The Distill - Field Notes on Doing Louisville Better

Greeting Pioneers,

Louisville’s having a bit of an identity crisis—racquetball-court promises disappear, downtown vacancies multiply, and big plans stall in committee. Are we cool with drift, or do we want the kind of growth you can feel?

We open sourced Louisville growth ideas on KYX’s slack this past week and a few builders stepped up to the plate. Big ideas poured in from Tripp Brockway and Kevin Gibson, with a heavy lean on Rachel Edenfield–local tech founder, KYCombinator co-instigator, and Butchertown/Nulu’s elected neighborhood rep for editing and edge.

First up: Tripp Brockway—operator, ex-big-city connector, and friend of The Distill—who walked us through 4 actionable ideas that could yank the city back into motion. Each starts with a crisp Problem → Solution frame so you can see the lever and the payoff at a glance. 

Taking us home: Kevin Gibson—ecosystem advocate, 45Fest founder, and the original KYCombinator logo designer. Kevin takes a fresh swing at an old Louisville obsession: bringing pro sports to town. His angle? Why the WNBA makes the most sense.

1.  Problem → Growth strangled by a maze of red tape

🏘️ Solution → Modernize the code, lock in clear timelines, and give neighbors a real (but time-boxed) voice

It’s time to build. 

Louisville’s real growth killer is lurking in the shadows - a land development code and process maze that turns “yes” projects into year-long marathons. 

Even projects that fit the rules crawl through months of hearings, “temporary” moratoriums, and eleventh-hour neighborhood protests. The result: higher costs, fewer homes, and talent that decides to build—and live—somewhere else.

There’s a lot we could do to spur growth and make housing more affordable: 

• A Middle-Housing Overlay makes duplexes-to-four-plexes by-right in R-4/R-5 neighborhoods—no rezoning, no drama.

• Streamline the approval process (with a concierge, for example) and simplify the land development code. Is 800 pages of land development code helping anyone besides a few savvy lawyers? 

• Publish a city-wide pattern book of pre-approved duplex, four-plex, and corner-store models; pull one verbatim and you skip design review. Yes, these should be beautiful and fit the character of each neighborhood. 

Each of these tweaks rides rules Louisville already has, so Council can pass text amendments, not wage a map-wide rezoning war. Certainty goes up, timelines go down, and the city finally builds the walkable, affordable neighborhoods everyone keeps asking for. We could even take things one step further and reduce the veto power of the city council for real estate projects that have neighborhood consensus, especially after the Planning Commission has already approved them.

One of Louisville’s greatest assets is its low cost of living. If we want to maintain this while growing vibrant neighborhoods, we need a land use system that welcomes good development instead of smothering it. That means faster approvals, less political interference, and a city that says “yes” more often.

2. Problem → Downtown buildings are hollowing out

🎨 Solution → Flip one into live-work artist housing (fund it with the new $100 million office-conversion pot)

Inject Culture. Signal Movement. Make downtown magnetic again.

Louisville just got $100M from the state to convert empty downtown office buildings into housing. Let’s use a slice of that for something catalytic: turn one of those buildings into live-work space for artists—with a clear deal: 

Free rent → two public art pieces a year. Thirty studios, thirty world-class resident artists, sixty pieces of public art—every twelve months.

Why this move has an outsized impact: 

• Culture as magnet. Asheville and Austin proved it: tourists, young people, and investors follow the buzz.

• Foot-traffic flywheel. Gallery nights → cafés stay open → safety improves → more leases sign→ more people downtown.

• A beautiful city all Louisvillians can be proud of

Small slice of state money, outsized vibe shift. Let’s paint some walls and watch the sidewalks fill.

3. Problem → We have world-class logistics assets but few automation startups

🤖 Solution → Arch-Grants-style program laser-focused on AI, advanced manufacturing & supply-chain tech

Play to our unfair advantage—and plant a flag in the future economy.

• Vision: Louisville becomes the sandbox for real-world robotics & operational-AI

• Goal: 30 relocated firms in three years

• Capital: $100 K non-dilutive to 10 startups/year

• Testbed: Pilot zone in the Airport Corridor & organized partnerships with a mentor bench from UofL, UPS, GE & Brown Forman where startups can test autonomous delivery, AI warehouse ops, and robotics.

If we want to do this, we need to move fast: other mid-sized cities are already chasing this niche, but none have our overnight-shipping backbone.

4. Problem → Louisville leaves conference cash on the table

🏨 Solution → Build the “Authentic-Vegas” conference engine

If you build it, they will come. 

Despite a freshly-renovated KICC, a bourbon-powered tourism brand, and a one-day drive to 60% of America, we keep hearing the same “can’t-do” refrain: not enough hotel beds, not enough buzz, not enough scale—so we can’t compete against Vegas, Orlando, or Nashville for the top tier shows. Meanwhile downtown lots stay empty, hospitality payroll stays seasonal, and potential tax revenues go uncollected. The planned renovation for the Kentucky Exposition Center, the 6th largest events facility in the country, is the perfect opportunity to lean in. 

How we get there: 

Add 5,000 hotel beds near the Expo Center and 1,500 hotel beds near KICC within 3 years. 

•  Unlocks: Space for top end conferences; keeps attendees near downtown nightlife

• How: Designate a 1-mile “Conference Core” (Expo - Downtown) with targeted TIFs, 10-day permit reviews, and property-tax abatements for new or converted hotels

One-Contract Convention Concierge

• Unlocks: Zero-friction booking—planners get venue, rooms, shuttles, and bourbon tours in a single bundle (a clear edge over Vegas red-tape)

• How: Louisville Tourism + Metro create a flat-fee master agreement; participating hotels and service vendors opt-in once, then they can ride the deal flow

Brand the “Walk-&-Sip” District

• Unlocks: Character advantage—visitors roam a lit, signed corridor linking Whiskey Row, Old Louisville, and the Expo instead of sterile casino carpets

• How: Wayfinding, open-container pilot, pop-up music stages, and micro-grants for storefront activations along the route

Off-Peak Incentives

• Unlocks: Year-round heads-in-beds; fills the slow Jan–Feb & Jul–Aug window

• How: 25 % hall-rental rebate underwritten by projected hotel-motel tax lift; bundled into the Concierge pitch so planners see instant savings

Vegas wins on flash. Louisville wins on flavor.

But only if we scale the beds, streamline the bookings, and give visitors a reason to walk the block instead of just the ballroom.

Great cities aren’t declared in planning docs—they’re compounded by people who build. If any of these ideas fire you up, reply to this email. We’ll connect the doers and help you take the first swing. When Louisville moves, we all move.

Bonus Idea: WNBA → Louisville

Champions Raise the Ceiling

The Cardinal campus is a masterclass in “why-not-us?” thinking. UofL’s All-Girl Cheer squad just banked its 11th straight national title, the Ladybirds dance team is sitting on a cool 20 championships, and KJ Byrd just became the first freshman in history to win the ACC heptathlon title.

When excellence is happening a few blocks away, it raises the bar for all of us—founders iterate one more time, runners go one more mile, and the city’s collective pulse picks up.

That’s why Kevin Gibson’s push for Louisville to court a WNBA franchise is interesting. A pro team wouldn’t just sell tickets; it would bring year-round clinics, sports-science partnerships, and a fresh wave of role models who level up drive, performance and healthy habits across our city. Economic lift? Absolutely. But the real win is more daily proof that greatness lives here.

Now's good timing too. While our sports plex plans are in flex, the WNBA is in the midst of an expansion. They want 16 new teams before 2028 and there's one more slot open. 

While we’re not planting a flag for any single bid, we’ll cheer for anything that packs more champions—sneakers, cleats, or cheer shoes—into the 502. Every new high-water mark pushes the bar higher for all of us. Let’s keep stacking wins.

Note’s on The Distill’s EIC: Jack Crowdis

Jack runs the newsletter, helps run KYX. He’s a career startup kid, past founder, and current operator. Weekly contributor. Always editor. If you think he’s missing something, say so—he’s already rewriting next week’s issue.

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