Lexington, KY - A more than $5 million federal grant will help clear the way for a LexTran to build a new environmentally friendly headquarters on their cramped five acre campus on the corner of North Limestone and Loudon.
Awarded from the Federal Transit Administration's Bus and Bus Facilities Livability Initiative grant program, the $5,043,760 grant will be coupled with a remaining $2.3 million left over from 2001 when the Lexington Transit Authority bought the property and added facilities. Still short of an anticipated total of $12 million to finish the complex, LexTran General Manager Rocky Burke, said this grant money will allow them to get started.
"With this we think we maybe able to move forward fairly quickly at least with the demolition and get that part done," Burke said.
Currently, an 80-year-old building that most recently has housed a kitchen supply store and was once a Greyhound Bus depot sits in various states of disrepair facing Loudon Avenue. Burke said designs for a new administrative building will attempt to incorporate parts of the building.
"We want to do is try our best to retain some of it," Burke told reporters following a press conference announcing the grant. "We just don't know from a structural standpoint what is salvageable, what's not. That's what the architects and engineers will tell us. Even if we can't, we want to build something back that's good in the community."
The existing brick building with large windows and bus-sized garage door bays has ceilings down in some parts of the building and LexTran officials limited a tour of the facility as many areas were not considered safe. Whatever stands in the place of the current structure will be a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified or green building, according to Burke.
Both Burke and Mayor Jim Newberry said they hope redoing the site - which will allow all of LexTran's 200 employees to be based at the same location - will help the surrounding Loudon and Limestone neighborhood enter a revival.
"We think our new facility will help start a transformation process for this part of town. We're really happy to be able to do that," Burke said.
Newberry, who echoed Burke's sentiments, said the recently completed Central Sector Small Area Plan calls for more commerce along the corridor leading to the Limestone and Loudon intersection.
"One of the things we heard from the residence was the desire to make this something of a retail and service area for this whole area of town. I am confidant that potential exists, and as a result of the commitment that has been made by the federal government to moving this project along, I think we're going to be (seeing) over the course of the next several years the opportunity to make some significant improvement here along the Loudon Avenue corridor. And that will be great, not only for this part of town, but for all of Lexington," the mayor said during the press conference.
Directly across from the LexTran headquarters is a large Kentucky Utilities facility that runs most of the block along Limestone from Seventh Avenue to Loudon and Loudon from Limestone to Broadway with the exception of the block's corners. Mostly chain-link fence, Newberry said the city has not talked with the utility company about sprucing up its street frontage, but "now that we have this critical piece sort of teed up, we will start exploring the options around here with the adjacent property owners," he said.
LexTran was one of 47 projects to be awarded funds last week out of 281 applicants. Burke said to receive this grant LexTran had to demonstrate the project would: Provide more transportation choices, promote equitable and affordable housing, enhance economic competitiveness, support existing communities, coordinate policies and leverage investments in valued communities and neighborhoods.
By razing some of the existing structures on the property and consolidating office space, Burke said LexTran should be able to eventually expand services as the current fleet of 75 buses is a tight fit on the property and more space can mean more buses and routes.