "Rarely do you find such a beautiful building, of such scale, in such a great location, that is a new clean canvas to paint a new picture with."
Underhill’s team has invested time, energy and money into the redevelopment plans for the building, with the hope it will help breathe new life into downtown. The developer intends to transform the offices in 264 apartments and utilize the first few floors for art studios, galleries and a restaurant.
If the plans go through, Underhill anticipates a total investment of $100 million for the redevelopment.
Underhill is excited about the project and has a personal connection to the Starks Building. He and his brother would come here when they were little to visit their father, who worked in the building.
"I've seen this building in previous years be alive and bustling," he said. "I know it can be that again. This will be a huge, huge shot of adrenaline for our downtown."
In the early-2000s, it became more difficult to find tenants to lease space in the building. It has sat nearly empty for the last decade. Underhill said about seven years ago, a developer from out of town showed interest in turning the building into a hotel, but those plans fell through.
Underhill said he and his brother have been interested in the property for years, and they initially thought they could develop it along the same lines as a hotel. That idea eventually morphed to a half hotel, half apartment building. But those plans all changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Underhill said focusing to create an apartment building, centered around the arts, is the right way to go.
"It's a fabulous concept that brings many varied artists together under one roof," he said. "It creates a living community for them, where they can co-op together on a lot of their art projects but where they also have workspace where they live."
Underhill said this will be an affordable live-work-play concept for those in the art community, but the building is also expected to attract non-artsy residents. He said there would be opportunities and events to open the building up for the community to enjoy the artists’ work there, and there are plans for restaurant and commercial ventures, too.
"It is still our hope to reinvent Eddie Merlot's restaurant here on the ground floor," Underhill said. "They still have expressed an interest. And some other retail that we're discussing to come into the ground floor."
Underhill Associates has executed a purchase sales agreement, “which means we’re serious about it,” Underhill said. The developer has put down an undisclosed amount of money in deposits for the building and formed an entity that would be the redevelopment group for the project. Underhill said the goal is to close and take title to the property by the end of summer or early fall.
They are in the early stages of such a large project, and there’s a lot to do before Underhill said they can fully take on the project. Finalizing proposals, getting approvals and doing any construction is still in the distant future. But the hope would be to finish sometime in 2023, if all goes according to plan.
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