LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After neighborhood meetings and back-and-forth with a NuLu development committee, plans for Rabbit Hole's expansion have the green light.
Founder Kaveh Zamanian claims his distillery, which is also partially owned by a global liquor distributor, brings tons of money to NuLu.
"We are conservatively talking about $400 to $500 million worth of investment within a 3-block radius of Rabbit Hole's distillery," he calculated.
Joseph Haberman, a planning and design manager with the city, agreed—the distillery's good for the neighborhood.
"From an economic development standpoint, this project is clearly a success for the block," he said.
The project's meant to bring more tourists to the bourbon distiller, but they also plan to move noisy truck bays further inward. More storage space means less trailers will come through, but it'll come at the cost of old buildings like a church, which isn't considered historical.
In the original plans, the church's façade was intact, but now it'll be replaced with glass. The buildings near the intersection of Jefferson and Shelby Streets are now approved for demolition too.
However, a castle-like police station on Shelby Street will stay. So will a shotgun-style building they use for offices facing Jefferson Street.
One term the committee insisted on—a green space roof over the new truck bays, a concern of one nearby resident who came to the committee hearing.
"We're going to be looking a trucking operation from our homes," Creighton Mershon said, "it's a big change, so I just think it needs to be acknowledged."
Another thing the committee considered—street corners.
"Those are where the hub of activity happen within a neighborhood," Jeffrey Rawlins, who sits on the committee, said. "So for this project to sort of deny that ability to happen on Jefferson is a real struggle."
Their ultimate decision was that the space needed to be filled, with awnings extended to the sidewalks.
"You can never make everybody happy but we try to be as diligent as possible to get everybody's recommendations and input," Zamanian said.
For all the changes to go forward, Rabbit Hole still needs to get approval from another city committee for zoning.
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