Historic Louisville Refuse Incinerator

As part of a larger U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Area-wide Planning Implementation Technical Support contract, Landmarks SGA was retained to perform a condition assessment and feasibility study for the City of Louisville’s decommissioned refuse incinerator. This study was a continuation of the efforts of the “Louisville Central Rail Corridor Area-Wide Brownfield Plan” (AWP). The study Landmarks conducted reviewed the current condition of the structure and site, and provided potential reuse scenarios. These scenarios had to take into consideration the unique spatial qualities of the Refuse Incinerator. 

Constructed in the mid-1950s, the Refuse Incinerator has sat vacant since operations ceased in the 1990s. Located on a 7-acre site in the heart of the City of Louisville, the Refuse Incinerator was constructed around a very particular process and set of equipment and as a result is comprised of multiple tall, open spaces. The equipment from the incinerator’s active days still remains largely intact within the building, a fact which the study had to take under consideration. Landmark’s study addressed these and other concerns and provided three separate scenarios for the potential reuse of the building and site.