Louisville Real Estate News

U of L breaking ground on third downtown Louisville commercial real estate research building

The University of Louisville broke ground Friday on a $70.2 million biomedical research building on its downtown Health Sciences Campus, according to a news release.

Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Chovan Inc., of Louisville, and the Detroit-based SmithGroup Inc. are the architects for the project. Cincinnati-based Messer Construction Co. is the general contractor for the 150,000-square-foot building.

It will be located at the southeast corner of Hancock Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. The facility will be U of L’s third biomedical research building.

As Business First previously reported, the facility will be used as laboratory space and offices for U of L’s biomedical researchers. Fifty researchers working on cancer treatments will be its first tenants, the release said.

“State-of-the-art laboratories are essential in our quest to recruit internationally known biomedical scientists and is key to our staying competitive as an academic health sciences center,” Larry Cook, U of L’s executive vice president for health affairs, said in the release.

U of L’s existing biomedical research buildings — the Donald E. Baxter Biomedical Research Building and the adjacent Delia B. Baxter Biomedical Research Building, both on Chestnut Street — already are full, according to Ellen de Graffenreid, U of L’s director of communications and marketing for health sciences.

“Right now, they are facing a lot of space constraints,” she said.

The site also has room for a five more research buildings, she added. About $66 million in funding for a fourth research building was included in the budget bill submitted last month by Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher. The bill currently is before the Appropriations and Revenue committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives.