The West End Opportunity Partnership will not participate in a controversial land deal to turn a west Louisville small business hub into an affordable apartment complex.
Its board voted 9-9 on whether to fund the $2.1 million purchase of the Nia Center. A tie vote means the partnership will not move forward with the proposal from Goodwill Industries of Kenutucky.
Goodwill wanted the partnership to purchase the building on West Broadway, which offers below-market rent to local small businesses, from TARC, the city’s bus agency. The proposal also suggested the partnership lease the land to the nonprofit for $1 per year, so Goodwill could demolish the business incubator and build 78 affordable apartment units. The proposal drew pushback from tenants of the Nia Center and residents who said the West End would lose an important resource.
Board member Khristopher Romaine, who represents the Park Duvalle neighborhood, echoed those concerns, adding that the partnership could also use the $2.1 million on many other worthy projects.
“In the pipeline we have almost $42 million worth of requests and I noticed that some of them are loans that will be paid back that appear to be for affordable housing,” Romaine said. “Is there one reason that we’re deciding to displace minority businesses … just to get more affordable housing when there are so many other areas we can do affordable housing in?”
Those who spoke in favor of the proposal, like Board Chair Laura Douglas, who is the organization's president and CEO, pointed to Louisville’s affordable housing gap. According to a 2024 study commissioned by the city, Louisville needs more than 30,000 new affordable housing units for its poorest residents.
Douglas said there are many single women living in west Louisville with children under 18.
“That’s a population that’s vulnerable and needs assistance,” she said.
The partnership is a quasi-governmental organization created by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2001. The organization received start-up funding from the state, Louisville Metro and private donors. It also receives incremental tax revenues paid by West End residents.
The partnership is charged with spurring new business, affordable housing and other projects that improve the quality of life in west Louisville.
Those board members who spoke in favor of the project ultimately lost out to those with concerns about the impact to the small businesses that call the Nia Center home.
‘They’re driving us out’
While the board meeting took place Thursday night, a handful of West End residents and Nia Center tenants gathered in the building’s lobby for a teach-in and watch party. All the attendees opposed the purchase and redevelopment of the business hub.
Terri Hathaway, a former city employee, gave the residents and tenants a rundown of the West End Opportunity Partnership, where it gets its funding and the proposed project from Goodwill. Hathaway said it was important for the partnership and city officials to know that residents are watching.
“There are tenants in this building who are part of this community that’s supposed to be helped by WEOP and are going to be the first people to be harmed by the project, if it’s approved,” Hathaway said. “This group of people who are watching these projects are going to continue to grow.”
Some of the people who own businesses located in the Nia Center also held a protest outside of TARC’s headquarters last week. Many were concerned they would not be able to find new space they can afford.
Laquisha Moore, who runs a trauma-focused therapy business there, said many Nia Center tenants are currently paying low rent and there are few other options for business or office space in west Louisville.
“This [Nia Center] has been a Black business hub, the only one around,” Moore said. “People don’t even realize how hard it is for Black businesses to get capital.”
Moore said she was “in shock” when she received a letter last month telling her about TARC’s intention to sell the Nia Center to Goodwill.
“You think they’re your friends and then — boom! — it’s a takeover,” she said. “And then the fact that they want West End dollars, an already over-resourced organization, like, you need nothing from us.”
Goodwill had promised to help Nia Center tenants relocate their business elsewhere, but had not given the partnership’s board any details about what kind of assistance they would provide. The tenants would also have been allowed to stay in their current spaces rent-free until the end of the year.
It’s unclear where Goodwill’s proposed apartment complex, dubbed Opportunity Village, will go from here.
Last week, Goodwill and TARC announced they had signed a letter of intent to negotiate a purchase agreement. But the Partnership’s Finance Committee was told Tuesday that the federal affordable housing tax credits Goodwill wanted to use for the project prohibited from purchasing the property directly.
Amy Cubbage, who serves as outside general counsel for the partnership, told the board Thursday night that TARC has been interested in selling the property “for some time.”
“So if it's not this project, it's going to be something else,” Cubbage said. “This project, at least, does give the affordable housing.”
Spokespeople for TARC and Goodwill did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect the correct spelling of Khristopher Romaine's name. A previous version used an inaccurate spelling provided by the West End Opportunity Partnership.
