Completed $12M NuLu project reshapes busy Louisville business district for pedestrians

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced Tuesday the completion of the $12 million NuLu Streetscape project, a plan originally conceived 16 years ago to turn the city's busiest new business district into a friendlier pedestrian corridor.

For more than a year, cones and barricades lined East Market Street as part of a project aimed at improving sidewalks, bike lanes, traffic flow and parking. The project — which ran from Brook Street to Baxter Avenue — began in the summer of 2024.

"It was just a pain getting through it," said Stacey McGuffin, who manages Louabull, a T-shirt and gift gallery in NuLu.

McGuffin, and other businesses in the 1-mile stretch of the corridor where crews were working, struggled through the length of the project. Construction work limited foot traffic, which meant fewer customers and less business.

"We really are appreciative for the cooperation and we hope that it pays off in spades in terms of business and enhanced activity on the streets and in every one of these great local businesses that calls NuLu home," Mayor Craig Greenberg said while announcing the completion of the project Tuesday.

Despite the challenges at hand with ongoing construction for more than a year, many business owners are thankful it's complete and expect the upgrades to bring more people to a vibrant neighborhood.

"In the end, overall, I think it's a positive thing," McGuffin said.

Over the last two decades, as the NuLu area has become a restaurant, tourist and shopping hub, the stretch of East Market Street between 1st Street and its termination at the Home of the Innocents remained largely the same. Six lanes of traffic and parking, most of them pointing east, made the corridor conducive for vehicles plowing through but imposing for pedestrians.

"The NuLu Business Association is honored to join the Mayor in announcing the completion of this $12-million streetscape initiative — a transformative investment more than 12 years in the making," Adam Caperton, a NuLu business owner and vice president of the NuLu Business Association, said in a news release. "This project represents a shared commitment to creating a safer, more accessible, and more inviting district for residents, businesses, and visitors alike. With expanded sidewalks, improved crossings, and thoughtfully designed tree-lined streets, the new streetscape enhances both the character and connectivity of NuLu. We look forward to welcoming local neighbors and guests from across the region to experience the vibrant energy and economic vitality that define our community."

The project was originally conceived in 2010 and was the talk of the neighborhood in 2013-14 as renderings were shared and design plans were finalized. But the work never happened. Although East Market Street is a state road, Kentucky transportation dollars that were budgeted for the streetscape never actually came through, prompting Louisville Metro officials to find another way to pay for it.

In 2020, Metro government instead set aside $7.2 million in federal transportation block grant money for the project through the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, an agency overseen by county-level officials in greater Louisville and southern Indiana.

Metro taxpayers paid another $1.6 million, while the final $1.5 million for the project was allocated years ago as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project, which was completed in 2016.

"The end result is a NuLu that's safer and more inviting for pedestrians, business owners, cyclists and drivers alike, throughout the process, and let me just say to all the business owners here in NuLu: Thank you very much for your patience," Greenberg said.

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