Friday, August 12, 2011

Some Of Today's Gleanings

Just a few things that we picked up this week.

As we all know, the W. Short Street corridor has become the hotbed of activity and dining lately and is the de facto heart of Lexington's entertainment these days.  The Fifth Third Pavilion has been a catalyst as well as the demolition of the CentrePointe block, and things are not done yet.

A new sign went up on the building at the corner of Short and Broadway announcing the anticipated opening of Shakespeare & Co.  While I have heard about this for almost a year, this is a little firmer indication of another fine dining experience in downtown.  Visiting the website menu really makes me wish that it was just a little closer to being open.

Shakespeare & Co. began in the Dubai, United Emirates in 2000 and has grown to nine in Dubai, several in Abu Dhabi as well as Syria, Qatar, Bahrain and other international locations.  On Monday, June 06, 2011, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY. This trademark is owned by  Edward T. Saad, and a mailing address of Lexington, KY 40507 and remodeling work has been ongoing for longer than that.  This will be another welcome addition to Lexington.

On the other end of the corridor we have the former site of Mia's which has also been undergoing some construction work.  The roll-off dumpster is gone and the facade has been painted, so something is going on.  I recently heard that a former chef from Bakers 360-the casualty of being at the top of a building and alienated from the street- is planning to open sometime this fall.  I am continuing to gather information.

Mia's, of course, took their revised concept across from the Soundbar on South Limestone and are joining the college crowd just in time for school to start.  Ole Hooker's Bait n Tackle Bar n Grille apparently has been working the kinks out over the summer and is now ready to roll.

Speaking of exciting corridors for new dining and entertainment, I cannot leave out what is happening on Jefferson St.  Stella's, Nick Ryan's and Wine + Market are now joined by the Apiary catering company (who also want to add a sit down restaurant) and a burger joint where Cuppa: used to be.  The Green Tavern is still doing well with the Transy. crowd but I hear that even bigger thing may be in the works.

In anticipation of the BCTCS campus being occupied soon, I hear that Alltech (the WEG sponsor) is looking to do something with the old Rainbo bakery building at the intersection of Sixth and Jefferson.  Some sort of adaptive mixed use which would include a restaurant and some retail.  The Coolavin Apts. may change to student housing and with the park right there(so is the Hope Center) there is certainly a way to bridge the railroad tracks so that they could get to school safely.  Alltech would be clearly looking ahead.

Several blocks away at Sixth and Lime, of course, is Al's Bar and if all of this takes place, just think of the trolley loop that could be created for a decent "pub crawl".

So, there you have it.  Any thoughts?

4 comments:

Aaron German said...

Here's a bit more for your proposed trolley route.

Continuing north on Limestone from Al's, just past the Lexington Visual Collective (lexVC), at the corner of N. Limestone and Loudon, the woman who own's A La Lucie (I think her name is Lucy) is opening up a restaurant too. I've heard rumors that the first floor space of the Bullhorn building will be turned into some kind of eating establishment. I also should not leave out The Bazaar at Bryan and N. Limestone, where one can sit and drink fair trade coffee's, buy wares from local craftspeople, and hear live music or see a theater performance.

Downtown is getting so big, we might have to learn neighborhood names.

Erik Weber said...

Mia's moved again?? I don't know how I missed that when I was back in Lex this summer!

I have to agree that downtown is really burgeoning, so much so that Aaron really has a point, we can almost start differentiating between different neighborhoods within "downtown." It won't be long before South Hill is no longer just the name of an old laser tag arena.

All of these developments are very exciting.

The Lexington Streetsweeper said...

Downtown is NOT getting too big but what some people think of downtown is. The original city limits were defined by a circle circumscribed around the Court House at a radius of 1 mile.

That is not very big in today's terms. Walton Ave @ Main St., Loudon @ N. Lime, S.Lime @ about Washington, S. Broadway @ Gibson and W. Main @ the entrance to the Catholic Cemetery. Downtown is at the very center of that and very much more compact.

Named neighborhoods surround downtown and have been named for a long time. It is the urban corridors which link these neighborhoods that are becoming commercialized enough to start blurring the existing edges.

Factually, the "old laser tag arena" stood on the site of the former city work house and school for the indigent. Both were on the other side of the hill outside of the very respectable residential area known as South Hill.

Ben said...

Sorry I couldn't comment earlier, but we weren't in a position to talk about the project yet! For more information on the old rainbo bread factory, check out http://www.westsixth.com and http://www.breadboxlex.com We welcome your feedback and ideas!