Legislators, local officials, affordable housing advocates, and former students gathered at Louisville’s St. Columba Catholic Campus for the groundbreaking of St. Columba Court Senior Apartments. This development will contain 75 units once the rehabilitation of the historic school is complete.
St. Columba Catholic Campus, a National Register Property, which was begun in 1914, was once Louisville’s largest Catholic school.
"We were so sad when they closed down the school and later the church," said Rita McCauley, a former student who graduated from St. Columba in 1943. "But it does you good knowing that it will have a purpose once again, rather than just being some abandoned buildings."
When finished, the new apartment complex will feature amenities, such as broadband Internet access, a community room, an exercise room, an on-site chapel, a salon, a computer center, security monitoring, a coffee shop, outdoor gardens, and more, all while preserving the superb historic integrity of the buildings and campus. There will also be a "memorabilia room" that will showcase items from the school and the church from decades past.
Funding for this project came from a variety of resources "" including Low Income Housing Tax Credits (Housing Credits). The Housing Credits Program, administered by Kentucky Housing Corporation, was introduced as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to promote the development of low-income rental housing through tax incentives. The program offers eligible property owners a ten-year tax credit for each unit created for low-income families. Housing Credits for this project will total approximately $5.5 million over the next ten years.