Louisville’s 2026 budget includes three first-of-their-kind development funds for certain geographic areas.
Mayor Craig Greenberg proposed three, $3 million funds for the East, West and South Ends. Each fund was meant to address the specific needs of the area.
Greenberg said the goal would be to ensure “that every single neighborhood in Louisville feels our economic momentum.”
“That’s why this proposed budget creates three new initiatives to support the unique economic development needs in the south, east and west parts of our city,” he said during his budget address in April.
Metro Council members ultimately decided where the money should go. Working groups made up of representatives from each of the areas figured out the details.
Council members from East End neighborhoods funded four roadway improvement projects. Representatives for southwest Jefferson County, meanwhile, chose to put their fund toward business attraction and low-interest loans for local entrepreneurs. And West End council members divided up the funding among three community projects.
Outdoor learning and a community center in the West End
Unlike in the other regions, Metro Council members didn’t stick with the mayor’s proposal for using the West End funds.
Greenberg wanted the entire $3 million to go to Simmons College, which is looking to build a new hub for its science, technology, engineering and math programs in the Chickasaw neighborhood.
But Metro Council Members Tammy Hawkins, Donna Purvis and Ken Herndon — the three Democrats whose districts make up nearly all of west Louisville — successfully pushed for the West End to get its own open-ended fund.
“It didn’t matter if it was Simmons [College], it could have been any single item,” Herndon said. “We just wanted the money to be able to spread further … That seemed to corral the money in one place rather than to be able to use it in multiple places.”
Funding for Simmons College was moved to a different part of Louisville Metro’s budget and the allocation was cut to $1.5 million.
The West End fund was then divided between the Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center, the Ashanti Fire Station conversion project and Alberta O. Jones Park. These projects received $1.2 million, $1 million and $800,000, respectively.
The Ashanti Fire Station project will turn the old Quad 5 fire station at 1150 S. 28th St. in Parkland into a community center. The project will be managed by the city’s Office of Housing and is expected to take 18 months.
The Alberta O. Jones Park funding will help further development.
The park opened in 2023, bringing a new playground and multi-purpose field to the California neighborhood. That covered a quarter of the roughly 20 acres of land that the Parks Alliance of Louisville controls.
Brook Pardue, president and CEO of the Alliance, said the next phase will include building an agriculture hub, tennis and pickleball courts and more.
“It’s just an absolute jewel in the middle of the California neighborhood, where only 1% of land is dedicated to parks and greenspace,” she said.
Pardue said the Parks Alliance has already broken ground on “the farm,” a portion with 60 raised beds and two hoop houses built Maple and Dr. W.J. Hodge Streets. In partnership with Blueprint 502’s Urban Conservation Corps, the farm will offer training for Americorps volunteers and is expected to produce upwards of 500 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year for the surrounding community.
The second phase of Alberta O. Jones Park is expected to cost approximately $9 million. Including the $800,000 in new funding from Louisville Metro, Pardue said Parks Alliance has so far raised about $3.5 million.
The funding from the West End development fund will also move another outdoor recreation project forward.
There’s $1 million for the Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center, a new environmental education center in Shawnee Park. Purvis told WLKY last month that she hopes the project can break ground before the end of the year.
Infrastructure upgrades in the East
Every year, Metro Council members representing East End residents push for more funding for infrastructure in their districts.
District 19 Council Member Anthony Piagentini, who heads the Republican Caucus, said the area east of Interstate 64 has some of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in Jefferson County.
“Nobody would say that we’ve kept up with local road infrastructure development to match the demand out here,” Piagentini said. “So, it was a no-brainer that if we’re going to focus on this area of the city, this is what it needs to be.”
That’s why the $3 million East End Development Fund will be used to move a handful of road improvements forward.
The projects include:
- $350,000 for creating a left-turn lane on Herr Lane from Bedford Lane to Westport Road
- $135,000 for a left-turn expansion on northbound Hurstbourne Parkway onto Westport Road
- $1.2 million for Clark Station road improvements
- $1.3 million for widening Eastwood Fisherville Road from Taylorsville Road to Shelbyville Road
Piagentini said the East End working group chose these projects based on their top priorities and potential to make a difference. He said the improvements to Eastwood/Fisherville Road will be impactful.
“When the mayor was campaigning, he ran that road and I thought, ‘This is borderline suicidal,’” Piagentini said. “It’s got peaks and valleys and turns. You can’t see from one turn to the next.”
He said the hope is that these investments will be enough to complete or make significant progress on these projects.
Expanding development in the South End
The South End fund will focus on bringing new economic development projects to southwest Louisville.
The fund is divided into three $1 million pots: for attracting a national restaurant chain to Dixie Highway, for small business loans through the Metropolitan Business Development Corporation (METCO) and for a future development project.
City officials are still working out many of the details, such as what types of businesses to attract, whether there will be public engagement, where those businesses will locate. Even the question of what neighborhoods and independent cities constitute the South End remains unanswered.
District 13 Council Member Dan Seum Jr., a Republican representing Fairdale, said residents in far southwest Jefferson County have seen large retailers and restaurants come and go in recent decades.
“There’s not much for us around here when it comes to getting a decent suit or a decent place to sit and eat,” he said. “That’s what we’re hoping for, that that money will entice someone to come here.”
However, Seum questioned whether the available funding will be enough to meet residents’ demand for new businesses. He also said Fairdale residents care much more about getting a grocery story than a chain restaurant.
“Our seniors, they have to go all the way to Walmart on the other side of the bridge and there’s no bus,” Seum said. “So, $1 million is nothing to what we need.”
During the recent budget hearings, a number of council members said they weren’t clear on who will be eligible for the funding. They repeatedly asked: “What’s the ‘South End?’”
District 3’s Shameka Parrish-Wright, a Democrat who represents Shively, said she doesn’t know whether entrepreneurs in her district will be able to take advantage of these investments.
“We don’t have a clear definition on what is the south, even though I have whole neighborhoods in my district that are part of south Louisville,” she said.
Overall, Parrish-Wright said she appreciates the attempt to “right a bunch of the wrongs and neglect” when it comes to city spending in certain areas.
“You know, the further south you go, they’ve not received a lot of support and investment,” she said.
LPM News asked the Greenberg administration what part of Dixie Highway could see a new restaurant chain and whether communities in Shively will benefit from the South End fund.
Aaron DuVall, a spokesman for the Cabinet for Economic Development, said in a statement the administration and Metro Council are working “to quickly deploy the funds and are working diligently to leverage existing programs in this process.”
“We are still working through the specific details and are continuing to meet about the parameters and will have more details to come,” he said.
DuVall said the $1 million in the budget for a future development project in the area was left vague so that the city “can respond to emerging opportunities.”
