Louisville neighborhood facts that you should know
Louisville, Kentucky, has 78 neighborhoods stretching from Shawnee to Okolona. Here’s what you should know about them.
The Nia Center saga is nearing a close.
At a meeting Jan. 27, the Transit Authority of River City board approved the agency to move forward with a purchase agreement to sell the Nia Center, located at 2900 W. Broadway, to the West Louisville Dream Team for $2.1 million, TARC Executive Director Ozzy Gibson said.
The deal is not final quite yet — both sides must sign the purchase agreement before moving forward with the transaction.
Shaun Spencer, founder of the West Louisville Dream Team and a Metro Council candidate, said the organization’s board is expected to approve the purchase agreement at a meeting Jan. 28.
Gibson and Spencer both said they expect the agreement will be signed by the end of the week.
The West Louisville Dream Team plans to officially close on the property in May, Spencer said.
“This just kind of reflects the shared commitment to doing the hard work of collaboration on behalf of the community,” Spencer said. “We just really had to push to say community should have an input and the community should be involved.”
The Nia Center, named for the Swahili word for purpose, opened in 1998 as a space to consolidate community services into one location easily accessible by TARC buses. The West Louisville Dream Team, a community organization focused on economic opportunity in the West End, initially submitted a proposal to buy the Nia Center from TARC in July.
The proposal came a month after TARC announced a deal with Goodwill Kentucky, which planned to build a 76-unit affordable housing complex on the property. That plan entailed the West End Opportunity Partnership buying the property on behalf of Goodwill Kentucky for $2.1 million and leasing it to the organization for $1 annually.
Nia Center tenants and community leaders concerned about the displacement of businesses objected to the deal, and it ultimately collapsed after the West End Opportunity Partnership board twice voted against it.
TARC later entered an exclusive negotiating period with the West Louisville Dream Team.
“We’re just kind of thankful that we’re past that, and that we didn’t have to continue to prove to TARC’s board that we have a right and we should have been the first option to buy the building,” Spencer said.
With the original plan falling through, Goodwill Kentucky and developer Woda Cooper Companies have since advanced new plans to build a similar affordable housing project on a lot behind the Nia Center, The Courier Journal reported.
Spencer said a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet driver’s licensing office, a University of Louisville Cardinal Success Program mental health clinic and the My HUB Center printing service — a business she owns — are among the tenants planning to stick around.
A bookstore, drug-screening lab, embroidery business and other businesses are expected to move into the center, and the West Louisville Dream Team is looking for additional tenants, Spencer added. The organization is also planning to create a community meeting space in the center.
Reporter Keely Doll contributed. Killian Baarlaer covers Louisville Metro Government. Reach him at kbaarlaer@courier-journal.com or @bkillian72 on X.
