LOUMED moves forward with vision to improve downtown Louisville medical district

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A 20-block area of downtown Louisville hopes to make further improvements in the next few years, and some of those changes require the help of city and state dollars.

Since the announcement of the LOUMED District in May 2023, the organization has installed new banners on light posts and invested in its Block by Block ambassadors, a team focused on helping maintain the area and improve safety or help visitors.

"It's the heartbeat of the city," said Nadareca Thibeaux, executive director of LOUMED. "There's a lot of good work that's happening here."

To reflect the good care happening in classrooms and hospitals, Thibeaux said its important to show the same level of care in the surrounding area.

Anchored by Norton Healthcare, UofL Health, the University of Louisville and Jefferson Community & Technical College, LOUMED is a planned medical and education district covering a large section of the city's downtown core.

The City of Louisville allocated just over $3.1 million for the area in its 2024 fiscal year budget. Part of that includes taking down the former Community Corrections Center on Chestnut Street.

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LOUMED is funding the design, build and programming to turn the former jail into a common area for health care workers, visitors and students known as LOUMED Commons. It will include various events and feature an open space for gatherings.

"This will be green space, park like settings, a place for folks to sit and eat, read, to study, or just hang out and decompress," said Thibeaux.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has also allocated $17 million in his proposed budget for LOUMED under Economic Development.

LOUMED hopes to use city and state dollars to further improve public areas in the district.

"It's public space, so we can't do anything without the support of the state and the city," said Thibeaux.

For non-public areas, LOUMED is working to improve the beatification and overall feeling of safety in the area on its own.

In addition to LOUMED Commons, Thibeaux said its also focused on eight blocks of Chestnut Street. That will include improving walkways, roads and lights in the area.

"This is the spine, it's the center of LOUMED," she said.

LOUMED said the area attracts more than 1.5 million visitors per year and employs more than 16,000 people with total annual salaries surpassing $1 billion.

The area encompassed within LOUMED is a large portion of downtown Louisville, where patients get the care they need, where medical professionals go to work and where thousands of college students learn. It stretches for 22 city blocks north to south from Liberty Street to Breckinridge Street and west to east from 2nd Street to Clay Street.