Just south of Louisville’s Broadway corridor, opportunity awaits on a two-acre lot.
The Smoketown property, formerly owned by the manufacturer of Louisville Slugger bats, sits between Preston and Jackson Streets. Its paved surface is closed in by a chain-link fence, where litter and plants meet in distress. Townhouses, apartments and businesses surround the large and empty lot.
But change may be on the way. The site’s western half is where a new community land trust is looking to build affordable housing, promoting home-ownership in a historically Black neighborhood where lawmakers and residents are concerned about the potential of displacement .
Community land trusts are nonprofits that purchase land and develop property on it. They typically sell homes to occupants while leasing them the land below, and create resale restrictions meant to preserve affordability for the next occupants. The model aims to keep prices stable and offer owners an opportunity to build wealth.
“The biggest part of the community land trust is to make sure that the house itself is not just affordable for that one family, but how can that house actually be affordable for multiple generations to come,” said Jason Webb, an expert on community land trusts.