Grocery, retail, housing development planned near Fern Creek. Here's what to expect

Nearly 90 acres of forested land in far southern Jefferson County are set to be developed into hundreds of residential units, retail and dining offerings, and a grocery store.

A yet-unidentified grocery store and accompanying gas station will anchor the estimated $100 million development south of Interstate 265, at 6803-6805 Beulah Church Road.

Lexington-based developer Patrick Madden is developing the project, which was approved by the Louisville Metro Council in February.

“I want to create value for the whole area,” Madden said. “I want property values to go up. This area does not have a grocery store or restaurants. It’s underserved in terms of amenities like that.”

The closest supermarket options are 2-4 miles away: a Valu Market in Highview and a Kroger and Walmart near the I-265 and Bardstown Road interchange.

Preliminary plans call for the construction of a 127,000-square-foot grocery store, parking lot, and gas station. Madden declined to share which grocer will move into the space. Groundbreaking is expected to start by Sept. 1, with construction lasting one year.

The project also includes 38,500 square feet of commercial space, spread throughout a handful of buildings near the grocery. A mix of retail, services, and dining is planned for these buildings.

Madden pointed to another of his Louisville developments, a Kohl’s-anchored shopping center at Bardstown Road and Brentlinger Lane, as an indicator of the type of client mix the new site will have.

Single-family housing is also part of the first phase of the development in the Highview and Fern Creek areas. Fifty lots are planned for a single-family subdivision on the site’s southeast side. Madden said he’s still working to find a builder though he expects construction to start in spring 2025.

A second phase of the overall development is also housing-focused. On the northern border of the site, 184 townhomes spread across multiple buildings are planned. Three-story apartment buildings are planned, 288 units in total, at the core and southern edge of the site. Madden hasn’t yet selected a housing developer for that aspect of the project, he said.

Specific development plans have yet to be filed with the Louisville Metro Government for the townhome and multi-family developments.

Madden said he expects to close on the property, owned by Carolyn Ball, later this year. He declined to share a purchase price. The land has an assessed value of about $606,000, according to the Jefferson County Property Valuation Administration.

He was drawn to the opportunity to develop the property, he said, as it offered more acreage than he typically finds available in a metropolitan area.

“You end up more with 20-30 acres where you build a shopping center or a hotel or a restaurant,” he said. "It’s very rare to find a site big enough to do a larger scale mixed-use development like this.”

Some of the wooded areas on the property will be preserved, including wetland areas. Developers are preserving about 17 of some 75 acres of tree-covered land on the property, according to city records.

The areas immediately surrounding the development site are largely residential subdivisions. With more than 470 residential units planned in addition to a major grocery store and retail offerings, the project is anticipated to notably increase vehicle traffic in the area. Madden says roadway improvements will also be tackled in the first phase of development set to kick off later this year.

New public roads are planned to connect the development to existing roads from nearby neighborhoods that dead-end at the wooded property, including Fox Chase Road. Also planned is an extension of Cedar Creek Road from Beulah Church Road through the development site.

Improvements are also planned along Beulah Church Road, including a new traffic light, Madden said. These are separate from a long-planned Kentucky Transportation Cabinet project to widen Beulah Church Road from just south of I-265 down to Cedar Creek Road.

Pending funding allocations in this year’s Highway Plan, which is currently moving through the General Assembly, utility relocations are planned for 2028 with construction to follow in 2030.

That timeline may shift, depending on the outcome of the session, said KYTC spokeswoman Morgan Woodrum.

“The Beulah Church Road widening project aims to improve the access, mobility, and safety of KY 864, a rapidly developing section of Louisville with an increasing traffic demand,” she said.

In the meantime, the city’s Planning Commission required that Madden make the improvements to Beulah Church Road before the grocery store opens.

Councilman Jeff Hudson, who represents the area where the project is located, called it “a welcome development in the district,” in recent Louisville Metro Council hearings.

Growth & development reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at mglowicki@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4000 or on Twitter @mattglo.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: What's planned for new grocery-anchored development in Fern Creek area