Louisville, Kentucky, Announces Deal to Build $65 Million Studio

Depend Kentucky among the many states constructing studio infrastructure to make the most of new manufacturing tax incentives.

Following final yr’s reinstatement of Kentucky’s 30-35% tax credit score, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has introduced approval and a letter of intent with River Metropolis Leisure Group to develop the historic Louisville Gardens constructing into 40,000 sq. ft of studio house divided amongst 4 levels.

The $65 million undertaking is projected to interrupt floor in 2023, with levels out there to be used in 2025. The plans consists of restoring the façade of the Louisville Gardens again to the unique design of the Louisville Armory, restoring the steadiness of the outside, the workplaces and upstairs black field theatre, and redeveloping the inner construction to assemble soundstages, retail house, and a public museum.

Paving the way in which for the undertaking was the 2021 passage by the Kentucky Common Meeting – and signing by Gov. Andy Beshear – of a invoice reinstating the Kentucky Movie Tax Credit score, permitting the state to approve as much as $75 million of refundable tax credit yearly for movie and leisure productions made within the state.

Most just lately, the Kentucky Financial Improvement Finance Authority Board (KEDFA) accredited $700,000 in state and native job creation incentives for the undertaking.

“Kentucky’s profitable movie tax incentives, our gifted native workforce, and our various places have all helped to create an unimaginable movie economic system in Louisville, and now with soundstages and a studio presence, our metropolis can elevate our movie and media infrastructure equally to New Orleans and Atlanta,” mentioned Soozie Eastman, president of 502 Movie, a nonprofit that connects visiting productions with sources within the higher Louisville area, and chair of the Louisville Movie Fee. “This funding from the River Metropolis Leisure Group won’t solely permit our crew and creatives to stay native and flourish in our metropolis, however it’ll additionally entice extra productions and investments, rising our workforce and general inventive economic system.”

“The restoration and redevelopment of the Louisville Gardens has remained a excessive precedence all through my administration, and I’m proud to announce right now that now we have taken the subsequent step towards giving this iconic property a renewed life,” mentioned Fischer.  “This use will advance our current arts and movie business by attracting extra productions and creating extra job alternatives domestically.

The subsequent step is for LMG to barter the phrases of a growth settlement with River Metropolis Leisure Group, which is able to lay out a timeline for structural, environmental and different customary due diligence objects associated to the constructing to find out the estimated complete renovation prices, in addition to the evaluation of neighborhood advantages, and the supply of incentives that will likely be essential to begin the revitalization of the constructing.

The Louisville Gardens opened in 1905 because the Jefferson County Armory dwelling of the Louisville Legion militia battalion earlier than changing into primarily an leisure venue within the Twenties. It has hosted a number of marquee occasions, together with Golden Gloves match with a younger Muhammad Ali, rallies with Martin Luther King Jr. and President Harry S. Truman, and live shows headlined by Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Stevie Marvel.