Joe Ley Block Concept Plan (Courtesy Village Solutions)

Joe Ley, owner of Joe Ley Antiques on East Market Street, has already announced his intentions to improve his property and add to the vibrancy of Nulu.  In November, he teamed up with Village Solutions to study the potential of his properties on the 600 block on East Market.  Today, Joe Ley and Village Solutions revealed their concept, and like the Service Welding block concept plan released earlier this year, it’s stunning.

Proposed changes include replacing two buildings with a “three-tiered” glass structure called the “Light Cube” and adding a new fourth level to the historic school building that served at Joe Ley’s headquarters.  The proposal was outlined in a 180-page strategic plan released by Village Solutions today.

Rick Hill, president of Village Solutions, said, “Our challenge was to preserve and protect those portions of the block which were special, yet create an economically viable development with slightly more density. Consequently, it was important to make sure that historic and architecturally significant aspects remained relatively untouched or returned back to its original grandeur. Likewise, we did not want to marginalize the historic structures with new additions made to look old.”

To achieve this, the Light Cube will transition between the old school building and the adjacent Parish Hall of St. John’s Church.  It will contain 26,800 square feet and is broken into three masses designed to step up or down to mediate the scale of neighboring historic structures.  The new building will glow like a lantern and feature sustainable elements such as a green roof.  A street level restaurant could anchor the structure.

The former Hiram Roberts School will largely be untouched except for the addition of a “glass top hat” designed as a modern interpretation of a Beaux-Arts roof, a style fashionable when the structure was built.  Joe Ley’s properties would be connected to the larger East Market area including the Creation Gardens site via an “Art Walk.”

Joe Ley must now consider the proposal and determine how to move forward. He says he likes the recommendations but “it will take me some time to get my arms around all the issues.” While Ley mulls the future of his properties, we can all imagine East Market Street becoming as beautiful as Village Solutions’ rendering.

Joe Ley Antiques (BS File Photo)

Just days after declaring that Nulu has officially “landed,” there’s another sign that the neighborhood east of Downtown is poised to grow.  Joe Ley Antiques at 615 East Market Street isn’t going anywhere, but Joe Ley is considering the future of his three building antique complex.  He explains, “With all of the changes being planned for East Market Street, it is time for me to develop a plan to enhance my buildings.”

Ley has hired Village Solutions to develop a long term strategic plan for the property.  Rick Hill, president of Village Solutions, says the future of the site is wide open and the brainstorming process is just beginning.  Ley asked him to take a look at the existing property and figure out what is possible for the site.

Hill, whose company created the strategic plan for the Service Welding block including Creation Gardens directly east, says connectivity will be emphasized.  Like the concept plan at both the Creation Gardens site and at Gill Holland’s planned farmers’ market on Jefferson Street, reuse of the alleyways is strongly considered.  Hill says Billy Goat Strut could provide a great pedestrian texture to the area and activate an otherwise underutilized space.

Whatever plan is developed will retain the historical significance of the site dating to 1890.  According to JCPS, the main Joe Ley building was originally built as the Louisville Normal School which later relocated to East Broadway.  The building remained an elementary school called the Hiram Roberts School after a former principal at the Normal School.  After officially closing in 1966, the facility continued as a school for overflow students and was sold in 1972 to the Koch Glass Company.

Before Joe Ley acquired the building, the windows and even the front door had been boarded up and covered with stucco.  As one of the first presences on East Market Street, Joe Ley Antiques will continue to be a neighborhood anchor and a regional draw for some of the most interesting antiques and architectural details around.

• Joe Ley Antiques (Official Site)
• Village Solutions (Official Site)
• Creation Gardens Plans East Market Expansion (Broken Sidewalk)
• Urban Wonders: Canyon Vistas On Louisville’s Alleys (Broken Sidewalk)

Click through for more photos, including one from before Joe Ley.