LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Fiscal Court building, Market Street parking garage, the now vacant Metro Police headquarters and a parking lot near downtown.
The city is sending a message to developers; they want these old properties transformed into housing or mixed-use.
"Our real-estate that we have should be active, it should make for safe, clean, green, exciting, vibrant downtown," Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
Downtown has struggled to recover since the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown and the protests over Breonna Taylor's death.
Now, three years later, the mayor wants the vacant buildings and lots to be unique, vibrant opportunities.
"This is just to get a feel for who is interested and what their qualifications are to develop, and I think the exciting part is that we don't know what people are going to suggest or come up with for their proposal," Rebecca Fleischaker, executive director at Louisville Downtown Partnership, said.
Another location up for grabs is the space at 615 and 621 West Main Street, which is within walking distance from the Wiltshire Pantry.
It's an open court used for community gatherings and pickleball.
"One of the reasons why I wanted to open a Wiltshire on West Main Street is really because I wanted to be part of the revitalization of downtown and so it is really important to me to have vibrant businesses right down there in that area," Wiltshire Pantry owner Susan Hershberg said.
She said she isn't too happy with that space potentially turning into an office or residential property.
"There is currently so much office space downtown that is vacant so I actually would kind of be sad to see that particular piece of property transformed into a building," Hershberg said.
The mayor is pushing for more tourist attractions, business offices and housing to bring back what downtown had before 2020.
"I want thousands and thousands of more people living downtown, we want a real grocery store downtown, we would love to have even more restaurants," Greenberg said.
Fleischaker believed the projects would bring more people and business activity.
"When you have a blended mix of uses, you've got different people coming to do different things which means you're going to have more people doing more things and bringing more vitality to the streets," she said.
According to a release, Metro Government will choose the developers based on their qualifications, ability to complete the proposed work and their development approach.
The Department for Economic Development will evaluate all applications received by the deadline, June 23.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.