In downtown Louisville, Kentucky, the 30-story office tower at 5th and Jefferson streets is undergoing a significant repositioning under new ownership.
The US$16 million plan at 500 West Jefferson, formerly known as PNC Plaza, involves doubling the size of the building’s lobby and opening it up with a two-story atrium and mezzanine, as well as reorienting the main entrance from Fifth Street to Jefferson Street and adding sidewalk seating.
On the fourth floor, owner SomeraRoad will convert leasable space to a tenant lounge with private “bourbon cabinets” and enclose a currently unused roof to make a rooftop terrace. On the other side of the floor, the company will build a 158-square-meter (1,700-square-foot) fitness center.
After losing key tenants starting in the aftermath of the Great Recession, the building was left more than half vacant. SomeraRoad purchased the building for US$22.5 million in November 2020. The previous owners paid US$77 million for the building in 2011.
The renovations come after a new anchor tenant moved to the top five floors of the building. New amenities aside, SomeraRoad will be looking for office tenants at a time of high vacancies in the Central Business District. The vacancy rate for Class A space was 22 percent as of 31 March 2021, according to real estate brokerage JLL.
The renovations are planned to complete by the end of 2021 or first quarter 2022.
For more on this story, go to WDRB News.