LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville MSD is moving its main office to the Park Hill neighborhood. What was a Clariant chemical factory will be the utility provider's new headquarters.
The new location for is at 1600 W. Hill Street. The building is five stories tall and 130,000 square feet. Officials said this is 57% more space than MSD’s current four-floor office at 700 West Liberty Street. It costs $5 million and MSD will pay for it by selling their current downtown building.
"And as our system has grown and our utility has grown, we have just run out of space at that site," MSD Executive Director Tony Parrott said. “As the provider of three critical utilities in one at MSD, we must be innovative in our service to a growing community."
“This is a great opportunity for one of our largest public institutions to meet their future needs while investing in property that is going to be part of a thriving redevelopment corridor of our city. We are supportive and encouraged by MSD’s investment in the Park Hill neighborhood,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
MSD closed on the new property on May 15. The transition to the new facility will take place over the course of 2024 and into 2025.
But this physical shift from downtown over into west Louisville is also marked by a shift in focus by MSD trying to address some of the city's worst sewer smells.
MSD is spending $16.5 million on long-term projects in the area, like replacing old catch basins with newer ones that trap smelly sewer gas.
Quintella Pulliam and Dr. Marta Mack in the Chickasaw neighborhood noticed the smell went away through winter and spring. But as it creeps back, they worry progress is too slow.
"What are you gonna do in the interim to ensure that people don't have to smell sewage in their homes?" Mack asked.
While catch basin replacements are ongoing in the Park DuValle and California neighborhoods, Chickasaw has 73 that need to go but work hasn't started yet. Shawnee will see 202 basins replaced by May next year, according to MSD's own schedule.
For Pulliam, who's put up with the smell for decades, the solution seems simple.
"The sewers just need to be flushed and cleaned more," she said.
"And they need to be diligent about that," Mack added. "I think a lot of times folks in the west end get overlooked quite a bit."
With a rate hike beginning in August—6.9% for MSD services, $5.19 dollars in Jefferson County and $3.74 in Oldham—Pulliam is fine paying out as long as she sees results, saying "it's action time."
A MSD spokesperson did say it encourages reporting sewer odor and that it investigates every complaint. They also say fixing the aging sewer system is costly.
"[We're] putting in approximately $49 million over the next two fiscal years to be able to address the more localized odor control projects in communities," Parrott said.
Until some of those projects finish, Pulliam will have to keep her windows shut to block out the smell.
MSD is hosting community meetings about the issue through October.
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