LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Development and neighborhood representatives met this week to continue negotiating on a key part of the planned makeover of Louisville's old Urban Government Center.
The "community benefits agreement" was required when Metro government selected the Paristown Preservation Trust as its chosen developer last year for the publicly owned 10-acre site at Barret Avenue and East Breckinridge Street. But the two sides have yet to reach an agreement, in turn keeping the project from moving further along.
No deal was reached after Tuesday’s meeting. Louisville Forward is helping with the negotiation and will go through proposals from both groups before they come back together for the next meeting.
"I hope that we're moving in a positive direction to be able to develop that property and to make our neighborhoods and our city better," Metro Council President David James (D-6) said.
The latest benefits proposal by an advisory panel of Paristown Pointe, Original Highlands, Germantown-Paristown, Smoketown and Phoenix Hill residents backs off an earlier — and admittedly unrealistic — demand that the developer contribute $50,000 annually to a neighborhood "gentrification alleviation fund" for the next 30 years or make a one-time $1 million payment.
The revised request is for the developer to make an annual contribution of 2% of its gross revenue to the neighborhood associations for the life of a proposed tax increment financing district (TIF). If the property is sold before the TIF expires, 2% of the land sale would go to the neighborhood groups.
Two neighborhood representatives said after Tuesday's meeting that the issues remaining include parking and traffic, signage for "Paristown Pointe" on the smokestack, the proper replacement of trees and plants and costs for access to amenities for neighbors.
The Paristown trust must sign the agreement with nearby neighborhood representatives before Metro conveys its properties — at 810 and 850 Barret, and 1235 Breckinridge — for $1.
The Paristown Preservation Trust wants to build apartments, condominiums, a hotel, office space, retail and a parking garage on the site.
On Monday, the developer filed a formal request to change the zoning on the site from office, residential and commercial uses to a planned development category, which allows for flexible design standards.
Plans filed with the city envision 292 one-bedroom apartments, 146 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units, two parking garages, a hotel/condo building and an office/retail structure.
The Paristown trust plans to raze almost all of the existing buildings on the site, including the old Kentucky Baptist Hospital building. It would keep a former steam plant and smokestack.
The current proposal is the third development plan put forth since Mayor Greg Fischer’s administration announced in 2016 that it would seek ideas from private entities for the land, once home to city offices, a police station and public housing office.
The first two failed to advance. The Marian Group walked away from the deal in late 2019 after it claimed Metro government didn’t help with land-use and other approvals it agreed to obtain. In August 2021 city officials ended talks with Underhill Associates after claiming the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement.
Related Stories:
- Plan to overhaul Urban Government Center site slowed by neighborhood ‘benefits’ pact
- Neighbors learning more about potential Urban Government Center development
- Renderings unveiled for old Urban Government Center site in Paristown Pointe
- Third time the charm? City inks new development deal for old Urban Government Center site
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