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New Downtown Restaurant Roundup
Impellizzeri's Pizza to open on Main Street (BS File Photo)
There has been a flurry of activity on the Downtown dining scene lately and 2010 could be one of the most exciting years for new restaurants opening up in the city core. Today’s roundup covers pizza, sushi, steaks, and all-American cuisine.
First, Louisville HotBytes broke the news that Impellizzeri’s Pizza will open a huge new location at 110 West Main Street within a block of the new arena. The new 9,000 square foot restaurant is next door to Prime Lounge and across the street from the new Patrick O’Shea’s. Here are a few details from HotBytes:
“We are currently planning on having space for private dining/catering. We will also have live entertainment. Of course with that amount of room there will be much more seating and a larger bar area. This location will also be open for lunch. We are currently working on products and equipment that will speed up service for lunch. We plan to open Oct 1st.”
The 110 Building is an old parking garage and was renovated several years ago. At the time, there were plans to open an upscale cigar lounge there but the smoking ban took effect and the space has been vacant ever since. So far, Impellizzeri’s joins Patrick O’Shea’s, Hog n’ Char, Sol Aztecas, Prime, Bearno’s and the BBC in establishing a new Arena District.
Sapporo to open on Fourth Street (BS File Photo)
Gabe Bullard at WFPL’s The Edit has been following the development of a new Sapporo restaurant on Fourth Street at the site of the old Cafe Kilimanjaro. The hut in the picture above has been removed and a rendering posted at The Edit shows a larger hut will take its place. Here are a few details:
“This sign is up in the window of the new development. It looks like the old door to Songs For Seba will be turned into a window, and the Cafe Kilimanjaro entrance will be the front door, behind a new gate from the sidewalk. There’s a stone wall going up to the sidewalk and a larger hut behind it to cover outdoor seating.”
Eddie Merlot's to open on Fourth Street (BS File Photo)
Plans were announced in January regarding the new upscale steakhouse Eddie Merlot’s slated for the Starks Building at Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali, but it’s back in the news this week as it could receive a $300,000 loan from the city to get started. (Metro Council was set to vote on that last night – anyone know the result? Or else the next METCO meeting is March 4.) The Fort Wayne, IN based chain will occupy 11,500 square feet and could be open in July or August.
At $3 million, the new restaurant is going to be pretty fancy. Eddie Merlot’s keeps their interiors light and filled with art to appeal to a female demographic and it’s likely going to be quite ornate with a grand entrance. According to reports in January, Louisville’s Eddie Merlot’s is unique in that the chain usually opens up shop in the suburbs, but Louisville’s Downtown was strong enough for owner Bill Humphrey’s to try an urban concept.
The new restaurant joins the Colonnade Cafeteria which announced last year that it would be returning to the Starks Building after a stint on East Broadway at the defunct Louisville Antique Mall. The corner retail spot taken by Merlot’s has been vacant since Rodes, a clothing store, moved to the suburbs several years ago. Plans for an upscale seafood restaurant, McCormick & Schmick’s, fell through as did an arrangement with the Cordish Company to expand Fourth Street Live.
BBC to open on Main Street (BS File Photo)
Finally, the Bluegrass Brewing Company is currently working on renovating a two-story space at Third and Main Streets directly across from the arena into a $1.4 million restaurant and bar. BBC owners Patrick & Lamont Hagan have brought Jeff Rawlins of Architectural Artisans on board to design the restaurant including a new handicap accessible entrance on Third Street.
Plans include a more casual micro-brewery and bar in the basement and a nicer restaurant space on the second floor. The basement will house the main entrance and will feature brick walls in addition to visible brewery equipment. An elevator and stairs will lead to the second floor which still has original molding on the ceiling (photo after click) and offers wide open spaces with large windows.
Rawlins explains that it was crucial not to harm the architecturally significant 1890s era structure. He has inserted a 21″ ramp to allow a set of doors to fit perfectly under the massive stone lintel of the basement level (plans after click). Plans also show a new sign to be mounted above the door on the building’s middle bay on Third Street.
PrintColonnade Cafeteria Heading Back To Starks Building
Colonnade Cafe To Return To Starks Building
Three years after leaving the basement of the Starks Building at Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, the Colonnade Cafeteria has received a $40,000 forgivable loan from the city to relocate back to the building’s first floor.
Originally dating to 1913, the Colonnade Cafe was located in the Starks Building from 1926 until 2006 when a new owner asked the popular lunch-spot to vacate. Colonnade owners Chester and Kenneth Krill then moved to the fifth floor penthouse of the Louisville Antique Mall on Broadway, but were again dislocated when the mall closed earlier this year.
The first floor space at the Starks Building has had a hard time attracting a tenant since Rodes, a clothing company, moved to the suburbs several years ago. An upscale seafood restaurant, McCormick & Schmicks’s was once planned for the spot, and then the Cordish Companies planned an extension of 4th Street Live to connect with the planned Center City project. Both fell through, leaving room for the Colonnade to move in.
In 2006, the Colonnade owners claimed that affordable leases in Downtown were difficult to find for a local breakfast and lunch restaurant, but as retail prices have fallen, such a local cafe can now afford one of the most prime retail spots in the city once thought to be reserved for high-end national chains.
- East Broadway: Louisville Antique Mall Closing (Broken Sidewalk)
- Colonnade Cafeteria On Broadway (Broken Sidewalk)
Qdoba Gets Loan For Mexican Grill On Fourth Street
Qdoba Mexican Grill headed for Downtown
Qdobe Mexican Grill received a small business loan from the Louisville Metro Government Friday and will open a new location on the corner of Fourth Street and Jefferson Street. Donald Doyle and Michael Grisanti will open the franchise in the Marion E. Taylor Building with the help of a $50,000 forgiveable loan that will cover plumbing and exhaust hoods that must reach to the top of the building.
The new eatery represents another win for Downtown’s ability to draw franchise restaurants, which should be viewed as a good thing. In the same vicinity are Panera Bread, Jimmy John’s, and Einstein’s Bagels along with a smattering of local restaurants from the quick-stop Chop Shop Salads to the formal Z’s Fusion. As business builds and draws more workers and residents, more local and franchise shops will eventually join up as well.
Site selection on the corner of the Marion E. Taylor building is particularly important. The sidewalk of the structure was previously occupied by bank offices that contribute little to the street; the new Qdoba adds an active use in a space that pedestrians would otherwise walk right by.
Notice the vintage view at the top from when the structure was known as the Paul Jones Building and featured a strong cornice at the roofline. You can see the lively retail all along the sidewalk. Hopefully the addition of the new restaurant will bring some of that sidewalk vibrancy back.
For more information on the Metropolitan Business Development Corporation who issued the loan, check their web site.
Construction Starts At Barret Ave. Mixed-Use Project
Construction in the Original Highlands
Construction work has begun on a project that will transform two vacant building on Barret and Christy Avenues into a restaurant, an apartment, and another retail spot. Paul Kuhl and Ivor Chadkowski plan to open Harvest, a restaurant serving locally grown foods, in the one-story portion of the building and lease space in the adjacent structure. Today, the sounds of hammers filled the sidewalk as crews worked on the nearly gutted interior.
The first phase of construction includes a 1400 square foot retail outlet and 900 square foot one-bedroom apartment. Kuhl explained that work on the two-story building will take about four to six weeks to complete and work on the restaurant will start soon thereafter. The entrepreneurs searches for two years to find the Original Highlands property and are excited about its location anchoring the northern end of Barret Avenue. The area is dense and contains quite a few jobs within walking distance. It’s just a couple blocks from Baxter Avenue to the east. A sandwich shop is still under construction one block to the north, so this stretch of Barret could see quite a rebirth.
The project is still working through a few parking issues. Current rules require 36 parking spots for the new use of the one-story building, but there is a proposal before Metro Council to lower that requirement to a more manageable 16 spaces for urban areas. The building permit posted on the front window estimates the first phase cost at $100,000 and the second floor apartment is expected to rent for about $695 per month. A metal canopy covering the sidewalk has already been removed and new windows are planned. The wooden siding will also be replaced with new fiber cement hardie-board siding. When all is said and done, this corner will be quite a bit more lively than it’s been in years.
- Planned Barret Ave. Restaurant Still To Serve Local Food (Broken Sidewalk)
- Barret Avenue Eatery Plans Local Food Fast (Broken Sidewalk)
Chop Shop Salads Open For Business
Inside Chop Shop Salads on Market Street
The long awaited Chop Shop Salads on Market Street between Fourth & Fifth Streets opened its doors Monday and has seen crowds lining up out onto the sidewalk every day so far. We stopped by at closing time today to avoid the rush and had a chance to talk with owner Brad Vetter about the establishment. He said business has been extraordinary so far, and he’s seeing a substantial repeat clientelle.
This January, a stop work order halted the project marking the beginning of a tenuous relationship between the new restaurant and the city. It seems the city wouldn’t give them any breaks. A new facade garnered the stop work sign as it wasn’t approved. The city claimed the old facade, once home to a shoe repair store, was an art-deco landmark that had been destroyed (see photos of the old facade after the click). In fact, the old facade had no historic or aesthetic merits and even covered up the 19th century building’s original cast-iron columns. While the new facade is no feat of architecture, it shouldn’t have been drawn out into a historic preservation battle. In the end, a compromise was reached to put stickers on the front glass, but it set the project back two weeks.
The city then had a problem with the sign hanging over the sidewalk. They claimed that because a new insert with the Chop Shop logo was put in the old sign, it had to abide by new zoning regulations. The restaurant won on this one citing a rule that says existing signs are exempt. Later, though, restrooms would again cause more downtime. After the city had approved plans for the project with one bathroom and construction proceeded, the city forced Chop Shop to demo the new bathroom and install two. This time it set the schedule back a month, no way to foster innovative concepts being brought Downtown locally.
The new lunch spot is finally open, though, and it packs a big-city vibe. The interior is small and features a few modern tables for two, but the strength is in its salad variety (see a menu after the click). We won’t go into a food review here, there’s sure to be plenty in the upcoming weeks, but the custom salad bar looked sleek and efficient. Clad with glass tiles in various hues of green, the options seem endless.
Chop Shop Salads adds a unique new option to the Downtown lunch scene and will be a great place for Downtown workers to grab lunch and spend an hour in any of the parks and plazas that surround the restaurant. Thanks to a couple of Broken Sidewalk tipsters who pointed us to the grand opening.
- Chop Shop Salads (Official Site)
- Development Watch: Chop Shop Salads Stopped In Its Tracks (Broken Sidewalk)
- Another Lunch Spot Planned For Market Street (Broken Sidewalk)
Gourmet Drama To Fill The Kentucky Theater Marketplace
The central hall will organize the interior spaces at the Theater Square Marketplace
The old Kentucky Theater just north of the Brown Hotel on Fourth Street has been dubbed the Theater Square Marketplace for some time now, but the renovation work is winding down and a grand opening is in sight. The project is the vision of entrepreneur George Stinson and lawyer Eric Haner and when the official opening happens in June, Fourth Street will have a lively marketplace bazaar.
Some of the businesses have been open for a while, like Nancy’s Bagel Box (which is located in the spot where the original ticket window once stood) and Theater Square Wine & Spirits. Bikram Yoga studio has been open a couple weeks on the second floor and Haner’s law firm is in the building. Joining them will be a gourmet cafe, a market, a dessert counter, a florist, a bar, and there’s still room for another retail tenant. The cafe and market will be run by Dustin VonWheeler, formerly of Market on Market, and a large bar will feature a permanent open air pavilion behind the building.
VonWheeler explains that the group hopes to recapture the qualities of theater in the new spaces, and the businesses have been arranged around a central two-story hall to connect all the levels. The interior spaces open up as you enter the building revealing an urban theater in the round: patrons are at once the actors and the audience.
A mix of industrial and natural materials sets the stage. Tinted concrete and tile floors run through the building and smooth concrete block columns with sleek sconces hold up the second floor. Dramatic exposed duct work forms a sort of arched promenade through the space and brightly colored lights hang from the ceiling. A large glass window leading to the bar pavilion fills the hall with natural light.
Not too long ago the building was up for demolition. The original theater was built in 1921 and operated as a movie house for over 60 years. The Kentucky Show, now reincarnated at the Kentucky Center, played for a couple years there in the 1980s. By the mid 1990s, long vacant, the City of Louisville wanted the structure torn down. George Stinson stepped up to save the old theater and for a time leased the space for free to the Kentucky Theater Project. Now, the property has been completely renovated and will serve Downtown residents and workers as well as convention goers strolling up Fourth Street.
A new gourmet market should be similar to the old Market on Market. A range of goods ranging from a box of Cheerios to a $150 bottle of balsamic vinegar will fill the shelves. The idea is to offer the basics a Downtown resident might need for daily life while showcasing hard-to-find epicurean items. The cafe will specialize in healthy and creative “gourmet-to-go” options prepared in a full kitchen on the second floor. Tables are arranged in the central hall so patrons can dine in as well.
At the back of the building, a round bar negotiates between the central hall and the new pavilion on the other side of a large glass window. The pavilion will be able to open large doors in warm weather to create an open-air atmosphere. It has its own HVAC system that will allow it to be fully heated in the winter. There’s also a separate wine bar that will feature a nitrogen system to keep bottles of wine on tap. This allows more obscure bottles of wine to be sold by the glass. The Theater Square Marketplace is perhaps the only place in Kentucky where you could buy packaged liquor at the front of the building and buy a glass of wine in the back.
With the vast array of retail uses found in the Theater Square Marketplace, it’s sure to offer a well rounded gourmet experience, and with many residential buildings like the Henry Clay or Crescent Center less than a block away and the Brown Hotel next door, it’s bound to fill a niche. When it opens tentatively in June, Fourth Street will be quite a bit more lively with the theater of urban life.
- Theater Square Marketplace (MySpace)
Click through for a look around the building and historic photos of the theater.
Filed Under: Nabes: Downtown, Bars & Clubs, Dining, Features, Retail, Theater Square, Theater Square Marketplace, Theaters
Jimmy John’s Now Open At The Mercantile Lofts
New sandwhich shop at the Mercantile Lofts
Less than two months after we broke the story of the new Jimmy John’s sandwhich shop in the Mercantile Gallery Lofts, the restaurant has officially opened its doors. We noticed the paint stencil on the side of the building early last week, but by the time we got to photograph it, the place was already serving customers. There’s plenty of outdoor seating, although some of it was really blocking the sidewalk, and the new black facade looks sharp. A sign above the door declares “Free Smells” for everyone.
Bigger news out of the Mercantile Lofts a couple weeks ago is that you can now shack up for free for the first year. Developer Todd Blue of Cobalt Ventures will pay a year’s worth of mortgage payments and condo fees for new buyers in what Business First describes as “Blue’s Recession Buster Special.” It may be working, Blue says he has had a few offers come in since the promotion started. Here’s a little more info from the Mercantile’s web site:
“Buy a place at Mercantile Gallery Lofts, Louisville’s premier condo complex located right in the heart of Downtown, and we’ll pay 100% of the principal and interest on your mortgage—plus your Homeowners Association fees—for the first 12 months…
How it works:
- Choose from one of our New York-style industrial lofts, available in 5 floor plans.
- Find financing and close on the condo before August 1st, 2009. Mortgage must be a 30-year amortization.
- We pay 100% of the principal and interest on your mortgage—plus your Homeowners Association fees—for the first 12 months.”
- Retail Watch: Mercantile Gallery Lofts Living Up To Its Name (Broken Sidewalk)
- Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwhiches (Official Site)
- Mercantile Gallery Lofts (Official Site)
- Cobalt Ventures (Official Site)
New sandwhich shop at the Mercantile Lofts
*Mini Post* New Details On Baxter Avenue Burger Joint
We told you about the new “Bunz” restaurant on Baxter Avenue a couple weeks ago, but didn’t know any details besides the interior was small and had a sort of retro diner feel. A few new details emerged on the Louisville Hotbytes Forum today offering a glimpse at the new establishment:
“If you know the space, then you know it is very small, so there is limited refrigeration area. So, at this point there will only be hamburgers, french fries & beer. The space has been majorly renovated. They hope to be open in a week or so, but it is taking a back seat to Brownings for the moment. The plan is to be open 11-11pm, and possibly later on weekends.Applications are being accepted at Brownings, 515-0172.”
Restauranteur Anoosh Shariat who is reopening Browning’s at Slugger Field is behind the new burger joint. It looks like this one will be a good fit for the neighborhood.
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