Crews offer glimpse inside multi-million dollar renovations to Beecher Terrace

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - As the old adage goes, out with the old and in with the new.

On Monday, construction crews continued the multi-million dollar renovations to Beecher Terrace on 10th Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard in Louisville.

“To watch it be torn down and rebuilt is actually a great thing," Courtney Robinson said.

Robinson’s had a first-hand look at the renovations, working as a laborer on the project. He also has a personal connection to the Russell neighborhood; Robinson told WAVE 3 News his grandmother and uncles lived in Beecher Terraces in the 1950s and ’60s.

“It was built in ’39," Robinson said. "It’s 2020. Revitalization is something that was needed. From what I see and what I put my hands on every day, they’re going to be great units for the people coming back and the people coming.”

On Monday, WAVE 3 News got a chance to see some of the work, touring Phase 1 of the project. Phase 1 is part of a $200 million plan to revitalize the Russell neighborhood and cleanse Beecher Terrace from the reputation of a haven for drugs and violence.

According to Messer, the construction company handling the project, the new Beecher Terrace complex includes 640 housing units, including mixed-income rental and homeownership units.

The project is funded in part by a $29 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Implementation grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Construction of Phases 1 and 2 are on track to be completed in Fall 2020.

“This is going to completely turn this area around from the buildings that are still standing to the buildings that we’re going to be completing here in the next couple months," project manager Alex Hunn said. "You’re going to be able to see a huge difference in what life was like and what life is, can be, will be.”

Robinson said when the complex is finally finished, it will be one his grandmother would be proud of.

“About time," Robinson said. "That probably would be her only words.”

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