Firing-Up the Redevelopment of an Abandoned Incinerator Exploring reuse opportunities for a waste transfer station site in Louisville, Kentucky Project Summary Community: Louisville, Kentucky Technical Assistance: Reuse Assessment Former Use: Incinerator Building Future Use: Resource Recovery, Active Recreation, Maker Space Facility Industrialization beginning in the early 1900s left behind several large, underutilized brownfield sites within a working-class residential community in Louisville, Kentucky. One of these sites is an active waste transfer station that includes a vacant historic incinerator building constructed after World War II. In 2015 the City and County completed the Central Rail Corridor brownfields area-wide plan. The plan envisioned an "Eco-lndustrial District" located between two anchor catalyst sites, one of them being the waste transfer station. The community identified this site for potential redevelopment into a resource recovery facility or a facility that provides community-serving functions. The Community's Challenge Louisville needed to understand the historic significance of the incinerator building, determine structural limitations for reusing the structure, and identify potential opportunities for converting the building in a manner consistent with their Eco-lndustrial District vision. EPA's Land Revitalization Technical Assistance The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Land Revitalization Program provided contractor technical assistance in 2015 to develop a Historic Resource Evaluation Report, which identified character-defining features and evaluated the building's eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The contracting team also performed a Preliminary Reuse Study, which included an assessment of the incinerator building's architecture, schematic renderings and narratives of several reuse alternatives, and a review of potential building code implications for each alternative. The considered alternatives included a comprehensive resource recovery park, an active recreation facility, an inter-generational community center, and a multi-use flex space. By assessing the historical and architectural integrity of the incinerator building and providing a range of revitalization options, Louisville can capitalize on the historic fabric of the building while realizing the vision for an Eco-lndustrial District that will spur further economic investment in the Central Rail Corridor. Potential programming for an active recreation facility and inter- generational community center reuse alternative. For more information, contact Derek Street, EPA Region 4 Brownfields Program, at street.derek@epa.qov. vvEPA United States Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization Environmental Protection Agency 560-F-19-005-H ------- |