St. Vincent de Paul | Louisville

Business First of Louisville, Nov. 4, 2010

After financing challenges delayed the project for more than a year, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has resumed work on a $10.6 million facilities expansion and housing project.

The project, which will take eight to 12 months to complete, includes construction of 54 low-income apartments in the Shelby Park block bounded by Preston, St. Catherine, Jackson and Kentucky streets, according to St. Vincent de Paul executive director Ed Wnorowski.

The expansion also will include construction of an education, training and counseling center, which will provide GED completion, budgeting, financial literacy and case-management services for St. Vincent de Paul clients and area residents.

A “family success center” also is planned in a renovated warehouse on Preston Street, Wnorowski said. It will be operated in partnership with The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana and will offer youth programming and a Kids Cafe that will provide meals to low-income children.

Construction of the apartments is being financed, in part, through a $6.3 million grant from the Kentucky Housing Corp., Wnorowski said.

Of that amount, $4.1 million is in the form of Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

The credits are being purchased by Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. and Brown-Forman Corp., which will become equity partners in the St. Vincent de Paul project, Wnorowski said.

A variety of sources, including private donations, make up the remainder of the funding.

A ceremonial groundbreaking is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, on the St. Vincent de Paul campus.

Louisville-based Abel Construction Co. Inc. is the general contractor for the housing project. Luckett & Farley Architects, Engineers and Construction Managers Inc., also of Louisville, handled the design work.

St. Vincent de Paul’s housing plans call for eight three-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom units and 10 one-bedroom units in four new buildings.

A shotgun house at Preston and St. Catherine streets will be enlarged and converted into 24 single-dormitory rooms, 12 bathrooms and common dining space.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a Catholic social-services agency that operates a men’s homeless shelter, supportive housing programs for families, a residential drug-and-alcohol treatment facility for women and a soup kitchen on its campus.

The expansion project is the first for the 157-year-old nonprofit organization.

John Karman