LOUISVILLE, KY. — Marcus & Millichap has arranged the sale of Jefferson Park, a 40-unit apartment community located at 5161 Jefferson Blvd. in Louisville. Built in 2016, the single-building property was constructed and sold by an unnamed, locally based developer. Aaron Kuroiwa and Tony Rogers of Marcus & Millichap represented both the seller and buyer, a limited liability company, in the transaction. Grant Fitzgerald assisted in closing the sale as the Kentucky broker of record for Marcus & Millichap. The sales price was not disclosed.
Kentucky
Like many regional peer cities, there is a clear bifurcation between office leasing activity in Louisville’s downtown and suburban office markets. Downtown Louisville has been slower to recover from the double gut-punch of the COVID-19 pandemic and local social unrest that kept workers away from the office in 2020, with overall vacancy stubbornly exceeding 20 percent for most of this year. Much of the vacancy has been driven by health insurer Humana, by far the largest office occupier in downtown Louisville, which has let several large Class B office leases expire as it continues to consolidate its workforce into properties the company owns. Year-to-date, downtown leasing activity totals 115,000 square feet, which is up 58 percent compared to this time last year, while overall absorption has swung sharply lower at negative 237,000 square feet. The relative oversupply of available office space has created a very “tenant-friendly” dynamic downtown, with landlords becoming increasingly aggressive to court leasing activity. More so than their suburban counterparts, downtown landlords are offering outsized incentive packages to tenants, including rental concessions, turnkey construction delivery of new tenant space, termination options and rental abatement periods that in some cases extend beyond one year. In exchange, downtown tenants …
Surging Electric Vehicle Construction Drives Momentum in Louisville’s Industrial Market
by John Nelson
With strong industrial leasing activity and significant development over recent years and currently, notably in the electric vehicle (EV) market, Louisville’s industrial real estate market maintains a steady drumbeat and forecasts continued success. The Louisville industrial market’s strong start to the year continued in the second quarter, and the JLL Q2 Industrial Insights report shows that Louisville remains a robust market. Over the past five years, developers constructed over 25 million square feet of Class A industrial space, positively absorbed 27 million square feet and has grown Louisville to a 90 million-square-foot Class A industrial market. Another positive market indicator is rental rates have appreciated 40 percent over the last three years, with the direct average asking rate currently at $5.67 per square foot. We expect this to continue to rise slowly over the next 18 months due to leasing activity, low inventory and a slowdown in speculative development. Louisville is quickly integrating and expanding capacity for EV production, following a growing EV industrial trend across the United States. We expect the EV market to continue expanding, especially with Ford Motor’s commitment to the region and generating an EV presence at the Blue Oval City SK facility. A joint venture …
Louisville, perhaps the center of the universe for horses and bourbon, is a somewhat undiscovered gem lying at the northern edge of the Southeast. The metro, with a population of just under 1.4 million people, is a steady performer across virtually all measurables, producing consistent and predictable metrics that may not dazzle Wall Street but certainly have not disappointed the base of capital invested in this riverfront market. The Kentucky Derby, which ran for the 149th time this past May, produces $400 million in economic development annually and is likely the first mental image conjured up when the term “Louisville” is mentioned. Kentucky bourbon likely comes to mind next as a $9 billion industry across the state, with roots as deep as oak. However, there’s much more to the Louisville metro. Through the first half of 2023, the Louisville metro area had recovered virtually all of the more than 55,000 jobs the market lost in 2020. Interestingly but not surprisingly, arts, entertainment and recreation posted a net 7.5 percent increase in jobs from 2020 through 2022, more than erasing a blistering 2020 loss of 25.4 percent of the jobs in this sector. Less glamorous but perhaps more critical is transportation …
Lument Provides $78.8M HUD-Insured Refinancing for Hub Apartments in Bowling Green, Kentucky
by John Nelson
BOWLING GREEN, KY. — Lument has provided a $78.8 million loan through HUD’s 223(f) program for The Hub, a 590-unit apartment community in Bowling Green. Ryan Duling of Lument’s Columbus, Ohio office originated the financing, which was underwritten with a low fixed interest rate and a 25-basis-point mortgage insurance premium due to its green classification. The borrower was not disclosed. Built in 2020, The Hub comprises 42 apartment buildings surrounding a central park. Amenities include pickleball courts, a splash pad, pet park and resort-style pools with multiple pavilions and lounge areas, as well as food-and-beverage options.
As the nation’s 28th-largest city, Louisville is home to a dynamic, diversified economy. The Greater Louisville region draws workers from a 26-county area in Kentucky and southern Indiana, providing an ample and reliable source of educated and skilled employees. The geography of Louisville, specifically its accessibility to the Ohio River, central location nationally and mild climate, have contributed to its ability to grow and evolve. Additionally, reducing the income tax rate in Kentucky is a goal of the current Republican majority State Representatives to further economic development, and the Democratic governor (Gov. Andy Beshear) is also supporting this reduction as a way to help ease the burden of inflation for residents. Legislation passed in 2022 dropped the individual tax rate from 5 percent to 4.5 percent for tax year 2023, and a bill signed earlier this year by Gov. Beshear drops it again for 2024 to 4 percent. The goal is to ultimately get income tax rates down to zero, or very close to zero, in 50-basis-point steps as certain budget metrics are hit. These measures seem to be working for growth in the Commonwealth. One of the more notable capital investment projects is the Ford partnership BlueOval SK Battery …
HOPKINSVILLE, KY. — Toyota Boshoku America, a Toyota supplier based in Erlanger, Ky., will invest $225 million in the development of a new automotive parts manufacturing facility in Hopkinsville, a city in southwest Kentucky. Upon completion, the 327,000-square-foot property will be situated on 48 acres within the South Park Development. Construction began in June, and operations are scheduled to begin at the facility in 2025. The project is expected to create 157 jobs. Additionally, Toyota Motor North America announced last week that it has entered into a $3 billion partnership agreement with LG Energy Solution for lithium-ion battery modules to be used in Toyota battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Under terms of the arrangement, the modules will be produced by LG at its Michigan facility and will support Toyota’s expanding line of BEVs, including a new model that will be assembled at the Toyota Manufacturing Kentucky plant in Georgetown, Ky., in 2025.
Joint Venture Plans 3.4 MSF Simpsonville 64 Logistics Park in Metro Louisville, Kentucky
by Katie Sloan
SIMPSONVILLE, KY. — A joint venture partnership between Hunt Midwest and Marshall Planing Mill has announced plans to break ground on a 3.4 million-square-foot industrial park in Simpsonville, roughly 25 miles east of Louisville. The 300-acre development, dubbed Simpsonville 64 Logistics Park, will be located on Kentucky Route 1848 near the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant, Ford Kentucky Assembly Plant and GE Appliance Park. The project will be developed in phases, with construction of Phase I set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. Phase I will include the development of a 207,400-square-foot, rear-load industrial building with 210 parking spaces and 80 semi-trailer truck parking space, as well as a 486,720-square-foot cross-dock industrial building with 206 parking spaces and 140 semi-trailer truck parking spaces. The development will also include retail space along Buck Creek Road. Build-to-suit opportunities are available at the site for industrial users up to 1.5 million square feet. A timeline for the project was not announced. The development team for Simpsonville 64 Logistics Park includes H2B Architects and Mindel Scott. Kevin Grove of CBRE will handle leasing for the industrial portion of the park. Jody Zimmerman and John Agan with Walter Wagner Jr. Co. will lead …
Contegra Construction Nears Completion of 1 MSF Gigafactory in Louisville for Battery Manufacturer
by John Nelson
LOUISVILLE, KY. — Contegra Construction Co. is nearing completion on a 1 million-square-foot gigafactory in Louisville for Fremont, Calif.-based EnerVenue. The tenant will manufacture its proprietary Energy Storage Vessels at the facility, which are batteries based on nickel-hydrogen technology originally developed for NASA in the 1980s and refined at Stanford University in 2017. EnerVenue emerged through the university’s business accelerator program in 2020. The gigafactory will be located within Flint Development’s I-64 Logistics Center, a 115-acre industrial park situated at Logistics Drive and Taylorsville Road. The Kansas-based developer is targeting a late-summer completion for EnerVenue’s new plant, and the tenant will begin operations in 2024. The tilt-wall facility will feature a TPO roof, 40-foot clear heights, five dock doors, four drive-in doors and 300 trailer parking spaces. Contegra is also constructing a 478,000-square-foot, multi-tenant distribution center on behalf of Flint within I-64 Logistics Center. Also set to come on line later this summer, the property will feature 36-foot clear heights, 48 dock doors, four drive-in doors and 115 trailer parking spaces.
INDEPENDENCE, KY. — Kroger has opened a new “spoke” industrial facility in Independence that will grow the grocer’s delivery presence in Northern Kentucky. The new facility will work in concert with Kroger’s existing customer fulfillment center in Monroe, Ohio, which is roughly 45 miles north of the spoke facility via I-75. Kroger associates will assemble orders at the Monroe facility, which will then be trucked to the Independence property and sorted and shipped out to customers in refrigerated delivery vans. At full operating capacity, the Independence facility will employ 100 associates. The property is the second spoke facility in Kentucky, joining a Louisville property that opened in May 2022.