Humana Tower in Louisville to be Converted into Convention Hotel
The Michael Graves–designed Humana Building (at left) in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.
After a prolonged period of vacancy, one of Kentucky’s most emblematic office towers will be reborn as a large hotel-convention complex.
In February 2024, health insurance giant Humana made public plans to vacate its Michael Graves & Associates–designed headquarters at 500 Main Street in downtown Louisville as part of a cost-cutting consolidation effort prompted in part by the rise in remote and hybrid work following the COVID pandemic. At the time, the fate of the 26-story tower—known locally as the “Milk Carton” building—was murky. Although the relocation of Humana employees to the newly renovated Waterside-Clocktower campus, also in downtown Louisville, had been ironed out, the company had not yet decided whether to maintain ownership or sell its flagship high-rise, which was completed in 1985 and is frequently cited as a significant work of postmodernism. The same month that Humana announced it would decamp from its pink granite–clad headquarters, RECORD published a list of 15 landmark-worthy Postmodern buildings identified by the late Robert A.M. Stern that included the 525,000-square-foot building.
As reported by the Courier Journal earlier this month, the future of former Humana Tower is now taking shape. On social media, Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed that the building will evade the wrecking ball and be adapted into a convention-oriented 1,000-key hotel with multiple ballrooms—including a 40,000-square-foot grand ballroom—with a total of 100,000 square feet of meeting space. There will also be several dining options. Notably, a second, interconnected high-rise will be erected alongside the adapted one to form a larger dual-tower complex. HKS, Inc. is serving as project architect with local developer Poe Industries leading the estimated $60–70 million redevelopment plan.
Rendering of the planned redevelopment of the Humana Building, including an adjacent new tower. Image courtesy Office of Mayor Craig Greenberg via X
Early renderings of the two-tower scheme were teased by Greenberg several days after the initial announcement, with the mayor stating that the redevelopment plan will “bring more people to Louisville every day, create hundreds of local jobs, and help us attract more and larger events to venues all over Louisville. It will strengthen downtown, our entire city, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
Per the Courier Journal, the effort is the first office tower conversion undertaking in the downtown core of Kentucky’s largest city, which struggled to rebound after the pandemic. When completed, it will be the second largest hotel in Louisville behind the nearby Galt House Hotel, a riverfront property with just over 1,300 rooms. Down the street from the soon-to-transform Humana Tower is the Louisville Convention Center, which this week topped off a $180 million expansion, also led by HKS with local architect Schmidt Associates. That project is set to be completed later this year.
Construction work at the Humana Tower is slated to kick off next year.
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