LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Waterfront Wednesday has returned as the Kentucky Derby Festival is set to kick into high gear.

The festivities will prominently take place in the area around downtown Louisville.

For years, the city has discussed expanding Waterfront Park past 9th Street. Enough funding to start the project has been secured, and there was a ceremonial groundbreaking to celebrate in October 2022.

"It's gonna be a big step for us down here," Richard Meadows said.

Meadows is the president of Portland Neighborhood Inc. The expansion between 10th and 14th streets near the Ohio River connects the Portland neighborhood to downtown, and the rest of Waterfront Park.

"It will be the premier place to watch Thunder Over Louisville," Meadows said.

For this year's Thunder, the area of Phase IV is surrounded by barbed wire, overgrown grass and some graffiti.

Waterfront Park Executive Director Deborah Bilitski said construction has not started on Phase IV because the permitting process and certain negotiations have taken time.

"This is a very complicated site. We're right on the river, and anytime you're along the river you're going to be in the floodplain and that just makes the site a little bit more complicated to build things on," Bilitski said. "As with other areas of Waterfront Park, we have a large interstate that cuts right through the site, and the property that is under that interstate is governed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. They have their own set of regulations that we have got to meet, and we are addressing all of those."

She said there is positive momentum and construction on the first projects, which include an outdoor experiential learning center for kids, should begin soon.

That is just a portion of the 22 acres of land between 10th and 14th streets that contain Phase IV of the Waterfront Park expansion. That entire phase is supposed to cost $50 million in total, and Bilitski said so far more half that amount has been raised.

The connection between downtown and the west end through the park will transform the area.

"It's nine blocks from where I'm sitting. I can walk to Waterfront Park when it's done," Meadows said.

The project will be transformative for neighbors, and for businesses that have already launched.

Shippingport Brewing Co. opened in 2021 and is located on West Main Street between 12th and 13th streets, just around the corner from the expansion site.

"It's gonna mean foot traffic in a way that we don't currently have," Shippingport's brewmaster Amelia Pillow said.

Bilitski said the learning center project should take between 12-18 months to complete once construction begins.

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