LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Owners and developers of Louisville’s “Whiskey Row” are in the process of re-planning a development in several buildings gutted by a July fire.
The buildings on West Main Street were partially destroyed in early July after investigators say a fire began accidentally. Workers were trying to renovate the buildings using acetylene torches and grinders to remove old cast iron piping, electrical conduits and sprinkler pipes.
When the fire hit, developers say the future of the buildings looked bleak.
“I think anyone that witnessed the fire or saw the video said 'is there going to be anything left?'” said Ron Carmicle, a representative of the ownership group.
But once workers were able to get inside the building, they were pleasantly surprised.
"When we got into the building we found that a significant amount of the floor was here,” Carmicle said. “The cast iron columns, the brick, the timber. There was really a lot to work with here.”
“When you get down and start really looking at the rest of the building you start to see what’s really left,” said co-developer Valle Jones.
Now, developers say the area will soon have at least four restaurants, one level of office space and two levels of apartments.
“We want to keep and maintain a lot of the history involved in this building,” Carmicle said.
It is expected to be open sometime in the summer of 2017.
“It will make the victory that much sweeter,” Jones said. “Not only have these buildings withstood wind and flood and rain but now fire”
For now, developers say the goal is to first clear the debris scattered throughout the building. Then, it will be about stabilizing the fronts of the buildings and essentially building from the ground up.
“Every day we keep finding things here that we thought we might have lost after the fire,” Carmicle said.
“In my heart I said ‘if you will stand up, we will bring you back,’” Jones said. “And they did.”
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