Site Of Scrap Yard Up For Sale

A 20.5-acre tract in Louisville, Ky., that was operated as the metal recycling business River Metals Recycling LLC for decades is up for sale.

"It's the largest vacant parcel in or near downtown" to come on the market in some time, said David Morris, director of the Louisville Metro Development Authority, which is helping to find a buyer. "I've walked it. It's a great site."

The land is perhaps most suitable for office, commercial or retail use, according to city officials.

The Irish Hill Neighborhood Association is monitoring the property's sale and would like to see it used for medical offices or specialty shops. But "anything is better than a scrap yard," said Lisa Dettlinger, the association's secretary.

The ideal, Dettlinger said, would be to develop the tract as a corporate campus, similar to what the Home of the Innocents did nearby with the old Bourbon Stock Yard.

The property was operated by Klempner Bros. since at least the early 1970s. A Cincinnati-based scrap-metal company, David J. Joseph Co., bought Klempner and two other Louisville recycling businesses in 1998 and formed River Metals Recycling LLC. River Metals recently consolidated its Louisville business, and the old Klempner site has been idle for more than a year.

Stephan Gray, a broker with Grubb Ellis/Commercial Kentucky and the agent for the property's sale, said the asking price for the property is $3,075,000. He said River Metals doesn't want to subdivide the tract.

Most of the land is zoned for industry, with a small portion zoned for apartment use.

River Metals has cleared the site, except for a small office building, Gray said.

Morris said city officials deem the site unsuitable for housing because of its industrial history.

Gray said the site is appropriate for a warehouse or distribution business or for light manufacturing.

"But we are not so blind to believe there might not be a higher and better use of that property," Gray said, mentioning a corporate headquarters or retail center.

Gray was reluctant to discuss possible environmental problems at the site, saying only that the owner "is willing to address those issues."

Morris said he hasn't seen any environmental studies but doubted the property has "really serious" problems.

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He said owners are obligated to pay for any needed remediation but that the cleanup is often subject to negotiation with a prospective buyer.

Morris said at least eight acres at the site is in the Beargrass Creek flood plain, where there would be extensive restrictions on development.

Morris said the development authority has agreed to help find a purchaser. "We've sent them a couple of interested parties already," he said.

Gray said that two prospects have visited the site and that there have been at least 15 other inquiries since the for-sale sign went up nearly a month ago.

Gray said the owners want to work with neighbors on the property's disposition. Morris said metro officials discussed the property at a meeting of the Irish Hill group about a month ago.

Dettlinger said the Home of the Innocents' development of the old stockyard and the development of the old Distillery Commons on the corner of Lexington and Payne into studios, offices and businesses have been positive for Irish Hill.