Constructed in in mid-1950s, the Waste Incinerator Building located on a 7 acre site in the heart of the City of Louisville. SGA and ICF International were retained by the City of Louisville to develop a preliminary reuse feasibility study for the Waste Incinerator Building and the surrounding Waste Transfer Station site. This study was a continuation of the efforts of the “Louisville Central Rail Corridor Area-Wide Brownfield Plan” (AWP). The Waste Incinerator Building, which ceased operations in the 1990s has sat vacant for nearly twenty years. The study SGA was asked to conduct reviewed the current condition of the structure and site, and provided potential reuse scenarios. These scenarios had to take into consideration the unique spatial qualities of the Waste Incinerator Building. The Waste Incinerator Building was constructed around a very particular process and set of equipment and as a result is comprised of multiple tall, open spaces. The equipment from the incinerator’s active days still remains largely intact within the building, a fact which the study had to take under consideration. SGA’s study addressed these and other concerns and provided three separate scenarios for the potential reuse of the building and site.
The reuse scenarios built off of recommendations from the AWP to provide a basis for a future comprehensive reuse study to determine the physical and economic feasibility of the Waste Transfer Station’s reuse. The proposed potential reuse scenarios were an Active Recreation Facility/Inter- Generational Community Center, a Resource Recovery Park, and a Maker Space/Multi-use Flex Space.