Mid-City Mall Grocery Redevelopment Wins All Approvals After Marathon Hearing

Louisville's Board of Zoning Adjustment plowed through 16 cases in a nearly six-hour session April 20, capping the night with unanimous approval of the largest commercial redevelopment Bardstown Road has seen in decades — a grocery-anchored transformation of the 10.5-acre Mid-City Mall site. Along the way, the board tightened the screws on two transitional home operators, greenlit 127 units of affordable senior housing, and shot down an oversized gas station sign.

• Mid-City Mall site cleared for grocery-anchored redevelopment with four variances, six waivers, and a Category 3 plan all passing 6-0

• 127-unit affordable senior living facility approved as the first phase of the Dosker Manor campus overhaul

• Unlicensed transitional home operator given six months to obtain permits or lose its conditional use approval

• Second transitional home CUP delayed after board members questioned operator's credentials and management plan

• Speedway's oversized sign request denied unanimously, board says existing options are sufficient

• Neighborhood groups line up for and against Mid-City Market's treatment of Baxter Avenue and alley access

The basics: Branch Properties proposed replacing the aging Mid-City Mall at 1250 Bardstown Road with "Mid-City Market" — a 56,000-square-foot grocery store, four retail buildings, an office and library building, and a new public amenity area called Rosewood Park. The 10.5-acre project required four setback variances and six waivers covering loading docks, parking placement, building facades, glazing, and landscaping buffers.