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This rendering shows the design of the Mississippi-based franchise Babalu Tapas & Tacos, an anticipated gourmet eatery specializing in Latin cuisine that will be opening soon at The Summit. Rendering furnished by Bayer Properties
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Designed for walkability and easy-parking alike, The Summit at Fritz Farm features landscaping by Jon Carloftis and will include green space for live music and other events, to open this summer. Rendering furnished by Bayer Properties
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Whole Foods is moving to The Summit and closing its nearby Lexington Green location. Rendering furnished by Bayer Properties
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Boutique restaurant J. Alexander’s is one of the 20 restaurants set to open at Fritz Farm. Rendering furnished by Bayer Properties
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Boutique restaurant J. Alexander’s is one of the 20 restaurants set to open at Fritz Farm. Rendering furnished by Bayer Properties
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Boutique restaurant J. Alexander’s is one of the 20 restaurants set to open at Fritz Farm. Rendering furnished by Bayer Properties
By summer’s end, a 54-acre former tobacco farm plot in south Lexington will be transformed into a multifunctional city within a city, featuring more than 60 shops, 20 restaurants, 44,000 square feet of office space, 306 luxury apartments and ample green space for live music and other outdoor activities. This month, Lexington gets its first look at the Nicholasville Road mixed-use shopping, living and dining destination The Summit at Fritz Farm, with the first phase of the development opening to public April 27. The grand opening, which features a weekend full of events, will introduce more than 30 tenants – from high-end furniture to gourmet popsicles to locally hand-tailored suits – with dozens of additional businesses scheduled to open later this summer.
The brainchild and undertaking of Alabama-based development company Bayer Properties, the $156 million development will feature an eclectic mix of local and national businesses, from homegrown boutiques and local eateries to international brands. The initial group of tenants will include familiar big names like Pottery Barn, Madewell and the Frye Company; also opening soon are a handful of boutiques owned by high-profile celebrity designers, including Kate Hudson’s Fabletics and Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James. The location will be the Kentucky debut for many of these businesses and among the first brick-and-mortar establishments in the country for both Hudson and Witherspoon’s brands.
Founded in 1983, Bayer Properties’ Lexington ties extend back to the mid- ’90s, when David Silverstein – a Vanderbilt grad who loved trips to Keeneland – became an executive partner with CEO Jeffrey Bayer. Attracted to the city’s rich heritage, size and unique urban-land area boundary, developers began scouting Lexington sites roughly a decade ago for a project that would be both “cosmopolitan and Bluegrass.” Eventually, the team selected Fritz Farm, a historic tobacco farm on Nicholasville Road, as the site, and in 2012, Bayer representatives toured the area and sat down with local entrepreneurs to explore what the community needed.
From those conversations, it was established early on that to be successful, any new shopping center in an area so ripe with “big box” retailers would have to be uniquely Lexington – not something you could find anywhere in America.
“The consistent feedback we’d been getting was, ‘wow, there’s a lot of big box,’” said creative director and brand strategist Lindsay Bayer about those early exploratory meetings.
The Summit aims to be something distinctly different. In fact, with plans that highlight local as well as national tenants – including an all-local “food hall” pavilion set to open later this summer – and other unique features that include green space for local events and landscaping overseen by acclaimed Lexington designer Jon Carloftis, The Summit aims to be the first mixed-use development of its kind in the state.
Bayer said that the profile of tenants sought for the project has evolved since those early talks, especially with boutique fitness and socially conscious retail on the rise in recent years. However, the criteria have remained the same: Bayer says The Summit’s tenants have to be best in class, high in demand, caring towards staff and dedicated to community.
And now, “the dream list of tenants has come to life,” she said.
After years of negotiations and zoning, the project broke ground in July 2015. Construction was slower than developers anticipated due to inclement weather and union labor laws. Despite the delays, the initial phase of the massive construction undertaking has been a local boon – Bayer claims that roughly 1,200 new jobs were brought to market for construction (though some regional contractors were brought in as well), and with retail, management, security and operations, she said the development is expected to generate another 1,500 to 2,000 permanent local jobs.
Overall, Bayer maintains the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Among the roster of local supporters and culinary tenants is chef and restaurateur Ouita Michel, whose regional restaurants include Holly Hill Inn, Wallace Station, Windy Corner Market and Smithtown Seafood. Michel will open Honeywood, a 180-seat “modern Kentucky bistro” – and her largest endeavor yet – at The Summit in early May.
While she is now “super excited” for the opening of her ambitious new restaurant, Michel admits that it took a bit of convincing to get her to sign the lease.
“My initial response was ‘no,’” she said with a laugh. “I felt like it was too big a project for me.”
Lexington entrepreneur Toa Green, who will open the second location of Crank & Boom Ice Cream at The Summit later this summer, echoed Michel’s initial hesitation.
“At first we were not really interested in being a part of a ‘shopping mall,’” Green said. With the help of Dallas-based food and beverage consultant Tristan Simon, whom the Bayers brought in in 2014, the developers were eventually able to demonstrate the unique opportunities that the development could offer to Michel, Green and others – opportunities from the ability to construct a brand-new space customized to their specific needs, to the potential to reach a vast new audience.
“[Simon] helped us understand the vision of this development and how it could be the perfect next step for our growing company,” continued Green, who is slated to open a 600-square-foot version of Crank & Boom in September. The location will be the dessert and coffee purveyor of “The Barn,” The Summit’s all-local food hall that will also feature culinary “stalls” by Athenian Grill and Dan Wu’s Atomic Ramen, among others.
For Michel, whose other restaurants are not only considerably smaller but are also primarily located in rehabbed historic buildings and/or rural locations, the experience is introducing lots of “firsts.”
“I’m excited about being in a retail location, which I haven’t ever done before – the whole thing to me is brand new,” Michel added. “I really think the development itself, Lexington is going to fall in love with. The design elements and the retailers that are going to be there – it’s really a beautiful place.”
While more than a dozen Lexington-based companies have signed on for The Summit, the hesitation Michel and Green initially felt was not isolated. Bayer admits that several local tenants declined to sign leases but hopes they’ll change their minds after opening weekend.
Naturally, there looms a certain degree of skepticism about the logistics of visiting The Summit. Bayer calls traffic “a double-edged sword,” explaining that while the pre-existing popularity of the corridor may benefit commerce, developers wish to avoid causing further congestion. To combat this, The Summit will be accessible through four main entrances, with an additional signal light having been added on Nicholasville Road to ease traffic flow. Parking will be scattered throughout the development, and two parking decks are also being built to accommodate high volume.
Even so, it may take some getting used to.
“For Lexington to have big city events and big city things like this, we need to put up with big city woes,” said the project’s marketing manager, Stephanie Bork.
Furthermore, some have expressed wariness about having another shopping center added to the mix of one of Lexington’s most developed landscapes. The impact that The Summit will have on nearby retailers is still unclear, but Bayer insists there’s no tension.
“There’s been competition, but it’s been really healthy and more complementary in nature than negative,” she said.
“We specifically picked this corridor, and to be within close proximity of Fayette Mall and The Lexington Green… [because] we didn’t want to split the market,” Bayer added. “We expect someone to visit The Summit at Fritz Farm and Fayette Mall in the same day.”
As the project looks beyond the initial opening, Bayer said that a big goal of the company is to be disciplined in the retailers that the development attracts, and to continue to sign on “best-in-class locals and creatives.”
From May through September, The Summit will feature more new openings each month, with tenants rolled out in stages; by early fall, more than 45 additional businesses are expected to be open, running the gamut from retail to fitness to culinary. Summer plans include a live music series, rotating art installations and an informal lecture series on “everything Kentucky,” from gardening to Maker’s Mark. Moreover, Bayer Properties is currently working to obtain an “open container” license for the entire project, which they hope will add to the festive atmosphere and overall experience.
And it may expand. Currently, 44 acres have been developed, but another 11 are still reserved, to be rolled out strategically as the market demands. Developers are still seeking a full-service hair salon, a papery concept and a children’s boutique, among other niche categories. Five million visits are expected in the first year.
Michel feels confident that Lexington will respond positively to what she describes as a “cutting edge” and “absolutely stunning” development – much of which she says can be attributed to the Bayers’ unique vision, efficient use of space and dedication to creating a truly diverse and special environment for local and national retailers alike.
“The level of commitment that they have shown to local businesses and the Lexington area is pretty extraordinary for a company that big,” she said. “I think Lexington should draw some confidence from that type of investment.”