LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More nonprofits threw their support behind a 42-unit affordable housing project on West Broadway near Shawnee Park Friday afternoon.
Some people living nearby have questions, but the project appears on its way to final approval.
Christ Temple Christian Life Center is planning to add a three-story multi-family apartment building to the northeast corner of its lot between South 44th Street and South 45th Street, which will be called "Renaissance on Broadway."
The building will stand where the historic Peter C. Doerhoefer House once stood, and it will be available to people making between 60 percent and 30 percent of the area's average median income.
"The goal of this project is to provide quality affordable rent and quality affordable care," Bishop Michael E. Ford. Jr., senior pastor at the church, said.
Ford and several other organizations gathered at ElderServe on Friday afternoon for a press conference. During the press conference, it was announced that ElderServe will be going into Renaissance on Broadway and working with its senior residents to help them do activities and get access to services.
"We will be able to go there, they will be able to come here, to make sure that everyone is covered," Timothy Findley, CEO of ElderServe, said.
Dare to Care was also at the event to announce it will be helping obtain meals for the senior residents at the building that they are physically able to eat and ones that they will enjoy.
There has been some pushback to the proposed development, which has the approval of the planning commission but not the full Metro Council.
The Westover Neighborhood Association submitted a letter to the planning commission that cited complaints with the other historic building the church has on its lot, and the allegedly poor manner in which it has been kept up.
The neighborhood association felt if Christ Temple Christian Life Center has not maintained that building, which is smaller, it will not be able to maintain the larger one.
Some residents have also disliked the way the church demolished the historic Peter C. Doerhoefer House.
There was a miscommunication where the church demolished the building without getting proper approval. A spokesperson for the planning commission provided this statement:
"On January 15, 2021, a wrecking permit was filed by the owner’s demolition contractor with Metro. Unfortunately, the permit was issued in error in June of 2021 without proper approval from the Individual Landmarks Architectural Review Committee. An after the fact COA (certificate of appropriateness) was issued for demolition," Jody Hamilton, a spokesperson for the planning commission, said.
"There has been some pushback, but I think the beauty of what happened is --there were mistakes made-- but nobody did anything that was on purpose," Ford said. "Despite those challenges, the city has said, 'We understand what happened and now let's move forward and put something there that our city needs and the neighborhood needs."
Hamilton says the proposal could come up on next Tuesday's Metro Council meeting agenda, but that agenda has not been released yet.
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