The construction of a flashy new restaurant and craft beer spot would be welcome news in many areas of Lexington. But in July when Locals’ Craft Food and Drink is scheduled to debut in a massively reconstructed site at the corner of National and Walton avenues, it will represent only the latest in a string of high-profile upgrades near the popular Kenwick and Mentelle neighborhoods east of downtown.
Seth Boyd and Billy Oakley, restaurant veterans and friends since high school, are opening the new venture that will serve American fusion food and focus on craft beer.
“I want to do it right,” Boyd said. “We’re thinking about the next 25 years, not just getting it open as soon as we can.”
Locals’ is being developed on a small but highly visible site that also fronts Winchester Road, making it a key gateway into the burgeoning area.
And like many projects in the area, it is being developed by Walker Properties, which has taken an unusually detailed and deliberate approach as it has curated, nurtured and guided development of the area over a number of years.
“We have many projects in our portfolio, but none even remotely close to the importance of the National Avenue area,” said Greg Walker, who owns Walker Properties along with his father, Randy, and brother, Chad. “We all recognize that we are doing much more than purchasing, renovating and leasing properties. We are building a community, one which we believe could be a model for other commercial infill projects to follow. Even though profits are important, our motives go beyond the bottom line.”
The effect on the surrounding neighborhood has been striking, according to Lewis Gardner, president of the Mentelle Neighborhood Association.
“It’s all very good,” he said. “They are taking buildings, many that have fallen into disrepair, and they are fixing them up. It’s making our entire neighborhood a more livable place.”
Work is underway to transform the squat, one-story concrete block structure that most recently housed a drive-through liquor store into a modern, airy centerpiece site with outdoor seating, including on a second-story deck, and sorely needed parking spaces.
Locals’ will add to an area that has seen rapid growth in new businesses, including several Walker-led projects. It sits across from National Provisions Beer Hall, a European-style bar and restaurant, with its connected bakery and coffee shop, National Boulangerie, both operated by Table 310 owners Krim Boughalem and Andrea Sims. The neighborhood also is home to several fitness centers, antiques dealers and other businesses, all in an area once dominated by light industrial activity.
“We believe this infill redevelopment area is vital in so many ways,” Walker said. “The National Avenue project is vital to the surrounding neighborhoods, it’s vital to the small business community that has decided to occupy our buildings, and we believe the success of this project is vital to Lexington as a whole in many ways.”
Walker said the North Avenue redevelopment is in a final phase, “and here is where it gets interesting.” He said a larger project at the other end of the block from Locals’ was ready to break ground, and Walker Properties is preparing a branding initiative for the area that is expected to debut this summer.
“Many similar infill redevelopments branded their areas first and then began the redevelopment process. We made the decision a long time ago to wait until we were close to the end before we gave the area a name,” Walker said. “Since we can now see the finish line we believe the time is now to release the brand, and we intend to do that in the summer of 2015 in conjunction with our first block party.” BL