Cabbage Patch - might grow..down - December 14, 2005

Service agency plans underground addition

Cabbage Patch Settlement House officials want to take the agency's expansion plans to another level - underground.

Tomorrow, the nonprofit Christian social service agency will unveil plans to build a 15,000- square-foot structure beneath green space as part of a $3.5 million renovation and expansion of its headquarters at 1413 S. Sixth St.

The 95-year-old Cabbage Patch, which started near Ninth and Hill streets and moved to its current location around 1929, serves about 1,100 children, young people and families a year, most of whom live within a three-mile radius.

The Rev. J. Tracy Holladay , Cabbage Patch's longtime executive director , said the proposed expansion is the result of more than five years of researching how to squeeze a big facility into a small space.

Holladay and the agency's architects decided on the underground proposal after talking to city officials and neighborhood leaders about how to ensure that the project would meet historic preservation standards and zoning requirements, he said.

"We've tried to do everything the neighborhood has suggested," he said.

The underground space would give Cabbage Patch six new multipurpose rooms, a new classroom and an office.

The project also would include renovations of Cabbage Patch's gymnasium and creation of new above-ground facilities next to the gym for storage, restrooms, a classroom and small multipurpose room. It also would consolidate the agency's operation at its headquarters; it currently has other administrative offices in two houses it owns nearby on Magnolia Street.

After tomorrow's public review, the plan will go before the Old Louisville Architectural Review Committee, a group of neighborhood residents affiliated with the Metro Louisville Historic Landmarks Commission that determines whether projects comply with historic preservation guidelines.

Herb Fink, chairman of that committee, acknowledged that some members have reservations about the project because they fear that the changes would make it more difficult to convert several structures that are part of Cabbage Patch back into traditional homes.

Fink, however, said he is impressed by the proposal.

"There are very definitely things that need to be worked out." But, he added, "My first thought was..it was a brilliant solution."

Bob Bajandas , an Old Louisville resident and member of the neighborhood's zoning and land-use committee, has lived and worked across from Cabbage Patch for about 20 years, and his 8-year-old son, Paco, often visits there after school. Bajandas said he generally supports the project.

"This is not just a neighborhood of single-family homes. There's also a mix of business, commercial and community services," he said. "Cabbage Patch has been around almost as long as anything else...It does a lot of good."

What's Next

The Cabbage Patch Settlement House will invite public review of its proposals at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Old Louisville Information Center, 1340 S. Fourth St. (in Central Park).

Before Cabbage Patch can build anything, its plan needs to be endorsed by the Old Louisville Architectural Review Committee, and it needs approval from the Louisville Metro Board of Zoning of Adjustment.

Rendering courtesy of K Norman Berry Associates

Plans to be unveiled tomorrow include a 15,000-square-foot addition to be build underneath green space as part of a $3.5 million renovation and expansion project.

The Rev. J. Tracy Holladay, Cabbage Patch's executive director, said the proposed expansion is the result of years of research.

MAP; CABBAGE PATCH SETTLEMENT HOUSE BY STEVE DURBIN, C-J (SEE LIBRARY MICROFILM OR LIBRARY KIOSK PDF PAGES)