A controversial proposal to turn a west Louisville business hub into apartments may be partially funded by taxpayers.
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky announced its intent last week to purchase the Nia Center from Louisville’s public transit agency TARC, which owns the property. The Nia Center was built in 1998 as a small business center for West End entrepreneurs. It also houses a drivers license office.
On Tuesday, the West End Opportunity Partnership revealed that Goodwill is asking it to fund the purchase to the tune of $2.1 million. The partnership is a quasi-governmental organization created by the state in 2021. It received $30 million in startup funding from a mix of state, local and private funding, and will continue to receive a portion of taxes paid by west Louisville residents over the next two decades.
Deputy Mayor David James, who serves on the partnership’s board, said at a meeting Tuesday that he believes helping with the purchase aligns with the agency’s mission.
“I think it's an opportunity to fulfill a requirement that we need in our city, providing housing to folks,” he said. “I think that with Goodwill and others helping the people who are tenants in that building … there’s actually no downside to this and I think it’s something we should do.”
James referred to the fact that TARC says it will not charge rent to business tenants at the Nia Center for the rest of their year while it explores selling the building. Louisville Metro and Goodwill have also promised to help tenants find a new location.
Some of the business owners, though, said they felt blindsided by last week's announcement by Goodwill and TARC. They’re trying to launch their own bid to purchase the Nia Center.
Shaun Spencer, one of the building’s tenants, told WLKY she’s concerned about whether she can find another affordable location for her printing shop.
“The business incubator center here gives us very below-market-rate rent per square foot of space that we're using,” Spencer said. “So that's one of the problems is what is the rent cost in west Louisville going to be if we have to relocate? The second is what commercial spaces are available for us to go to?”
Some members of the West End Opportunity Partnership’s Finance Committee, who met Tuesday to discuss the proposal, echoed some of the tenants’ concerns.
Mike Neagle, a board member who represents the Portland neighborhood, spoke out against funding the purchase of the Nia Center.
“We’ve got a lot of people all trying to find [business] space at one time,” he said. “There’s not very much office space in the West End, period. So, some of these people may fall through the cracks and I think we should be concerned about that.”
According to the Partnership, Goodwill can’t make purchase itself and still meet the requirements for federal affordable housing tax incentives.
Goodwill wants to have the partnership buy the property instead, and then lease the land from the Partnership for $1 per year. The nonprofit will put up $500,000 to fund the demolition. A third partner, Columbus-based Woda Cooper Companies, would be the developer charged with actually building the apartments.
According to Goodwill’s proposal, Woda Cooper plans to build 48 one-bedroom and 28 two-bedroom apartments available to people making less than 60% of the area median income. That’s about $40,000 per year for a single person or $58,000 for a family of four.
If the West End Opportunity Partnership approves the purchase, demolition of the Nia Center would start at the end of the year. Goodwill and Woda Cooper hope to have construction completed by October of 2027.
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky said in a joint statement last week that it originally intended to develop affordable housing near its Opportunity Center. But that property, adjacent to the new Norton West Louisville Hospital, could be used instead to expand health care resources, it said.
“Goodwill’s intent has always been to help build a stronger West Louisville with expanded services for those who need them the most, and we acknowledge the role the NIA Center has played,” said Amy Luttrell, the president and CEO of Goodwill Kentucky. “With the help of our partners, Goodwill Kentucky is pursuing the property to build 76 permanent affordable apartments and to allow for potential hospital expansion on the campus.”
The West End Opportunity Partnership’s Finance Committee was split, 2-2, on Tuesday over whether to recommend the agency move forward with the purchase. That means the full board will vote on it next month with no recommendation from the committee.
