When word started spreading earlier in the year that developers had set their eyes on transforming the industrial carbuncle on Manchester Street into an authentic, livable arts and entertainment district, imaginations and questions soared - Who is going to live there? Where is Manchester Street? Isn't that where they tow your car?
Anchored between two historic properties - the Old Tarr Distillery to the east, the James E. Pepper Distillery to the west - and sharing a creek bed with the Town Branch of Elkhorn Creek to the south, The Distillery District, as it is being called in reference to Lexington's spirited heritage, upon completion, could be a veritable bohemia where artists, and anybody else, live and work among galleries, cafes, lounges, music venues and other commercial possibilities.
With a long string of coincidences as colossal as full planetary alignment, the planning and timing of The Distillery District might appear as if it was written in the stars. Its location is adjacent to the planned Newtown Pike extension, which will make for an impressive vista to the west; the Town Branch Trail, a planned and lauded shared-use greenway trail, will wind through the corridor; the city applied for new tax increment financing (TIF) when weighing its options for replacing Rupp Arena, a structure perched at the head of Manchester Street, which would loosen the financial burden of developers in the district if accepted.
The Distillery District would also link downtown Lexington to one of the most scenic drives in Kentucky, if not the country - Old Frankfort Pike - without a ramshackled intermission.
So back in February when the idea was announced, there were broad expectations and aspirations - to put it lightly. In the area of land development and speculation, there's a lot of talk, but a trip to Manchester Street already reveals that the bona fide beginnings of a vibrant arts and entertainment district are starting to reverberate even louder than the trucks that cruise the strip.
"We have a lot of folks asking when things are going to be done, and that's an open-ended question," said Barry McNees, the managing partner of Manchester Development, LLC. "There are plenty of folks who aren't aware that we're trying to seek them out, and we're sounding the bullhorn saying, "If you've got a creative concept, if you're an artist who's looking for an interesting space, we want to talk to you.' Because we want to be creative, and we want to find folks who want to be part of something that's beginning to blossom.
Already