Papa Johns plans to sell its Louisville campus and rent it back for 17 years

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Nov. 12) — Papa Johns is selling the east Louisville campus it has called home for decades, then signing on to stay there as a renter.

Company leaders broke the news at an all-hands meeting Wednesday morning. A memo to employees said Papa Johns has signed a letter of intent with a buyer for the campus at 2002 Papa Johns Blvd. and expects the sale to close in December, the Courier Journal reported. The buyer was not named.

Under the plan, the company would sign a 17-year lease and serve as the master tenant of the property, which houses its Restaurant Support Center and Quality Control Center. The memo, from chief legal and administrative officer Caroline Oyler, said the more than 500 Louisville office and quality-control employees will stay in the metro area and that it is "business as usual" for them for now.

"This is a long-term commitment to Louisville, with us changing how we occupy the campus, not our commitment to being here," Oyler wrote.

A company spokesperson told the Courier Journal the move lines Louisville up with Atlanta, where Papa Johns' other headquarters offices are also leased. Oyler's memo described the sale as part of a shift to "a more asset-light business," freeing money to go back into the company rather than real estate.

This isn't the first time the campus has been on the block. Papa Johns listed it for sale in February 2023, citing changing workforce needs after the pandemic, then reversed course that October and decided to keep it, WHAS11 reported. The company moved its global headquarters to Atlanta in 2020 but kept about 550 of its 750 corporate jobs in Kentucky at the time.