LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A longtime Louisville landfill is being transformed into a $60 million public garden.
The new Waterfront Botanical Gardens near the Big Four Bridge at River Road and Frankfort Avenue is in the early stages of the first phase of construction. The building that is currently under construction will be the Graeser Family Education Center, which will include a large event space for 250 people, a kitchen and a conference room.
“The first phase will have a pollinator garden, which will be a little more free with a sculpture in it,” said Kasey Maier, executive director of the Waterfront Botanical Gardens. “There will be native gardens that show off the plants of Kentucky and southern Indiana.”
The building is open for scheduled hard hat tours. To schedule a tour on the Waterfront Botanical Gardens website, click here.
The gardens will be built in three phases on 23 acres. The total cost of the project will be $60 million.
“We still have money to raise for phase one,” Maier said. “Phase one is a $16 million phase. We've raised $9 million toward that goal.”
Later phases will include a visitor’s center and restaurant. There will be a conservatory and several other gardens overlooking Beargrass Creek with a view of the Louisville skyline.
The land was once used as the Ohio Street Landfill. The landfill has been out of use since the 1970s, and Botanica signed an agreement with the city in 2018 to reclaim the site and turn it into a public garden.
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