The award-winning project The Green Building in Louisville, KY opened in the Fall of 2008 in the
East Market District, the heart of NuLu, Louisville's arts district.
Renovation of the 110 year old masonry structure, a former dry goods store, was commenced by owners Augusta and Gill Holland in spring 2007 when they decided to become the first commercial building in Louisville KY to go for
LEED platinum certification (the US Green Building Council's designation of a sustainable building). The 15,000 square foot mixed use facility houses a street facing café called
732 Social from James Beard nominated Ton Brothers,
The Green Building Gallery, event spaces, and an indoor-outdoor courtyard at the rear complete with a green wall vertical garden. The second and third floors house office studios for
SonaBLAST! Records,
Holland Brown Books and
The Group Entertainment.
See the pictures from our amazing architect
Doug Pierson from
ferstudio to learn about all the green, environmentally friendly steps undertaken for this green building!
View Completed Project Photos (Album 1) 
View Construction Photos (Album 2)
View Construction Photos (Album 3)
Melissa Farlow – “Private Thoughts”
Acclaimed National Geographic and Courier-Journal photographer Melissa Farlow returns to Louisville.
Opening: June 5th, 2009 5-9pm
Gallery Hours: 9am – 6pm, Monday - Friday
Cloistered Novices Peru, 1998
Farlow will showcase a collection of photographs taken from stories covered over the last 15 years.
This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the Louisville Photo Biennale, which focuses this year upon former students and faculty of Louisville’s Center for Photographic Studies.
A Paoli, Indiana native, Farlow served as a faculty member at the Center for photographic studies. While in Louisville, she was part of the Courier-Journal / Louisville Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for photographic coverage of desegregation.
Her images have won multiple awards in the Pictures of the Year competition and other contests. Farlow received her B.A. in journalism from Indiana University and her masters from the University of Missouri, where she also taught photojournalism.
By LEO Weekly | Jonathan Meador
How ethical development makes a better city
Like many of Louisville’s best-kept secrets, Shine Properties got its start because of a horse race.
A few years ago, New York real estate developer Gregg Rochman traveled from his suburban Manhattan home to soak in the Oaks Day races. That night, as Rochman was tooling around the city, he found himself at the BBC Taproom on East Main Street in the mood for a drink. He chatted up the bartender for the local Derby lowdown. As it happened, the bartender, Matt Gilles, had just graduated from college with a degree in architecture — “swinging the hammer by day,” he said of his carpentry work, “and slinging beers by night” — and the two became fast friends.
“My wife [Maria] and I were tired of living in the burbs of Manhattan and wanted a place more suited to community, a worthwhile place to raise children, that’s culturally adept, etc.,” Rochman said. “And the day I met Matt I just fell in love with the place. I gave a call to my wife, my friends, my family and told them about this place. They told me I was crazy. I said, ‘You’re right, I am crazy, but we’re moving anyway.’”
Shortly after Rochman moved, he and Gilles became business partners. They formed Shine Properties, LLC, along with partners Mose Putney, an architect, and Jonathan Bevan, a business associate of Rochman’s. Since then, Shine has focused on the rehabilitation of “diamonds in the rough,” as Rochman put it; to give “tender love and care to neighborhoods that need it most … in an effort to increase [their] value and quality of life.”
Rendering of the Jefferson Public Market (Coming Soon):
Louisville couple bringing green design and urban revitalization to East Market
| Written by Steve Kaufman | The Voice Tribune |
Gill Holland is a film producer. His independent films have appeared at festivals like Sundance and TriBeCa, featuring stars-to-be like Kate Hudson, Edie Falco, Adrian Grenier and Melissa Leo.
He also produces music under the SonaBLAST! label. Mark Geary’s “Ghosts” album went gold in 2004.
But his biggest current production is redeveloping an entire neighborhood in Louisville’s East Market District, turning a historic but faded area into a hip, trendy and sustainable vision he’s calling NuLu (think “new Louisville”). Any similarity to New York’s SoHo (which derived its name from being south of Houston Street)is entirely intentional. That Manhattan neighborhood had vacant factory buildings and dark, empty, sinister streets until people began buying inexpensive loft space in the 1970s. Within a decade, the area had been turned into a thriving neighborhood of apartments, galleries, shops and restaurants. If it could happen in New York, why not Louisville?
By Brokensidewalk | Photo by Office of D. Tandy
Metro Council Pres. David Tandy & Gill Holland at The Green Building.
In an effort to encourage the “green” redevelopment of Louisville neighborhoods, Metro Council President David Tandy announced today a proposed new ordinance to encourage property owners to renovate existing buildings with sustainable practices. After all, the greenest building is the one that already exists. The plan hopes to dually promote local economic investment and LEED Certification of buildings in Louisville.
