Louisville to consider blight designation for former Sam’s Club
“Louisville City Council will consider a blight designation for its largest retail building following a discussion last week about what direction to take with the vacant former Sam’s Club building on McCaslin Boulevard.
Officially labeling the property as blighted would be the first step in the possible revitalization of the 127,000-square-foot building through an urban renewal plan.
Louisville leaders are divided on whether to dedicate urban renewal dollars toward the cause, particularly considering the property changed hands earlier this year.
In February, Seminole Land Holding LLC and Centennial Valley Investment LLC purchased the former Sam’s Club site, which has been vacant since 2010, for $3.65 million.
The city earlier this year contracted Urban Revitalization Consulting to conduct a conditions survey on the property, and last week received a report from URC’s Austin Patten.
Patten said the property appears to meet the definition of a “blighted area” as defined by Colorado state statutes. In order to create an urban renewal area based on blight, a property must meet at least four of 11 factors listed in state statutes.
The Sam’s Club building, 550 S. McCaslin Blvd., has four blight factors, including its vacancy, Patten said.
Because the front doors are positioned on a narrow side of the building, Patten said it creates a long and narrow space that would be difficult to partition into multiple tenants.
The property, which includes a 600-plus car parking lot, also exhibits potholes, cracked curbs and other signs of low maintenance.
But the biggest blight factor is the restrictive covenants attached to the property, Patten said.
The Sam’s Club was developed in the 1990s as part of a multi-site retail center that includes surrounding properties like Albertsons grocery store. Covenants were put in place during development to prevent competition between tenants in the same retail center.”
Pike, Doug. HomeTown Weekly 24 July 2014.