Louisville is taking a first step toward building a state-of-the-art training facility for first responders.
The city signed a Letter of Intent to pay $6 million for a piece of property at 11900 Dixie Highway, according to records obtained by LPM News. The 92-acre plot sits behind Stonegate Mobile Home Park off Dixie Highway. It’s bounded by Mill Creek and a waste water treatment plant to the west, railroad tracks to the north and homes along West Orell Road to the south.
Republican Metro Council Member Crystal Bast represents District 14, which includes the site. She said South End residents would welcome the increased police presence and potential economic development from the training facility.
“It’s kind of overlooked, but these people that are going to be coming in from out of town to use our facility are going to be using our gas stations, eating at our restaurants, shopping at our local retail, possibly staying in our hotels,” she said. “It’s going to help boost that economic [development] that we're striving for in our Dixie Highway corridor."
Bast called the letter of intent “a great start” toward making the training center a reality.
Metro Council’s Republican Caucus lobbied hard last year for the city to put up some seed funding for the project.
Mayor Craig Greenberg’s initial budget proposal didn’t include any funding for the project, with the mayor arguing the training center would require state support to build. But council Republicans convinced their colleagues to set aside $6 million to buy land. They argued the city needed to show the state it has some skin in the game.
Bast said this week that sending police officers for training in Richmond — a nearly two-hour drive from Louisville — is a burden on city resources.
“It’s going to save the city money on the travel time going to and from Richmond,” Bast said. “Taking cars out there takes up half a day of travel just to do those sorts of things … Having this in the southwest is a game changer.”
In addition to Louisville Metro Police officers, the city plans to offer the facility to EMS and local fire departments for training.
The city is currently doing due diligence to ensure officials want to move forward with the purchase. According to the letter of intent, Louisville Metro has until May 31 to decide, with a proposed closing date of July 1.
Matt Mudd, a spokesperson for Mayor Greenberg, said the city doesn’t have estimates yet for the total cost of building the training center.
“Cost estimation to fully develop the training facility will be the next phase as we do design development and will depend largely on the features identified as priorities for the project, as well as available funds,” Mudd told LPM News in an email.
City leaders are hoping the General Assembly will provide additional funding for the project, which they say could also benefit other police, fire and EMS departments in the region.
The property off Dixie Highway is currently owned by Edward and Benita Alvey. The couple owns the adjacent mobile home park, as well as a nearby shopping center.
If the purchase goes through, the couple have agreed to let the city build a new access road on a separate piece of land, connecting the proposed training center to Dixie Highway.
