Project CommUNITY: Smoketown Community Land Trust empowering residents to preserve heritage
Breathing new life into one of Louisville's oldest neighborhoods.
Louisville's Smoketown Neighborhood is nestled just one mile southeast of downtown Louisville.
"Smoketown as a whole is historically one of the oldest historically Black communities here in our city," said Theresa Boyd.
In January, Boyd was named the executive director of the .
"At the heart of the community land trust is the community, its residents and our organization works to combat displacement and gentrification and build homes lasting affordable homes for low-income, affordable buyers," Boyd said.
The Smoketown Community Land Trust was created in 2023 as Louisville's first community land trust. It has a 14-person board of directors focused on revitalizing the neighborhood.
"So, 2025 will be about engagement and preparation. So we have our Visioning Finzer survey coming out. It'll be our second survey. Our first survey kind of assessed the community's wants or needs around the first five homes we were going to build and now I'm putting it back out to the community. What do you want to see on this two-acre lot?" Boyd said.
Up first, a vacant two-acre lot at the corner of Finzer and Preston streets.
Boyd said the Community Foundation of Louisville gifted the space to the SCLT.
The organization is seeking feedback from residents and community members on the planning and design of the multiyear, multimillion dollar development.
"So it's important to bring something back to the community that the community has involvement in, that they have a say so in and what's built in their community, what's brought to their community," Boyd said.
The organization is also focused on creating affordable housing in 2025.
Boyd said they're hoping to break ground on the first homes in March or April.
"Our first homes are actually going catty-corner from the Camp Edwards Community Center," Boyd said.
The first phase of the home development is expected to be complete mid to late summer.
Boyd said the organization is also creating a home buyer's program to help residents as they prepare for homeownership.
"There's no one size fits all in homeownership. The path to homeownership looks different for everyone. So it's important to create these systems and programs and steps to where we meet the people, where they are so they can get to where they want to be," Boyd said.