Louisville developer plans expansion of NuLu Marketplace with restaurants, office space on Main Street

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nearly three years ago, NuLu Marketplace opened between Market and Main streets in Louisville, a hidden courtyard surrounded by bars, restaurants and shops. Now, a developer plans to expand the project and build a 66,000-square-foot office and entertainment complex on a vacant lot along Main Street.

Mo Deljoo, the developer of NuLu Marketplace, purchased the lot at Main and Shelby streets two years ago for $2.3 million. It's less than 1 acre in total, and he's since been offered nearly $5 million for it. Instead, Deljoo is moving forward with Phase 2 of the project, to be called NuLu Marketplace North.

"When this vacant land became available, we knew we that we had to have control of this land and look at the future and how we're going to grow that," he said Tuesday. "We thought 'Why don't we just continue what we started?' We got success with it, and that is what the community really likes."

Deljoo didn't want to add to NuLu's density with a multi-story hotel. Instead, NuLu Marketplace North it will be a three-story, mixed-use building that will have surface parking, retail and restaurants on the ground level, along with a few offices and an Airbnb feel for larger groups to stay together.

"At the beginning everybody had doubts about if a new concept like this would make it," Deljoo said. "And we have been fortunate enough the neighborhood really liked the idea, and it's been a very successful project so far."

What's been a decade-long development boom in the neighborhood east of downtown Louisville continues to surge. Earlier this year, Winebrenner Capital Management bought a square block of property — as well as three nearby parcels — owned by the Plumbers Supply Co. with no definitive plans but an intention to "add to the exciting transformation of NuLu."

And in 2022, Rabbit Hole Spirits spent $10.6 million to purchase the rest of the block it currently occupies bounded by Jefferson, Clay and Shelby streets and Nanny Goat Strut, Jefferson County property records show. By the end of 2024, they plan to begin work on transforming the entire block south of Market Street with office, retail and hospitality space.

Deljoo said the goal is to open NuLu Marketplace North in early 2026.

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