JCPS poised to accept Yum! Brands' offer to donate its Louisville campus

Yahoo

25-06-2025

This story has been updated to add comments from a press conference.
Outgoing Jefferson County Public Schools superintendent Marty Pollio said JCPS is poised to accept Yum! Brands' donation of its Louisville campus for a consolidated administrative building.
In a June 23 news release, Yum! Brands announced it offered to donate its Louisville campus to JCPS.
This donation would allow the district to use the profits from selling their existing buildings to improve schools and potentially build new ones, Pollio said at a press conference later in the day.
The Jefferson County Board of Education must approve the donation before it is final, and a vote is expected to take place at the board's June 24 meeting.
'This generous donation is a game-changer for JCPS. Our current administrative buildings require significant renovations that are cost-prohibitive,' Pollio said in a prepared statement. 'This will allow us to consolidate several district buildings into one, allowing for stronger collaboration and communication.'
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The 11.6-acre Yum! Brands campus, located at 1441 Gardiner Lane, has two office buildings. One is a three-story, 88,000-square-foot facility built in 1970 and nicknamed the 'white house' in honor of its resemblance to the U.S. president's residence. The other is a five-story, 225,000-square-foot office building built in 1986.
Pollio said the relocation process would take at least 12 months, if not longer.
The potential donation comes at a fitting time for both entities. JCPS has been considering the sale of three administrative buildings — the Van Hoose and LAM buildings on Newburg Road and the C.B. Young Center on Crittenden Drive — to fund the consolidation of administrative operations, The Courier Journal reported.
JCPS spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said the district still intends to sell those facilities, which Pollio previously estimated could bring the district a collective $25 million. The largest chunk would come from the C.B. Young Center, which he said has been sought by the nearby Kentucky Exposition Center.
"This donation from Yum! Brands is the equivalent of a brand-new elementary school in JCPS that we will be able to build as a result of this," Pollio said at the press conference.
Meanwhile, Yum! Brands has been mulling moving its corporate headquarters. The company has not announced a final decision about where it will move, but properties in downtown Louisville and the East End have been floated as possibilities, The Courier Journal reported.
Yum! Brands announced it would be moving the KFC division of the company out of its Louisville headquarters and to Plano, Texas, roughly three months prior to announcing the possibility of moving its headquarters.
'This donation reflects Yum!'s long-standing commitment to Louisville and its belief in the power of education to unlock opportunity,' said David Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer of Yum! Brands. 'As we explore options for our Louisville headquarters, this moment created a unique opportunity to collaborate with JCPS. While we haven't made a final decision on the exact location of our new Louisville offices, we're evaluating several possibilities across the city and expect to determine the best path forward in the coming months.'
This story may be updated.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at [e-mail] or @bkillian72 on X.
This story was updated to add a gallery.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: JCPS is poised to accept Yum! Brands' donated headquarters