When it comes to movies, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg won’t name his top pick.
But he’s got big hopes that Louisville will become the film industry’s next favorite spot to make Hollywood magic.
And the long-vacant Louisville Gardens is a key set piece.
The building that was once an armory, sports arena and music venue has collected dust for years and served as a makeshift city storage facility. But earlier this year, Greenberg directed $10 million from a $100 million Kentucky General Assembly allocation to help redevelop the space into a multi-million-dollar soundstage called Louisville Studios.
Greenberg said the project will take the city to “the next level.”
“Creating jobs, creating a whole new industry, boosting our economy, filling up our hotel rooms, creating even more busy restaurants than we already have, thriving tourism and enhancing our image and reputation across the entire world because of what has happened here,” he said.
City leaders announced the redevelopment back in 2022.
City officials awarded the development contract to Unbridled Films, Sylmar Studios and Poe Companies.
The developers hope the studio will not just attract new talent, but allow homegrown creators to stay put.
“Louisville Studios will foster these careers by providing a workplace that facilitates high-paying full-time jobs so that our best talent can work where they live without having to leave home to make a career in the film industry,” said Merry-Kay Poe, chief executive officer of locally-based Unbridled Films. “We envision Louisville becoming a beacon for those in the industry who want a warm, welcoming place to come home, build a house and raise a family.”
Construction crews are doing environmental remediation on “issues that you may not see” in the over-century-old building, like cleaning out asbestos, said Tony Guanci, chief executive officer at California-based Sylmar Studios.
“This is an old building, and a lot of things have happened with this building,” he said.
With structures as old as Louisville Gardens, which is a national registered historic building, there are things that must be investigated that might not be clear from a cursory walkthrough, Guanci said.
“You have to understand the integrity of the steel, you have to understand the integrity of the walls. That just takes time. But we are doing it. We are proceeding,” Guanci said.
Guanci said developers applied for state and federal historic tax credits to help offset remediation and construction costs.
He said developers plan to have a museum at the front of the studio to honor the Louisville Gardens' history and legacy. That includes moving the decades-old wood pipe organ currently nestled within the building.
“Everyone's had some experience here, I'd like people to be able to give us those experiences,” Guanci said. “Use this as a place to have all that in one area, and then talk about the history of the events and the things that took place here.”
The $70 million project includes two indoor soundstages, totalling nearly 40,000 square feet of production space, and an additional 40,000 square feet for offices to be leased by production companies.
Construction is expected to begin late this year and be completed within two years.
Officials say the development will create more than 50 full-time jobs paying nearly $60 an hour.
Both local and state officials have made concerted efforts to bring more films to the Commonwealth. New film tax incentives offer monetary incentives for productions, while the newly created Kentucky Film Office hopes to create a one-stop shop for interested creators.
