LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Land originally donated to help homeless veterans in Louisville may be used for something else and the future of the project is uncertain. 

What You Need To Know

  • City leaders and community members held a kickoff event last year for Camp Restoration

  • The project's goal was to create transitional housing and other resources for veterans

  • Louisville Metro Council members say they learned through social media that the nonprofit behind the project sold the land donated for the project back to the developer

  • Veteran's Club Inc. CEO & Founder Jeremy Harrell says the pandemic hurt fundraising efforts for the project

Last year, community members and city leaders held a kickoff event for Camp Restoration.

The goal was to create transitional housing and other resources for veterans on four acres of land on Stuart Avenue.

The land was donated by developer Chris Thieneman in 2019 to the nonprofit, Veteran’s Club Inc., according to Metro Council members. 

"I do believe that southwest Jefferson County would have embraced this project and embraced homeless veterans," said Councilwoman Amy Holton Stewart (D-25). "The location of this property was perfect.” 

Veteran’s Club founder and CEO Jeremy Harrell said the pandemic hurt fundraising efforts and the small amount of funds raised indicated they didn’t have the support they hoped for.

The board for the nonprofit voted to sell the land, he said. 

Three council members, including Holton Stewart, wrote in a news release that they didn’t learn about that the land sale until there was a social media post by Thieneman. 

"I don’t know where the breakdown is," said Holton Stewart. "I just know that we were left out of any communication about selling that property back to Thieneman and that on social media, it appears that we’re the ones that dropped the ball and we didn’t. 

Holton Stewart said the council told the Veteran's Club that there was bipartisan support to fund the project with up to $4.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds.

The nonprofit would need to apply for the funds, she said. 

"Myself, (Council members) Cindi Fowler, Anthony Piagentini, we were all involved in a meeting with the Veteran’s Club in a face-to-face meeting, so there was communication, we were working together and they knew that we were in the process of funding this," she said. 

In a statement provided to Spectrum News 1, Harrell said in part, "Hypothetically speaking, even if we received funding to cover the building of the project, the lack of support that we have received so far clearly indicated that we would not be able to sustain the operations and overhead needed to run it successfully." 

He said there was no guarantee funds from the American Rescue Plan would be available and that many factors went into the decision to sell the land. 

As for the $250,000 Thieneman paid to the Veteran's Club to buy back the donated land, Harrell said the nonprofit's board voted unanimously to “use that available funding for our current programs that were super effective and impactful.”

Thieneman told Spectrum News 1 if council members are serious about funding the project, he will sell back the land. 

Mayor Greg Fischer's office said in a statement: 

“We had been in conversation about the Veteran’s Club proposal, but the club sold the land before applying for or receiving any American Rescue Plan funds and we’ve not been told why.” 

Harrell said they will revisit the project when appropriate and homeless veterans are welcome to apply to the Homeless Veteran Healing and Recovery Community in Shelbyville. 

Holton Stewart said if Veteran’s Club wants to come back to the table, members are open to that. 

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