Humana and several other Louisville based businesses have announced plans to downsize and relocate, leaving some major holes in downtown office spaces.

Kelsey Starks discusses what's next for downtown level with leaders at Greater Louisville, Inc.

So many businesses it seems to be leaving and it seems like a change in the trajectory of downtown.

Where where do you all see it going from your perspective?

Yeah, it's it's a good question and it's not a question that's unique to Louisville.

So when we look across the country, downtowns in general are having to rethink and get creative about what the next chapter looks like.

I will say as it relates to some of the recent announcements pertaining to Humana and Fifth Third, I think that it's more of a reallocation of existing assets than it is a total departure from the market.

And I think those are two very different things.

So in Humana's case, the same number of people will be coming downtown to the waterside building.

It's just that those people will be consolidated in a different physical footprint.

The same is arguably true for fifth third, which is moving just adjacent to downtown in the new area.

So I think from an employment standpoint, it's it's sort of encouraging that that base remains in the downtown general area.

But your question about how we rethink and look at downtown generally, it's going to it's going to result in a lot of conversations and a lot of creative thinking about what to do with existing office space and how to creatively readapt that to make it relevant for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, and, you know, that is the conversation that's going on.

And as you mentioned, it's not just unique to Louisville.

A lot of places dealing with this, particularly after COVID and work from home.

But there are a lot of vacant spaces in downtown.

What are you all hearing from corporations about where they want to locate?

Is it and it's not in a downtown area, right?

Well, it just sort of depends on the industry and the company you're engaging with.

I think in some cases a physical office presence is important, but in many cases, in particular because of the ongoing tight labor market that we have.

Companies are having to get creative about how they retain employees.

And one of the ways that they're doing that is through the offering of hybrid work.

I think as more time goes goes along, we'll see a fluctuation in what that looks like and the cases, I think out there in future years that the the physical interaction that you have with coworkers, watercooler discussions, brainstorming, that all happens much more organically when you're in the same physical space together, be it downtown or in any office.

Kelsey Starks spoke with Alai and other city leaders about their plans to reimagine downtown, including a new marketing strategy to recruit businesses.

You can see the full interview on CNET dot org and look for new episodes of Inside Louisville on Sundays at noon 11 Central right here on KCET.