Construction begins to turn Grocers Ice building into luxury apartments

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Grocers Ice building is set to become 77 luxury one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Today, the building on East Main and Hancock Streets has broken windows and graffiti on the walls. It’s overgrown with weeds and even trees growing in the cracks in the walls.

“Probably 25% of the building had been taken over by Mother Nature,” said Clayton Pace, director of construction and development for Denton Floyd.

The Grocers Ice building was built more than 100 years ago, and it's been empty for about a decade.

“They used to produce ice her,e and then they would store it," Pace said.

The complex will have a grand courtyard and rooftop gardens with a kitchen. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it will be returned to its original four-story height and its original facade.

“We're required to keep the facade all the same,” Pace said.

IMAGES | Site of the future Grocers Ice Luxury Apartments downtown

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet agreed to sell the building and two other properties it bought as part of preservation efforts under the Ohio River Bridges Project. Denton Floyd Real Estate Group was the high bidder at $400,000.

“It has a lot of aesthetics,” Pace said. “It has a lot of character”

The apartments are scheduled to open in April.