City of Louisville receives roadmap for 24% portfolio reduction and $27.2 million projected savings

The City of Louisville, KY faced significant operational inefficiencies across its sprawling administrative portfolio. With 39 agencies operating in 44 facilities totaling 1.2M SF, the city government's complex mix of 24 owned and 20 leased properties needed a thorough review and right-sizing plan.

The portfolio suffered from outdated space standards, with an average of 501 square feet per seat, which is double modern workplace benchmarks. This inefficiency drained Louisville taxpayer resources while limiting the city's ability to deliver essential services effectively.

Adding complexity, the city grappled with deferred maintenance backlogs across aging facilities, political transitions requiring stakeholder alignment , and the pressing need to balance operations with long-term strategic vision. Scattered locations hindered collaboration between agencies, while inconsistent workplace standards created inequities across departments.

Louisville city leadership recognized the urgent need for comprehensive portfolio optimization to maximize taxpayer value while maintaining essential citizen services. However, they lacked the internal expertise to navigate the multifaceted challenges of space planning, property condition assessment and financial scenario modeling required for transformational change. 

"JLL did a full assessment of our portfolio and gave us a clear picture of where we stand compared to national benchmarks," said Sean Woods. "The team laid out several roadmap options with portfolio and financial projections for us to consider in our long-term planning. This not only ensured we will make responsible financial decisions, but that we can show our partners the plans for their city agencies that best align with their future development, as well."

- Sean Woods
Executive Director, Facilities & Fleet Management

Establishing the space and occupancy foundation

JLL Occupancy Planning and Management (OPM) executed a comprehensive three-phase methodology to understand current conditions and identify optimization opportunities.

First, OPM specialists conducted a thorough discovery process, surveying employees across all 39 agencies and performing detailed space audits to establish baseline metrics across the 1.2 million square-foot portfolio.

Next, the team applied industry benchmarks and developed hybrid occupancy models with modern 1.3:1 people-per-seat ratios. By analyzing actual utilization patterns and projecting future workplace needs, OPM identified pathways to reduce the city's footprint by 288,648 square feet—a 24% reduction—while improving workplace quality and employee experience.

Finally, JLL OPM created two detailed consolidation scenarios with comprehensive financial projections and developed property-specific action plans across short-term (1 year), mid-term (2-3 years), and long-term (4-10 year) timeframes. Each scenario balanced operational efficiency, employee needs , and fiscal responsibility, providing Louisville city leaders with clear decision frameworks.

The team addressed the city's complex political landscape by preparing a detailed executive summary presentation for city council members, ensuring public transparency and community engagement throughout the implementation roadmap.

Assessing the portfolio's physical realities

JLL assembled an integrated, cross-functional team combining Occupancy Planning and Management (OPM), Project and Development Services (PDS) , and Transaction Advisory expertise to deliver a comprehensive portfolio transformation roadmap.

Simultaneously, JLL PDS provided critical property condition assessments and cost analysis across the city government's 44-property portfolio. The PDS team performed more than 10 onsite assessments evaluating major building systems including HVAC, roofing, electrical and structural components. These assessments established infrastructure lifecycle projections and identified capital replacement needs, revealing the true cost of maintaining the existing portfolio.

By documenting deferred maintenance backlogs and prioritizing critical infrastructure investments, PDS enabled the city to understand which properties represented sound long-term investments versus those requiring prohibitively high capital expenditures.

PDS developed detailed fit-out cost estimates incorporating construction hard costs, furniture, architectural and engineering fees , and technology infrastructure using RS Means data combined with local market experience. This granular cost modeling provided realistic financial projections for each consolidation scenario, eliminating guesswork from the decision-making process.

The team delivered property-specific action plans with cost estimates and cost-benefit analysis across consolidation scenarios, enabling informed decisions about building retention, disposition or modernization over the 10-year planning horizon. Each property received individual recommendations addressing its unique characteristics, condition , and strategic value.

Analyzing the impact of market dynamics

As part of the same project, JLL Transaction Advisory analyzed the city's market conditions and property valuations to inform build-versus-lease decisions. The team tapped its deep local market knowledge to assess leasing opportunities, ownership alternatives, and disposition strategies for underutilized properties.

Transaction Advisory delivered comprehensive 10-year financial comparisons across ownership and leasing scenarios, incorporating market trends, cost escalations , and portfolio flexibility considerations. This analysis revealed the ideal balance between owned and leased space.

This integrated JLL approach delivered transformational insights and a clear plan for the City of Louisville’s portfolio, positioning the local government to achieve substantial taxpayer savings while modernizing workplace standards.

Financial transformation

• $27.2M in projected 10-year cost savings identified through consolidation scenario analysis, demonstrating substantial fiscal benefits of strategic portfolio optimization.

• Comprehensive financial modeling from PDS and Transaction Advisory revealed immediate savings and long-term value creation, providing city leadership confidence in the viability of the holistic plan.

Space efficiency transformation

• 24% footprint reduction potential (288,648 SF) identified through scenario modeling, enabling the City of Louisville to dramatically reduce its real estate footprint while keeping its vital community services intact.

• The analysis revealed that modern workplace standards could support all 39 agencies in significantly less space through consolidation, improved layouts , and hybrid work policies.

Workplace modernization

• 250 SF modern space standard per seat achieved (reduced from 501 SF), aligning the city's workplace standards with best practices and creating more equitable, efficient work environments.

• This transformation delivered improved collaboration spaces, better technology infrastructure and enhanced employee experience across all city agencies.

Stakeholder alignment

• By preparing comprehensive executive summaries and city council presentations, JLL enabled public dialogue about portfolio transformation, building political support for necessary changes while demonstrating fiscal responsibility to Louisville taxpayers.

The integrated insights from JLL's OPM, PDS , and Transaction Advisory teams provide city leadership with the confidence to execute bold consolidation strategies that will deliver taxpayer value for the next decade.

As the city moves forward, JLL's phased approach enables leadership to sequence decisions, learn from early wins and adapt plans based as needed. The $27.2M in projected savings represents not just cost reduction, but the opportunity to reinvest in infrastructure improvements and community programs.

The transformation establishes the City of Louisville as a leader in government real estate optimization, demonstrating how strategic portfolio management can simultaneously reduce costs and create a more efficient, responsive government.

Learn more about JLL's portfolio services.