LeafSpring School has opened its second Louisville-area campus, a new facility in Eastpoint, even as the company's planned third location in Lyndon remains stuck awaiting approval amid neighborhood opposition.
The Eastpoint campus, located at 13230 O'Bannon Station Way in East Louisville, was built in partnership with general contractor Buffalo Construction, Inc., according to LeafSpring School. As WHAS11 reported, the new school has opened.
This marks LeafSpring's second location in the Louisville market. The company first arrived locally in February 2025 at Norton Commons in Prospect, where it comprehensively renovated its inaugural campus, according to a release distributed via PRWeb. The renovation preceded the Norton Commons opening.
Who's Behind the Local Expansion
The Louisville-area LeafSpring campuses are owned and operated by 0924 Investments, LLC. The PRWeb release identifies Randall Bufford as the company's founder and quotes Susan Bufford about the redesign. The cited Entrepreneur entry does not provide further corporate-history details.
At Norton Commons, the PRWeb release describes a dedicated on-site care area for mildly ill children. The schools also run on two proprietary programs — PLAYWORKS, a play-based curriculum, and INSPIRED, a leadership development framework meant to build core literacies and problem-solving skills starting in infancy, according to the PRWeb release.
Lyndon Site Still Faces Pushback
While Eastpoint is now open, LeafSpring's proposed third Louisville-area location in Lyndon remains held up. The proposal involves University of Louisville Foundation land, but it drew neighborhood opposition in late 2025 over traffic concerns, loss of green space, and flooding risks along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek, WHAS11 reported. Nearby residents organized a “Say No to LeafSpring” sign campaign in response to the plans.
Before construction can move forward, LeafSpring must secure rezoning approval from the Lyndon City Council, per WHAS11's reporting. The station also noted that the proposal concerns a grassy plot associated with the UofL Foundation.
A Statewide Childcare Squeeze
The expansion push comes against a backdrop of severe childcare shortages across Kentucky. A March 2024 statewide survey of more than 1,300 Kentucky parents by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy found that 62% of responding families had been placed on a childcare waitlist, with 27% of those waitlisted waiting two to six months, 14% waiting seven to twelve months and 12% waiting more than a year for an open slot. Parents cited limited local options as a major barrier to employment, the survey found.
More recent data from Kentucky Youth Advocates discusses child well-being indicators.
Childcare zoning remains part of the broader capacity discussion in Louisville. A resource from Greater Louisville Inc. is included in that discussion. Individual projects can still face local hurdles before shovels can hit the ground.
