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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.
PrintRetail Watch: Downtown Qdoba Under Construction
Qdoba under construction on Fourth Street (BS File Photo)
A new Qdoba Mexican Grill for the corner of Fourth and Jefferson Streets is under construction. A tipster wrote in this week to report the work and guessed it would be a couple months before opening. It turns out that projection was pretty much right on target. Qdoba’s twitter arm, @Qdobalouisville, reported this morning that the projected opening date is early March.
I reported last summer about plans for the new Downtown restaurant when it received a $50,000 METCO loan and noted then that it’s great to see retail once again taking the ground floor space in the Marion E. Taylor building aka Chase bank building and formerly the Paul Jones building.
New Italian Restaurant Planned At East Market Vineyard
New restaurant headed for Felice Vineyards
A new restaurant is under construction at the Felice Vineyards complex on East Market Street. Tilia, a Northern Italian concept, plans to open in April or early May of 2010 in time for Derby and should compliment the Italian charm of the Felice Vinyards complex which includes the Felice winery and the Bodega Deli and Grocery. Tilia is taking the space vacated by Melillo’s restaurant in December 2008.
Jeff Tatman, owner of Felice Vineyards, says the plan from the outset was to create a walkable destination with many options and says the concept is just as viable now as it’s ever been. He opens his winery once a month on the First Friday Trolley Hop but private tours and events can also be booked as well. If you haven’t been to the winery and seen everything that goes on in the process including row upon row of wine stored in the basement cellar, you’re missing one of Louisville’s best attractions.
Felice Vineyards also offers four large apartments on the second and third floors. Tatman says all four units have been leased for some time, but one apartment just opened up and is available for rent. For more information about the apartment or for booking a winery tour or event, contact Jeff Tatman at 819.5898.
Click through for a few photos of the Felice Vineyards winery.
What Recession? New Restaurant Roundup
Cafe Mimosa Thaws After Tragic Fire (BS File Photo)
Continuing with our series on new restaurants opening in Louisville, we bring news of five new businesses in the Louisville region, all opening or reopening in the hottest restaurant spots in Louisville: the Highlands, Nulu, and New Albany (yeah, NA is a veritable development hot spot nowadays). Check out previous installments here and here.
- Cafe Mimosa and The Eggroll Machine. Nearly nine months after a devastating fire, Cafe Mimosa and the Eggroll Machine have reopened in the old Lentini’s Restaurant building last occupied by Jarfi’s Bistro at 1543 Bardstown Road. Everyone jumped on this one, so you can tell it’s a local favorite. [Read more: Official Site, Consuming Lou, V-V Eats, My Loueyville, Mojo, WHAS11 ]
- PotStickers. Edward Lee, co-owner of upscale restaurant 610 Magnolia, has opened a new “upscale fast-food” concept at 938 Baxter Avenue. The restaurant opened Tuesday and serves sandwiches and noodles with a variety of sauces and toppings. Inside, salvaged materials and furniture provide for ‘green’ design elements. [Read more: C-J, Mojo]
- La Bodega. Another fire victim, the popular tapas bar at 1606 Bardstown Road has emerged larger than before with new Spanish decor including an imported wooden bar. A grand-reopening is being held for the entire month of October. Neighboring De la Torre’s had reopened some time ago. [Read more: Official Site, Louisville.com, V-V Eats ]
- Crush on Market. Located in the old Hausman building on the corner of East Market and Campbell Streets, entrepreneur Mike Schnell plans to open a wine bar, restaurant, art gallery, and wine shop. The art gallery on the second floor will open onto a landscaped roof above the wine shop, dubbed Cask 55. Plans call for a Spring 2010 opening. [Read more: Ville-Voice ]
- Wick’s Pizza. The new location of the popular pizzeria should be opening imminently after its alcohol license was approved Tuesday. Already, a new neon sign has been hoisted and mounted to the facade of its New Albany home on 225 State Street. Inside, a bar was made of salvaged brick and timbers found in the building’s basement. [Read more: Official Site, NA Confidential ]
Interior of Crush on Market in mid-September (BS File Photo)
Colonnade 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)
New Retail In The Heart Of The Highlands
Renovation projects nears completion on Bardstown Road
Two new retail spaces and three apartments will soon be ready on Bardstown Road. Business partners Mike Howard and Joseph Impellizzeri have nearly finished converting two dilapidated structures near Eastern Parkway after realizing the potential of vacant property in the heart of the Highlands. One tenant has already signed on and will be opening soon.
PizzAroma, located in the green structure on the right, has a long history in the pizza business. First opening in 1963 as the first pizza place in Owensboro, the family operated business has expanded. As the pizza pub grew, PizzAroma opened locations in Bowling Green and Hilton Head. In that time, Pizza Today magazine listed PizzAroma as one of the top 100 independent pizzerias in the nation.
Now, lifelong friends Blake Leucht and Jan Miller, both of Owensboro, hope to bring that tradition to Bardstown Road in the first weeks of September. PizzAroma will offer pizza-by-the-slice in addition to full pies, pasta, sandwiches, and wings. Leucht explains that all ingredients used at PizzAroma are as fresh as possible, including gourmet cheeses and custom-made sausage. The new eatery will offer a full bar open until 4:00 am and features an outdoor seating area and occasional live acoustic music.
Adjacent space directly north of PizzAroma hasn’t been leased yet, but Howard and Impellizzeri expect the space to be taken by a food operator. The team has been in negotiations with a sandwich shop as well as several other businesses, but nothing is yet official. As soon as next week, a new red-tinted concrete plaza will be poured in front of the building to serve as an outdoor seating area.
Three new one-bedroom apartments are also nearing completion. Besides being just a step off Louisville’s most lively intersection, the apartments will offer great views of the surrounding Highlands including St. James Church. Prices haven’t been officially set, but Mike Howard expects them to range somewhere from the upper $500s to upper $600s per month.
Mike Howard and Joe Impellizzeri have been friends for over a decade, but this venture represents their first steps into commercial development. Impellizzeri is a local attorney and Howard operates Rent 2 Own Louisville, offering lease options on single family homes predominantly in the Highlands and St. Matthews.
Howard and Impellizzeri expect an increase in people moving into the city. They say walkable neighborhoods with shopping and entertainment nearby coupled with increasing fuel costs will only steer more people into areas like the Bardstown Road corridor. The team also expects property values to continue to climb in the next five to ten years in an already booming area. Howard explains that the popularity of the Highlands is already spilling over into adjacent neighborhoods like Germantown.
The two plan to continue renovating structures along the Bardstown Road-Baxter Avenue corridor in the future and are currently looking at several properties in the area. They agree that Louisville’s hippest street only stands to grow stronger over time and both want to be part of that progress.
- Rent 2 Own Louisville (Official Site)
- Learning To Spead Bardstown Road’s Urban Language (Broken Sidewalk)
Retail Watch: Another Shop On Story Avenue
New shop on Story Avenue
Maybe you saw it at the Butchertown Art Fair last weekend, but a new shop called Marie with Joy Consignments has filled an empty storefront last home to a small skateboard shop and hydroponic garden store. It’s been open a couple of weeks now as far as we can tell. Now if we can just fill that empty spot next door.
New shop on Story Avenue
AAA Hopes To Drive Traffic To Cobalt Marketplace
AAA headed for the Cobalt Marketplace
The Cobalt Marketplace on the corner of Market and Jackson Streets has landed a new sidewalk level tenant. The space was most recently the home to Market on Market that closed last September (the owner is opening up shop soon on Fourth Street). Now, the American Automobile Association is planning to move in to the space for what developer Todd Blue calls a “boutique office.” AAA previously held offices near the corner of Broadway and Jackson in the Medical District. Many of the jobs at that location have been moved to their Hurstbourne Parkway regional headquarters. Painters and electrical crews were on site today and the new AAA offices are expected to open May 18.
AAA headed for the Cobalt Marketplace
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