Neighborhood association wants more public input in Urban Government Center redevelopment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Neighbors living near a potential $249 million redevelopment project want their voices heard.

Redevelopment of the former Urban Government Center is moving forward with demolition, but some community members are against the current plan.

"It is an eye sore and it's been vacant for a long time. It's an opportunity that's wasted when it's just sitting there vacant," said Rebecca Minnick with the German-Paristown Neighborhood Association.

Demolition started in February on the property in Paristown Pointe as crews began taking down parts of 850 Barret Avenue. Several buildings are slated to be razed for the estimated $249 million project that would build a hotel, apartments, condos and office space.

On Saturday, people shared their concerns for how the development would turn out during a community forum at Germantown Gables.

"I haven't seen a whole lot of tangible renderings that have been made public to the community," Minnick said. "It's public land and publicly subsidized and there needs to be something for the community."

As WDRB News reported last year, some members of the panel accused Metro government of last-minute moves to oust them from talks on a community benefits agreement.

Some people at the meeting asked for more communication between the public, developer Steve Smith and Paristown Preservation Trust and the city.

"How do we get people synchronized, flowing in the same way, understanding hey I'm not going to get everything I want, you're not going to get everything you want, but let's collaborate as a team," said Sam Higdon, a local real estate advisor and business broker.

Smith and Paristown Preservation Trust did not respond Saturday to questions about the project.

In early January, a group of neighbors and preservationists sued in an effort to halt demolition. They claim that changes made to the development plan strayed away from initial plans.

Five residents are among the plaintiffs in the case, including two who previously served on the neighborhood negotiating team. Also suing are the German-Paristown Neighborhood Association and two groups — the Louisville Historical League and Neighborhood Planning and Preservation — that have tried to get the property designated as a local landmark.

Jeff O’Brien, executive director of the economic development agency, told Metro Council last September that the plans are largely the same as those originally submitted. The cabinet echoed those remarks in a statement sent to WDRB in early January.

"We maintain that the plans are substantially similar to those originally submitted by Paristown Preservation Trust and what was approved by the Planning Commission and Metro Council in 2023," the cabinet said in a statement in January. "We are unable to comment further due to the pending litigation."

The lawsuit came months after the Metro Council voted to subsidize the project’s developers by creating a tax increment financing district, allowing the trust to get $20 million in local property taxes rebated to it if it meets certain goals.

Louisville Metro Councilman JP Lyninger (D-6) wants there to be more direct engagement with the community during the development.

"It's important we keep our promises as a city," Lyninger said. "When the original development was proposed and this process started, all of the neighborhood associations were invited to a process."

But Jefferson Circuit Judge Tracy E. Davis declined to issue an order that would have temporarily stopped demolition while that lawsuit is heard.

It's been a yearslong effort to develop the property. The city has sought proposals since 2017.

"A lot of developments get blocked, they get shut down, you have that bucket where people are vying for growth and change and it's just like we're fractured as a city as to what people really want," Higdon said.

The city's first developer, Marian Group, walked away from the project in late 2019 amid frustrations with city efforts to get needed land-use and other approvals. Metro officials chose a new firm, Underhill Associates, in 2020 but ended that deal a year later and moved to a third developer, Paristown Preservation Trust.

Neighborhood groups also don't want to see the property remain vacant.

"That's not what these people are asking for, they're asking for their voice to be heard with the promise made at the beginning of the process," Lyninger said.

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