MSD cuts ribbon on new headquarters in west Louisville, aims to 'be part of something bigger'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District ceremonially cut the ribbon Tuesday on a new headquarters at 16th and Hill streets in the Park Hill neighborhood, a place that residents said has been a hotspot for crime and violence.

MSD is moving from its downtown location at Seventh and West Liberty streets, where employees have worked for more than 40 years. Executive Director Tony Parrott said the agency needs more space and will become an anchor tenant in the redeveloping Park Hill neighborhood, taking what was once home to Brown & Williamson and, most recently, Clariant.

"Coming to Park Hill allows us to be part of something bigger than MSD," he said Tuesday.

Bruce Sherrod, who has lived in the Park Hill neighborhood long enough to see the good, the bad and the ugly, said times might be changing.

"It's just one of the neighborhoods that was just neglected and forgotten," he said. "... a lot of shooting."

Despite that troubled past, Sherrod commended MSD for taking a chance on the neighborhood.

"MSD being a stakeholder in the community to now — it's just big," he said. "It takes courage ... to move into a neighborhood that's been so much negativity."

The new headquarters is 130,000 square feet spread across five floors. Parrott said MSD purchased the space for $5 million, money that's being offset by the sale of its current and location and isn't connected to the 6.9% rate increase that takes effect in August.

"This is going to be a wash financially for us and so it's not going to impact the ratepayers," he said.

MSD plans to have employees moved by the end of the year.

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