Creative hub destined for Wayside buildings
Terry Boyd Staff Writer
Business First of Louisville
The purchase of Wayside Christian Mission¹s properties will be a catalyst
for East Market Street to coalesce into a destination for Louisville¹s
emerging creative class a hub for the arts, cuisine, locally produced
food, the green building movement, commerce and retail.
That¹s the quickly evolving vision of the main investors involved in
recasting East Market Street¹s art galleries and restaurants district as a
larger zone dubbed ³NuLu.²
Those investors, in several partnerships, include Los Angeles-based actor
and Louisville native William Mapother, contractor Tim Peters and filmmaker
Gill Holland and his wife, Augusta Brown Holland.
With the pending purchase of the Wayside property 10 buildings total from
800 E. Market through 820 E. Market all of the pieces of a dramatic
redevelopment puzzle are now on the table, waiting to be assembled, Holland
said.
A part of downtown resurgence
In addition to the Wayside purchase, the Hollands have spent more than $2
million so far on other projects along East Market. These include renovating
a building at 732 E. Market for the headquarters of The Group Entertainment
LLC, owned by Gill Holland.
They also bought a parking lot at 726 E. Market, where they plan to build a
three-story parking garage with first-floor retail space.
In the next three years, Holland estimates, he and his partners and others
will invest $25 million or more.
The end result will be a NuLu/East Market Street locus connecting the
resurgent downtown business district on the west to future demand from
hundreds of new housing units in various developments, including Liberty
Green on the south and Legacy Lofts just to the east of NuLu.
³Even three years from now this area will be totally transformed,² Holland
said.
In various partnerships, the Hollands, Peters, retired Brown-Forman Corp.
executive Lois Mateus, who is Peters¹ wife, and Mapother will be involved in
redeveloping several key properties.
Those include the Wayside Christian properties as well as the Disney Tire
Co. property nearby at 721 E. Jefferson St. into Jefferson Public Market, a
25,000-square-foot year-round farmers¹ market.
In March, the Hollands, Peters, Mateus and Mapother, as NuLu Bridgestone
LLC, bought the 0.38-acre Disney site for $230,330, according to Jefferson
County Property Valuation Administration records.
Peters said he plans to buy outright and renovate one of the former Wayside
Christian buildings, most likely 812 E. Market St. Then he¹ll relocate his
Peters Construction Co. office to the site after selling his office building
and studios at 1295 Bardstown Road in the Highlands.
That building currently houses his firm as well as a Heine Brothers¹ Coffee
Inc. location and a Carmichael¹s Bookstore LLC location.
That¹s a big endorsement of NuLu¹s potential, Mateus said. ³Tim Peters,
who¹s owned multiple buildings on Bardstown Road, is all of a sudden saying,
I¹m interested in this area.¹ To have him say, I wouldn¹t mind selling
1295 Bardstown Road¹ is really intriguing.²
The next Bardstown Road corridor?
Peters said he bought the 1295 Bardstown Road property in 1980, when
Bardstown Road was a collection of dilapidated wood storefronts.
³At the time, I said to myself, This is a really cool area that young
people will gravitate toward,¹ ² he said. ³In my humble expectation, NuLu is
going to be the new Bardstown Road of Louisville. I love this (Bardstown
Road) building, but I¹m going to put it up for sale and move to NuLu.²
Peters ticked off a list of thriving businesses in the East Market cluster
between Joe Ley¹s Antiques Inc. on the west and Flame Run LLC, a large glass
gallery and glass-blowing operation on the east.
³They¹ve filled up the 600 and 700 blocks, and the 800 block is next. I want
to be part of that,² Peters said.
Jim George and Sam Bassett, co-owners of Scout, a home accessories, gifts
and jewelry store at 801 E. Market, directly across from the Wayside
property, said they¹re considering expanding their furniture sales to one of
the Wayside Christian buildings directly across Market Street.
Bassett said he envisions the post-Wayside NuLu as a more upscale area than
the Bohemian section of Bardstown Road that runs through the Highlands. He
sees walk-in business from downtown hotels already a major piece of their
revenue increasing even more.
And in the four-and-a-half years since they opened their store, they¹ve seen
dramatic changes for the better, especially after the nearby Clarksdale
housing complex was cleared to make way for the Liberty Green residential
development.
³We moved into (carrying) furniture with the expectations of lofts coming,²
George said. ³I think (the NuLu Partners) have a plan in the back of their
minds, and we¹re thrilled they considered us.²
Replacing Wayside Christian with retail, restaurants or galleries will
connect Flame Run Glass Studio and Gallery, at 828 E. Market St., to the
rest of the NuLu gallery district, said Tiffany Ackerman, the company¹s
office manager.
³We didn¹t mind having Wayside Christian there,² Ackerman said. ³They¹re an
excellent group.²
That said, having a mission on that block breaks up the foot traffic flow of
the gallery/restaurant district, she said.
³When you walk the West Main area, you have all those galleries and
restaurants, and that¹s what we need to be more a cohesive gallery and
shopping district.²
Years before final changes
Everyone interviewed for the article agreed that there are several stages
before the full promise of integrating the Wayside Property into NuLu can be
realized.First, the $5 million purchase of Wayside by NuLu Wayside LLC the Hollands
and Margolis is scheduled to close Aug. 15.
Then, the partnership will be able to take possession of some but not all
of the buildings and begin redevelopment.
Meanwhile, it will await an assessment of the area being prepared by Project
for Public Spaces, a Manhattan-based nonprofit consulting organization that
helps create public spaces that will enhance cities, Holland said.
Under that purchase agreement, the NuLu Wayside partnership can take
immediate possession of three of the 10 buildings 812, 808 and 804/806,
according to Holland and Nina Moseley, chief operation officer of Wayside
Christian.
The purchase frees up Wayside Christian to begin looking for a different
site with a new building rather than an amalgam of renovated old buildings
with a new building, Moseley said.
³A new building will mean less energy, maintenance and management costs,²
she said. (For more information on Wayside¹s plans, see related article at
left.)
But for Holland, creating a new energy around old buildings fits precisely
into his vision.
Quoting urban theorist Richard Florida, author of ³The Rise of the Creative
Class,² Holland said, ³new ideas require old buildings.²
An organic, measured transformation of those old buildings, on the edge of
downtown, into an destination for locals and tourists alike could make
Louisville ³the next Austin,² he added.
³Of course, we are way cooler than Austin because we¹re in Kentucky.²
Details of the Wayside deal
Under the agreement to buy the Wayside Christian Mission buildings on East
Market Street, the NuLu Wayside LLC partnership can take immediate
possession of three of the 10 buildings 812, 808 and 804/806, according to
NuLu Wayside partner Gill Holland and Nina Moseley, Wayside¹s chief
operating officer.
The $5 million purchase is scheduled to close next month.
Three parcels 800 E. Market, now a family shelter; 822 E. Market, a
shelter for single women; and 215 S. Shelby/812 E. Market, a six-unit
apartment building will be leased by Wayside Christian for as long as two
years.
Three properties that are used for storage 214/216 S. Shelby and 211 S.
Shelby will be leased by Wayside, though NuLu Wayside has the option to
relocate them to comparable space.
Wayside¹s day-care operation at 225 S. Shelby St. can remain in place until
December 2010.
The deal ³is good for us,² Moseley said, in that the Wayside mission now can
plan to build a totally new facility rather than the $4.5 million renovation
of the existing site that had been proposed.
³As much as we wanted to build on Market Street, we would have had one new
37,000-square-foot facility, but it still would have been surrounded by
seven old buildings² for a total of about 88,000 square feet, she said.
³Now, we¹ll have 88,000 square feet of new space,² she said. ³We are happy
we will have an all-new facility for our women and families.²
Wayside Mission is considering several new locations in a site study and new
master plan, Moseley said.
The most likely plan is consolidating on East Jefferson Street, where the
mission has its men¹s shelter at 423 E. Jefferson. That would mean building
on a L-shaped piece of land on the east side of that property, she said.
The partners in NuLu Wayside LLC are Gill Holland, Augusta Brown Holland,
Tim Peters, Lois Mateus and two silent partners.
The NuLu players
Gill Holland and his wife, Augusta Brown Holland, own The Group
Entertainment LLC, which includes movie production, a book publisher and an
art gallery.
Those businesses will be consolidated to 732 E. Market St. in what they call
³The Green Building.²
The project is a renovation for which the Hollands are trying to get a LEED
Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit
organization that promotes sustainable construction through its Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design certification program.
Gill Holland said he is in talks with the owners of BASA Modern Vietnamese
restaurant to possibly move into the first floor.
The Hollands also are partners in NuLu Bridgestone LLC, which bought the
Disney Tire Co. property on East Jefferson Street. Their partners in that
venture are contractor Tim Peters, Lois Mateus, a retired Brown-Forman Corp.
senior vice president and Peters¹ wife, and actor William Mapother.
The big project
The largest project planned for the next few years at East Market is
Jefferson Public Market.
The 25,000-square-foot farmers¹ market/connoisseur food destination is
planned for the Disney Tire Co. property on East Jefferson Street, said Lois
Mateus, who owns a 1,000-acre farm in Southern Indiana with her husband, Tim
Peters.
The goal is to duplicate the success of other big-city markets, such as
Redding Terminal Market in Philadelphia, which is a destination for locals
and tourists alike, Mateus said.
She said the business plan is not complete, but she estimates that creating
a large-scale market will cost about $11 million.
Mateus credited Augusta Holland with the idea, saying that Holland had
dreamed of creating such a market in Louis -ville while a student at
Columbia University in New York City.
The anchor tenant could be Creation Gardens of Louisville, which is
considering a move from 609 E. Main St. because of the planned
reconfiguration of Spaghetti Junction, said Ron Tournier, president of the
company. Creation Gardens distributes produce and gourmet foods.
Tournier said he believes relocating to Jefferson Public Market would allow
him to expand his distribution operations ³with trucks out the back and
retail in the front² in an area projected to grow quickly in population
density.
Creation Gardens currently distributes to markets and restaurants in
Louisville, and Lexington, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Evansville, Ind.
NuLu
What it is: A developing arts, retail and business district in the 600, 700
and 800 blocks of East Market Street, roughly from Joe Ley Antiques Inc. on
the west to Flame Run LLC on the east.
Major NuLu businesses: More than 20 art galleries, including Mary Craik
Gallery and Gallery NuLu, as well as Joe Ley Antiques, The Green Building,
Jenicca¹s wine bar, Toast restaurant, and Flame Run
Send comments to tboyd@bizjournals.com