'It's aggressive, but we've done it before': NuLu Marketplace expanding, adding a 66,000 square-foot building

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The NuLu Marketplace is expanding, adding another huge investment into the booming neighborhood.

Louisville Developer Mo Deljoo is opening NuLu Marketplace North, a three-story 66,000 square-foot building that will sit on a plot of land situated between Market and Main Streets.

Deljoo bought the land two years ago for $2.3 million.

"Louisville is becoming a major tourist city and we have a lot of tourists that come and stay; Louisville is a destination point," he said. "More and more everyday we feel there are so many more companies and businesses and everyone else looking at NuLu as a destination point."

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NuLu Marketplace North will be a replicate of the already existing marketplace, with restaurants, bars, and shops on the first floor and office spaces and Airbnb-style rentals on the top two floors.

Deljoo said the marketplace wants to maintain fun for everyone, balancing family-friendly spaces with nightlife venues. He said they have already approached tenants they believe will be a good fit in the new space.

"We definitely don't want to mix up the tenants and evade that competition between the tenants," he said.

The marketplace will expand its entertainment district license through the whole project, once it's complete, to tie Market Street and Billy Goat Strut together. This will allow patrons to legally transport alcoholic beverages while within the marketplace gates.

The expansion will also have a duplicate of the marketplace parking lot to accommodate for the extra traffic.

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Deljoo said NuLu is becoming a hot commodity, and wants to see development continue outside of the marketplace, as well.

"It could use some more housing components here in the community -- eventually getting a grocery store and really become more of an urban setting we're trying to get to," he said.

Deljoo said the goal is to open NuLu Marketplace North by early 2026.

"It's aggressive, but we've done it before," he said.

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