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Brownfields Success Stories
Historic Trolley Barn Site Ready for Redevelopment; African American Museum May Occupy the Site
Louisville, Kentucky's heavy industrial corridor is littered with abandoned and underutilized properties, which cost the city $8.7 million annually in lost property tax revenues. The two-acre Trolley Barn property is a prime example of a site where the stigma of major environmental contamination discouraged any redevelopment interests--an earlier environmental assessment indicated that it would cost $30 million for cleanup. To address the barriers to redevelopment in Louisville's 5,401-acre industrial corridor, EPA awarded the city a $200,000 Brownfields Assessment Pilot grant in September 1995. Thanks to this EPA funding, Louisville was able to target the Trolley Barn site for a new environmental assessment, the results of which contradicted the previous $30 million cleanup estimate (which would have required soil removal and possible groundwater cleanup). Based on the new assessment, the city was able to move forward with cleanup at a cost of only $80,000, while remaining fully protective of the health and safety of local residents. One possible re-use of the Trolley Barn site, with its 40,000-square-foot building, was submitted to Louisville's Housing and Urban Development Department by the Louisville and Jefferson County African-American Heritage Committee. The committee's proposal includes an African-American museum, along with a mini-mall, a restaurant, and a cultural center. The committee is currently working to raise the $7 million needed for the project. According to Lora Bradshaw, chairperson for the committee, the museum will "be something that's significant to the entire community. It won't just be African Americans-- everybody will be proud of what the museum can be." To further encourage the redevelopment of Louisville's brownfields, EPA provided a Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund (BCRLF) grant to the city in the amount of $350,000, which the city recently supplemented to $500,000. The BCRLF distributes low-interest loans using the repayments from previous loans. The grant will be administered through the Louisville Community Development Bank, with an expected focus on small business loans. Once a test loan program is completed, the BCRLF will be officially up and running. For more information on the Louisville Brownfields Pilot, contact Bonnie Biemer at (502) 574-3271.