Sheldon S. Shafer

@sheldonshafer

Total development cost estimated at %2435 million%2C including %2410 million for initial portion

Advocates have eyed large garden project since the 1980s

After a quarter-century of wishing and waiting, supporters of a major public gardens in Louisville are edging closer to their dream with the pending conversion of a longtime riverfront dump into an exotic botanical project.

A new master plan has been developed for the long-anticipated Waterfront Botanical Gardens — a project that consultants predict will draw more than 100,000 visitors a year to the 23-acre site across from Waterfront Park, soon after it opens around 2019.

It calls for a visitors center, a children's play area, an educational pavilion, an elevated platform overlooking Beargrass Creek and a large conservatory as key elements in the garden project. It is targeted for a former landfill along River Road just east of Frankfort Avenue.

Botanica Inc. will unveil the master plan and final renderings at its annual meeting Thursday evening at the Zorn Avenue Water Tower. The meeting is open to the public, but is full, said Brian Voelker, board president of Botanica, a local nonprofit group dedicated to promoting the understanding of plants, gardening and sustainability.

Supporters hope within two years to raise about $10 million to pay for phase one — seeking money from government, foundations, corporations and individuals — and then take two more years to develop the first portions of the project with those dollars. The phasing of the rest of the development will be driven by fund-raising, with a total of around $35 million needed for the full project, officials said.

Supporters also intend to raise another $5 million to $8 million in an endowment that would generate interest to help cover operations. The Helen Harrigan Trust has already put up $1.8 million for the endowment, Voelker said.

Contemporary, cutting edge design

Voelker said the master plan has proposed "a very contemporary, sustainable project on the cutting edge" of major botanical exhibits.

Botanical gardens advocates have eyed a large local public project since at least the 1980s, when supporters hired the late and noted Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx to design a large conservatory-centered garden plan. The preferred location was the old Ormsby Village site in eastern Jefferson County — now the ShelbyHurst office park.

Funding never materialized, and interest faded — but never died, kept alive primarily by hundreds of members of garden and flower clubs who fancy tending roses, irises, bonsai plants, day lilies and a host of other things that grow.

The consultant, Perkins+Will of Chicago and Atlanta, was chosen early this year by Botanica to design the master plan. The firm has designed dozens of major landscape projects, including the Van Dusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver and the McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach, Fla.

Voelker said the firm has done nearly all the work, but still needs to put cost estimates on different elements. That work should be done in a few weeks, Voelker said.

The firm is being paid $260,000 — much of which was cobbled together by the garden organizations.

The master plan calls for these elements in phase one:

• The main entrance off Frankfort at the west end of the site, just south of the transplanted Heigold House Facade. A series of pathways will meander through the gardens, connecting different areas of the development. A bikeway will wind around the perimeter. A "cascade garden" with a waterfall will accent the entryway area, which will have an array of to-be-determined plantings.

• A children's garden in the northwest corner of the site. It will have numerous interactive components, with features including a treehouse, an elevated walkway between trees and massive "seedpod" sculptures — some hanging off trees and some on the ground — in which children can play. The pods will double as lanterns to light the site at night for River Road passersby.

• A one-level visitors center, straight in from the main entrance in the western half of the site. It will have a green roof and 3,000 square feet of space. Facilities will include both a restaurant and cafe, a gift shop, rental space for functions, a kitchen, offices, restrooms, meeting space, ticketing, mechanical facilities and storage room.

• A circular water-filtration garden that will recycle water used at the visitors center through several pools. The water will be cleaned by plants growing in the pool.

• An elevated platform overlook at the east end of the site, offering a panoramic view of Beargrass Creek.

In addition, there will be numerous scattered garden-style areas of plantings, some with native and some with foreign varieties. And the plan calls for a generous number of dispersed greenhouses, some of which could be used by the garden clubs and flower societies.

While later phasing remains uncertain, depending on fund-raising, the master plan calls for a large, mostly glass conservatory as a centerpiece of the entire site, covering perhaps three-fourths of an acre, Mike Kimmel, Botanica vice president. The design shows a spiral path wrapping around the edge of the structure, ending in a platform above the entrance that overlooks a garden meadow.

One other major component would be an education pavilion near the rear of the site that will have extensive "flex" space for lectures, classes, and rotating displays.

Kimmel, who is also deputy director of the gardens-friendly Waterfront Development Corp., which oversees Waterfront Park, said project is now more viable than ever, mainly because of the nearby park's completion and the opening of the Big Four Bridge.

Other boosts for the gardens include the planned 2,000 dwellings at River Park Place across River Road and downtown's continuing development along the Main and Fourth street spines, Kimmel said.

Outside education

The city closed the Ohio Street Landfill in the 1960s, after operating it for around 30 years. The surface is an elevated plateau created by decades of built-up waste — about 40 feet above River Road, well above the floodplain.

Kimmel said preliminary studies have found no major environmental constraints and that state officials have given use of the site a "thumbs up."

The Waterfront Development Corp. owns a vacant seven-acre industrial tract across Frankfort Avenue near the planned entrance to the gardens. Kimmel said the agency would be willing to negotiate a lease to use the site for gardens visitors to park. It could accommodate several hundred vehicles.

Botanica signed an agreement last year to take control of the old landfill site from the city. The initial lease is for five years, after which Botanica is guaranteed a chance to buy the property, probably for a nominal price, Kimmel said.

Admissions have not been established, but Voelker said the average adult fee probably would be $6 to $8.

An economic study commissioned by Botanica concluded that the botanical project would draw around 110,000 paid visitors in its third year of operation, and up to 170,000 a year after 10 years. The study recommended a full-time staff of 22 soon after startup, with significant volunteer help expected.

The study forecast annual operating costs of $1.2 million in the third year, with hoped-for offsetting revenue from admissions, space rentals, donations and endowment earnings, Voelker said.

Voelker said Botanica believes the project will have with many unique features, so as not to conflict with other botanical projects in the region, including Bernheim Forest near Clermont and Yew Dell at Crestwood.

Officials said Louisville is perhaps one of the largest U.S. cities without a major botanical attraction. Kimmel said that Philadelphia, for instance, has about 40 public gardens. And nearly all of the country's large public botanical exhibits have some guaranteed government source of support, Kimmel said.

Karen Williams, Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO, said the gardens project "has been in discussion for years" and that, if and when it comes on line, "it will be a great attraction to offer both the leisure and convention traveler. And having another major project on the waterfront is something to be excited about."

Kasey Maier, a strong supporter of the gardens project, said, "You won't be able to walk into the project, without getting educated. You will look at a plant and say, 'Wow! What's up with that?' And the garden project will connect Waterfront Park, downtown and other areas. It is kind of the last piece in the puzzle."

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089. Follow him on Twitter at @sheldonshafer.

Major elements in phase one of Waterfront Botanical Gardens:

• Main entrance area with cascade garden and waterfall.

• Visitors Center with restaurant and cafe, gift shop, rental space, kitchen, offices, ticketing, storage.

• Water-filtration garden with pools featuring recycled water.

• Overlook offering view of Beargrass Creek.

• Later phases call for large central conservatory and education facility.

• For more information on project, go to waterfrontgardens.org.

Financing

• Phase one: Estimated cost, $10 million. Botanica Inc. plan is to seek funding from foundations, government, corporations, individuals.

• Endowment of $5 million to $8 million also planned. Major endowment contribution so far: $1.8 million from Helen Harrigan Trust of Louisville.