LOUISVILLE – Today, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) and Mayor Greg Fischer announced that Louisville’s $101 million redevelopment of Sheppard Square begins with new construction in the Smoketown neighborhood.

The revitalization of Sheppard Square is Louisville’s third HOPE VI project. The program used $22 million of federal funding to leverage additional investment and resources to replace outdated public housing with mixed-use, affordable housing developments. The project leveraged an additional $41 million in other investments in the area.

“Through key federal investments, Louisville has changed outdated housing projects into thriving communities, setting a new national standard in neighborhood revitalization,” said Yarmuth, who urged the Louisville Metro Housing Authority to apply for the HOPE VI grant for Sheppard Square and worked with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure its approval last year. “Once complete, the transformed Sheppard Square will provide hundreds of Louisville families with secure, comfortable housing and generate new economic growth that will benefit all of Louisville.”

"Thanks to $22 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and to all of our public-private partnerships, this project will not only revitalize Smoketown with safer and better housing, it also will be Louisville’s first sustainable neighborhood with environmentally sensitive infrastructure and energy efficient components," Fischer said.

Construction will begin on Block B, bound by Hancock, Jacob, Finzer and Jackson Streets. Buildings built on Block B will achieve Enterprise Green Communities certification, which requires smart site design, water conservation, energy efficiency, the use of materials beneficial to the environment and the creation of a healthy living environment. Additionally, the entire Sheppard Square campus will be certified as a LEED neighborhood.

The revitalization plan for Sheppard Square consists of 454 homes, including a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartment buildings designed to complement the architecture of the neighborhood. Off-site units in the Family Scholar House also have been developed, as well as homes scattered throughout the community.

Lampton Park will be relocated across Jackson Street, as an extension of the Meyzeek Middle School campus. This green space will remain open to the public.

The historic former Presbyterian Community Center will be rehabilitated and expanded into community space and housing targeted for elderly and disabled veterans.

The HOPE VI initiative was launched in 1992 to transform distressed public housing developments into mixed-income, mixed-use developments, breaking up concentrations of poverty, promoting resident self-sufficiency, and revitalizing entire communities. 

Louisville is home to two other HOPE VI developments, Park DuValle and Liberty Green. These award-winning projects are among the most successful HOPE VI projects in the country and are considered national models.

Construction on Sheppard Square is expected to be completed by December 2015.