New Owner Plans Makeover of Louisville Tower

WDRB reported in May that PNC Plaza, a 30-story office tower at Firth and Jefferson streets in Louisville, Kentucky, has long served as a “poster child” for problems plaguing the market for office space. Its loss of anchor tenant PNC Bank was followed by other tenants fleeing to the suburbs, leaving the building more than half-vacant. But, the building’s new owner has a US$16 million plan to breathe “new life” into the aging office tower, which is now called 500 West Jefferson, a nod to its street address. “What we’re doing is going to change the trajectory of 500 West. And it’ll be noticeable,” said Andrew Marchetti, the New York-based vice president of SomeraRoad, a private equity firm. Building Senior General Manager Ken Haskins says the vertical-transportation system makeover by Otis will update the tower’s 13 elevators: six serving floors 1-16, six for floors 17-29 and a service elevator that covers 31 stops. The building project should be complete by the end of the year or the first few months of 2022.