The organization spent more than two decades in Phoenix Hill.

By   – Reporter, Louisville Business First

A Louisville-based affordable housing manager and developer has a new home.

New Directions Housing Corp. has relocated its headquarters to 1617 Maple St. in West Louisville after more than 25 years in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood. Its most recent home was at 1000 E. Liberty St.

New Directions, a local nonprofit, purchased the buildings at 1615 and 1617 Maple Street earlier this year for $650,000, according to a news release. The new office gives the organization about 20,000 square feet of space to work with and consolidates most of its staff at one location. The release said maintenance managers and staff will continue to operate out of a separate nearby facility.

The buildings making up the new HQ were constructed in early 2000 by local businessman Charlie Johnson, and they previously housed his transportation and trucking corporation alongside retail businesses, the release said.

The company’s total investment in the new HQ was not immediately known, and it was unclear how many New Directions employees are relocating. I have reached out to New Directions officials for more information and this story could be updated.

One of the big reasons for the move is the fact that more than 80 percent of the nearly 1,000 rental units New Directions owns and operates are located in the West End. This move, in turn, puts the nonprofit closer to its properties and the clients it serves.

“We are returning to our roots by relocating our headquarters to Maple Street,” New Directions CEO Lori Flanery said in the release. “The origins of this organization began some 50 years ago with a group of concerned folks at St. William Catholic Church — which sits less than a mile from our new offices — and the social justice work they began to undertake during the open housing movement and civil unrest of the late 1960s.”

In addition its role as a residential developer and property manager, New Directions also is a community development corporation. Under that umbrella, it offers resident and neighborhood services, including its Repair Affair, a free home repair program for seniors and disabled homeowners. The organization also runs the St. Benedict Center for Early Childhood Education in the California neighborhood and offers services for adults that include group sessions and individual assistance related to education, financial stability, health and wellness and workforce readiness.

Source: New Directions Housing Corp. opens new Louisville HQ – Louisville Business First

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