A hotel, a school, a farm? Russell residents to decide future of prominent property

A Louisville group is spearheading an effort to turn 30th and Madison Street into a beacon for building Black wealth.

Russell: A Place of Promise (RPOP), a five-year initiative focused on generating investments in west Louisville's Russell neighborhood, brought together four Black-led businesses and nonprofits Thursday to pitch their ideas for what to do with the five-acre property. In total, nine pitches have been made across two pitch sessions, and RPOP is now looking to the Russell community to make the decision about which idea will best serve their needs.

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Cassandra Webb, director of RPOP, said the project was particularly exciting because there will be opportunities for Russell residents to make significant investments in the property, with additional potential for co-ownership of the land. As part of their pitches, the businesses also had to explain how their projects align with RPOP's Partnership Pledge, which is an outline of ideals for Black wealth-building put together by a group of over 20 Russell residents.

"Russell collectively stands on its history and future possibilities," the pledge states. "We are redefining wealth. We are moving from owing to owning. We, the people of Russell, are the promise of the community."

Now that the nine entities have given their pitches, Russell residents will have until August 25 to provide input on the most recent pitch session through the RPOP website. Webb said she did not have a specific date for when results would be announced, but said the community will not have to wait long.

Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott, who represents part of Russell, was in attendance and said she thought the ongoing process with what to do with 30th and Madison has been "revolutionary."

"So often in the West End of Louisville decisions are made for us but without us," Scott said. "What RPOP is doing is being very transparent and accountable and saying they want residents to come and decide what is in that space."

Here are the nine groups that have pitched plans for the property.

Garden Girl Foods

Garden Girl Foods, founded in 2019, is a Black-owned commercial food manufacturer local to Kentucky. Their products are currently in six grocery stores in the state, and they are launching with Kroger in September. Owner and CEO Whitney Powers said she also runs the 501c Garden Girl Gives, a non-profit aimed at teaching young people how to garden and cook organic meals.

Her vision for the property would be to bring together a grocery store, education center and production kitchen all in one building. She projects she would need 15,000 square feet for the project, where she would be able to teach 2,000 kids annually. The project would cost about $3.5 million to build, and all her products are FDA-approved. Garden Girl took in almost $1 million in sales in 2019, a figure Powers expects to at least triple with the proposed property.

"I have something that Russell needs, which is fresh food," Powers said. "I like to make things beautiful. That's my magic touch."

Global Lofts

Latasha Brown, founder of Global Lofts, hopes to build a boutique hotel on the property. The hotel would have 90 guest rooms with multicultural themes that would change every six months. Brown's goal is to create a space for travelers to be able to have internationally-based experiences that are still rooted in building connections to the local community in Russell.

The building would be 40,000 square feet spread out on four floors. The hotel would include amenities such as wellness and yoga classes, dining options and community event spaces. Brown's financial projections for the property are between $10 million and $20 million. She also said she would be looking to partner with local businesses and organizations to provide those amenities.

"Less than 2% of hotels are owned by African Americans," Brown said. "I really want to be able to share this project with the Black community."

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Kentucky Greens

Owned and run by Michael Jackson, Kentucky Greens is a Black-and-family-owned produce supplier. Currently, they supply mainly small farmer's markets and delis, but with the property, they are hoping to expand to become a major supplier of local restaurants and grocery stores. Kentucky Greens would hope to use the space to create a small farm to increase their overall capacity.

They would expect to use 15,000 square feet, and the estimated cost of the building would be $400,000 to $500,000. This would be used to pay for the construction of multiple containers for their farms, each of which is able to grow two acres of products. Jackson said they would hope to use their position in the community to advocate for better food policy for the state.

"We believe people need to put their hands back into the soil," Jackson said.

SeQuel Scents

Marquel Lett, founder and owner of SeQuel Scents, says everyone should try "The SeQuel Experience." SeQuel Scents is a Black-owned skincare company Lett started during the early pandemic. She grew up in the West End, and in addition to using the space to sell her products, she would hope to use it as an educational space to promote entrepreneurship and access to STEM and agricultural education.

Lett said she would need about 2,500 square feet of retail space for the store and another 2,800 square feet of space to grow the herbs used in her products. The store would include a "Scent Bar" where customers can try samples of the products for themselves. In all, Lett said she would need about $125,000 to build her space. She also noted that getting to use the property would allow her to locally source the ingredients used in her products, which she cannot currently do.

"In order to make a change you have to be the change," Lett said. "So it's very important for us to be included in the community."

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Play Cousins Collective

Kristen Williams, executive director of Play Cousins Collective, is hoping to turn the property into a new home base for her organization, which currently has over 1,000 members. The group is Black-led and dedicated to creating opportunity and empowerment for Black people through community building. This includes providing access to free Black therapists and parenting support groups, preparing hundreds of Black children for Kindergarten and offering free music lessons.

Williams said the group is asking for 40,000 square feet of the property to build five classrooms, a conference room, a large events space and a commercial kitchen to serve meals. The expected cost would be $800,000 to $900,000 for the headquarters, and she said part of the collective's goal is to be able to use the space to host other Black-led organizations.

"What if we stopped hemorrhaging our power, our land and our resources," Williams said. "What if we promised to do the work in ourselves, family and community that meant our children would not inherit generational trauma."

9:25 Sports Corporation

The mission of 9:25 Sports, according to director Frank Johnson, is to "utilize sports to empower youth to become exemplary leaders of the next generation." The group currently runs two community youth baseball teams and is hoping to use part of the space as an indoor baseball facility. Johnson mentioned that with the space, they would hope to be able to attract players of all ages, even professional ones.

Johnson said 9:25 Sports is hoping for 4,800 square feet, and he said it was important for him to be able to bring the group's practices and training sessions into the West End. The space would include three pitching lanes, three hitting lanes and a classroom. Johnson said he projected the facility would cost $398,000. Ultimately, Johnson said the goal is to be able to instill skills in young kids that can help keep them in education longer and find scholarships to make college easier to attain.

"We will dismantle barriers that have historically and currently stifled Black entrepreneurship and self-determination," Johnson said.

A.M.P.E.D

A.M.P.E.D, or Adventurous Minds Produce Extraordinary Dreams, is led by Dave Christopher, who wants to build a space that will help A.M.P.E.D's goal of undoing what he calls the "digital divide." He said that young Black people typically do not have the same access to technology in their homes that white youth do, and he hopes to turn the property into a space that can foster technology training internships for those young people that will eventually lead them into four-year degree programs.

Christopher's vision is a 15,000-square-foot space spread out over either two or three stories. On the first floor will be a café that will serve as a workspace, as well as a drop-in childcare center. On the second floor will be the technology workforce development training center. In all, Christopher expects the building to cost $7.5 million.

"Something that is really important to me is that we stop acting like these problems we face are not about the money," Christopher said. "It really is absolutely about the money. When we create economic power and ownership, we create the power to change things."

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Jamon Brown Foundation

Jamon Brown Foundation executive director Danny Mosby pitched to use the space as part of the nonprofit's effort to fight against youth violence in the area, which disproportionately affects the Black community. Founder Jamon Brown, who grew up in the West End and has played for the NFL, also spoke at the event and stressed the need for safe spaces for community building as essential to the foundation's mission.

To that end, Mosby and Brown proposed a $30 million development of an Empowerment Center, which would include apartments specifically aimed at attracting young Black professionals, as well as a bowling alley and skating rink — facilities Brown said were once staples of the Russell community that have since been lost. He also stressed he would be open to a local community land trust having ownership of the property.

"I am a result of Russell," Brown said. "I stand in front of you again after having Russell believe in me, and so the Empowerment Center is meant to empower Russell."

Jefferson County Public Schools

Superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools Marty Pollio presented plans for an expansion of the Grace James Academy of Excellence, bringing up that there has not been a new middle school built in the West End since the 1950s. Grace James Academy currently is an all-girls middle school specializing in STEM education. The expanded school on the 30th and Madison property would teach grades six through 12.

The expansion would take up 150,000 square feet over multiple stories and would include a full-size gymnasium and a fine arts center open to community use for plays and music festivals. The project would require $50 million, which Pollio said JCPS has earmarked right now to put towards the property, and once it was built, it would continue to be funded at $7 million to $8 million a year.

"We would be one of the best neighbors in the neighborhood because it would be a place where everyone is invited," JCPS Chief Equity Officer John Marshall said at the event. "This will increase property values in the area and we are looking to employ Russell residents inside the school."

Reach reporter Thomas Birmingham @TBirmingham@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @cthomasbirm. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville residents to decide future of Russell property