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Walker Properties works to revamp a burgeoning business district along Walton and National avenues
Businesses are starting to settle into the first phase of the Kenwick area adaptive reuse project currently under development by Walker Properties, an endeavor that will eventually encompass Walton, National and North Ashland avenues. The first phase consists of the Walton Avenue side of the redevelopment (246-264 Walton Ave.), and by the end of the summer, the largest structure of that phase will be home to at least five new tenants.
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With a line-up that includes a diverse blend of retail, office space, a photography studio and an exercise studio, occupancy is nearly full at 250 Walton Ave., the former location of Perry Lumber Company that more recently housed Tuska Studios and Gold Shield Limousine. The 34,000 square foot warehouse space – which has retained many of its original industrial design elements – was remodeled under the direction of Walker Properties owners Greg and Chad Walker, with a unique design-build contract for each unit that takes into account the distinct input of each client regarding his or her space.
“It was built however we needed it to work for us,” Jeremy Rice, co-owner of the interior and floral design shop House, said of their new 3,000-square-foot space. The business relocated from a space just over half that size on Delaware Avenue in early May.
“Delaware (Avenue) was really good to us, and we had a lot of traffic over there that we never thought we’d have,” Rice added. “But we just kept growing and growing and growing, and the biggest thing we needed was storage.”
Featuring a glass sliding garage door at the entrance, tall ceilings, exposed air ducts and polished cement flooring, House’s new space provides an intriguing industrial backdrop for the shop’s distressed vintage furnishings and rustic and classic decor items. Owners Rice, Stuart Hurt and Dwayne Anderson have incorporated wood pallets as shelving to display some items; the chirping of the shop’s four pet finches (Rose, Sophia, Blanche and Dorothy), who live in a large birdcage in the back, echo throughout the industrial space, which also provides plenty of room in the back for House’s growing floral arranging business.
House’s new neighbors include Personal Best, a boutique exercise studio that offers yoga, Pilates, kettleball classes and personal training; Dapple Companies, which houses both a product branding agency (Dapple Advertising) and a bloodstock agency (Dapple Bloodstock); and State Beauty Supplies, a salon supply center and educational facility. Around back, construction is underway for Shaun Ring Photography Studio. And while on the surface, it might seem a stretch to envision how these divergent businesses might complement each other, the tenants have reported a strong sense of community already.
“Everyone’s just trying to help each other out,” added Angela Barnhill, owner of the personal training studio Personal Best, which was formerly located above Heins Florist on Winchester Road. She said the relationships developing between the tenants make the new development feel more like a neighborhood than a strip mall. “That’s the benefit that you get when you’re not in an overly large city – you recognize your neighbors, and you know who’s next door to you, and you try to help each other out.”
Barnhill and the owners of House have discussed possible future collaborations – both businesses cater to bridal clients, with Personal Best offering bridal fitness packages and House specializing in wedding flowers. And Dapple Bloodstock clients relations manager Lora Brown pointed out that Dapple’s Thoroughbred clientele could potentially become valued patrons of House.
Brown and Sherry Akers, owner of Dapple Advertising, said that the companies are enjoying their new space, which includes a large, open office space conducive to creative collaboration – ideal for the employees of Dapple Advertising – as well as more private offices, a conference room and a warehouse space suited for storing the advertising company’s promotional materials. Brown added that the street-level visibility of Dapple, which will improve once they put their sign into place, is a first for the company, which was most recently located on the second floor of Goodwin Plaza. Plus, the location is convenient for the employees, many of whom live in Chevy Chase. “We’re 40502-ers,” Akers said.
Interestingly, Dapple Bloodstock’s Lora Hall went to school with Brandl Skirvin, who owns State Beauty Supply, which is located next door; Skirvin is longtime friends with the owners of House, who are also longtime friends with Shaun Ring, whose photography studio is slated to move into the complex later this month.
“It’s kind of developing into a little neighborhood,” Akers said.
Also part of the initial phase of this project is the historic building at 264 Walton Ave., which originally served the headquarters for John G. Epping Bottling Works, and later as the home for Tucker Marble &Tile. That building is being arranged to become a market, bakery, bar and restaurant under the ownership of Krim Boughalem and Andrea Sims, owners of the downtown bistro Table 310, with a tentative fall finish date for the construction.
This phase is the smallest part of Walker Properties’ project, which will breathe new life into existing buildings along National and North Ashland avenues as well. Greg Walker said the company has been in talks with potential clients for phase two of the project, which will focus on National Avenue and will include streetscape improvements and a new crosswalk at Ashland and National. In May, a large scale public art garden, featuring pieces by recent University of Kentucky MFA candidate Nathan Hatch, was installed at the corner of those two streets.
“One thing that’s interesting with this project is there’s a lot of different creative businesses that came down to look at [phase one of the project], and even though they didn’t end up leasing from us, we still built a relationship with those people,” Walker said. “We appreciate everybody who came down and looked at the project. They’re all very interesting and creative type businesses.
“With this phase that’s coming up, it’s going to involve a large building package, it’s going to involve pedestrian-scale lighting, it’s going to involve pedestrian-scale park benches and things like that. It’s going to have a new crosswalk put in at Ashland and National. That’s going to be the most dramatic changes, and it’s going to be the most involved of all of them.”