Mayor Greenberg backs massive downtown Louisville hotel project
Story Highlights Poe Cos. plans 1,000-room hotel on former Museum Plaza site.
Mayor Greenberg supports new hotel development for downtown Louisville.
State legislation allows development incentives for the project site.
In 2011, arts patrons Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, commercial real estate developer Steve Poe and then-attorney Craig Greenberg called it quits on a $465 million dream that would have forever altered Louisville's horizon.
Museum Plaza was to be a 62-story mixed-use tower with 300,000 square feet of Class A commercial space, two hotels with more than 300 rooms and 160 luxury lofts and condominiums.
But after breaking ground in 2007, construction was halted a year later amid the Great Recession and construction problems, leaving a gap on Main Street and on the city's skyline.
Nearly 15 years after walking away from the site, Poe and now-Mayor Greenberg are once again looking to build on the prime Downtown lot.
Business First broke the news Wednesday that Louisville-based Poe Cos. is working on plans to build a 1,000-room hotel at the vacant site next to the Muhammad Ali Center, according to several sources with knowledge of the plan, which was later confirmed by Poe Cos.
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The Main Street site currently features pickleball courts provided by the Louisville Downtown Partnership.
Joel Stinnett
While details of the massive hotel — which would be located between River Road, Main Street, Seventh Street, and Washington Street — are in the 'predevelopment' phases, Poe Cos. does have drawings for the project that are in an 'initial stage for budget pricing,' Hank Hillebrand, Poe Cos. president, told Louisville Business First in an email.
The current plans call for a 1,000-room hotel featuring more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space and new bourbon tourism experiences. Poe Cos. has spoken to 'various' hotel brands about the project.
Poe Cos. was selected to develop the site last year following a request for proposals from Louisville Metro Government.
The news follows the advancement of a bill by state lawmakers that allowed development incentives in the area of Downtown Louisville around the former Museum Plaza site — which were previously off limits because of a deal struck nearly two decades ago.
The measure opened up areas inside the arena's tax increment financing (TIF) district to other projects — such as the new planned hotel — seeking the same types of state tax rebates that help the KFC Yum Center pay off its construction debt.
House Bill 775 was sponsored by State Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, and supported by Greenberg.
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Louisville-based Poe Cos. is working on plans to build a 1,000-room hotel at a site next to the Muhammad Ali Center.
Joel Stinnett
During the Louisville Downtown Partnership's State of Downtown lunch March 27, Mayor Craig Greenberg said that he asked the Kentucky General Assembly 'to help us try again to develop the vacant land of the former Museum Plaza site.'
Referencing that site later in his speech he also said 'a new tower will rise above the recently flooded land next to the Muhammad Ali Center.'
In a phone interview Wednesday with Business First, Greenberg talked about his support for the new hotel, why the city needs its rooms and how he would like it to connect to the community.
This interview has been edited for clarity and space.
How is the mayor's office assisting Poe Cos. in getting this project built? We are incredibly supportive of building a new 1,000-room convention hotel on this site. I think it would be a tremendous benefit for Downtown and our entire city and state. Louisville Tourism has made clear that our city needs more convention center hotels and the quality and size of this proposed project would be a wonderful addition. I supported legislation in the recent Kentucky General Assembly session that amended the Tax Increment Financing law to support a project like this on this site.
You were involved in the original Museum Plaza project. What did you learn from that experience that can be used to get this new project across the finish line? It's a very challenging site to develop. Therefore, a strong public-private partnership is the only path forward. At the same time it's an incredibly important location for Downtown. Activating that site that exists in a flood plane but at a really important part of our city will have benefits for our entire community.
Having been in the hotel business [with 21C Museum Hotel] and having developed hotels, what amenities or attractions would you like to see be a part of the planned convention center hotel site? I think the quality and the size are incredibly important. I also think connecting it to our city is important, whether it is ultimately connected to our bourbon industry or other authentically Louisville industries and will be incredibly helpful for its ultimate success. I want to encourage its design to provide strong connections to Main Street as well as our skyline.
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