The old Leather Company

[shmcleod09]

Now that the leather company is sadly gone, I am wondering what will
take it's place. If nothing yet, I have a suggestion that I think
would be great. Something like a Permanent Farmer's Market where all
the products sold are from Kentucky. It would be a local grocery store
supporting Kentucky Farmers and small independent businesses. If there
is already something in that place, maybe another location would work.
But in this way the Farmer's Market would be available more often so
the Farmer's would make more sales. We could sell canned goods, honey,
and other homemade goods from Kentuckians interested in selling. We
could also sell items in bulk, with the customer providing his or her
own jar/tupperware. Also, the harm that is done to the environment by
shipping things such as banana's from killer plantations in Haiti
would be avoided. This is just an idea, what do other people think
about it? Maybe employees could even work on a volunteer basis and be
paid with fresh groceries, just to keep most of the profit going to
the farmers.

[Becca]

Boy, this kind of thinking is right up my alley! In fact, the need for
a permanent location of Kentucky-based local foods has been circling
in a number of circles for a long time. Here are some initiatives is
this area that I know of:

- There is a new store opening (is it already opened?) in the
Lexington Center that is going to stock only Kentucky Proud products.
It's actually a retail store for of Elk Creek Vineyards, a KY produced
wine. Here's the official press release from the Lexington Center.
http://www.lexingtoncenter.com/aboutLCC/news.php#kentuckyProud

- In the small area plan for the East End there are plans for a
shared, permanent market space. It's my understanding that this is
meant to be set up as small stalls that could be owned my individual
sellars and entrepeneurs, which could be either farmers or producers
of value-added products made from KY based products, such as jams,
jellies, breads, salsas, etc. However, as far as I know, I don't know
if the funding options are nailed down, so it might just be an idea
that has community support but no actual funds yet.

- I have personally been involved in a number of conversations where
we've imagined a place like this taking shape in numerous
neighborhoods in the city (particularly the Martin Luther King
Neighborhood, the Northside Neighborhood, the William Wells Brown
Neighborhood, and even the brand new plan for the Distillery District
(Manchester St.) Again, in these situations, the funding and managing
inteties haven't yet identified themselves, but that's not to say they
won't. I, for one, seem to think that in this climate of frantic need
to stimulate job creation, a permanent market like this would really
serve as a multipurpose retail space that could allow LOTS of
individuals to sell their products. In short, it could almost be a
sort of "community retail space"

As for the location of the old Leather Company, I'm not certain what's
happening with this exact space. A year ago I had a conversation with
the business owners, and they mentioned that owner of the building was
planning to expand it and develop it vertically, including a cafe on
the 2nd floor (there's been a lot of construction on the side of
building on Woodland for over a year, and since the Leather Company
moved out, there's been a lot of work on that specific store front).
Still, I would guess that the plans might be a bit altered by the
botched development across the road of the high end condos that are
sitting half complete and empty. Does anyone know a more recent status
update of that space? Or of the owner's plans for the building that
housed the old Leather Company? Or his name and contact info? Sure
would be interesting to engage him in a discussion!

Thanks for starting this interesting thread and getting some
discussion going on this forum shmcled09. Sounds like we're of like
minds on these issues and its great to know there's more folks in our
neighborhood imagining the same possibilities!

[Becca]

Hey this is pretty cool! I got an email from the owner of the
buliding, Mark Miller, providing a lot more detail about that space.
Looks like some pretty exciting opportunities coming to our area!

Here's his note:
-----------
Hello everyone,

My name is Mark Miller (owner of Woodcraft next to Lex Furniture) and
along with my wife Deborah (Miller Fine Art) & son Jesse own the
building on the corner of Woodland and High St. The building was built
for Hughes Ice Cream, which made and served Ice Cream in this area.
Ken and Wayne have moved the Leather store to Southland Dr and are
doing well. Wayne still comes by Miller Fine Art for the Gallery Hop.

My plans are for eight high end retail stores - 4 down and 4 up. There
are 2 floors which encompass 15,000 sq ft. You don't realize the size
of the building until you go in. The first floor ceilings are 12 ft
high and the upstairs ceilings are up to 20 ft high with some
incredible sky light type areas. I have added a new stair - elevator -
lobby area on the side (Woodland st. side). There was and now
finishing up a massive amount of stripping out - gutting of years of
layers of walls, plumbing, HVAC and electrical. I have sandblasted off
layers of ugly old paint down to beautiful raw brick and ceiling beams/
roof. All new mechanicals (water/waste, electric and HVAC),insulated
roof & insulated windows will be installed. There will be 2 store
fronts that will open to High street and the new center lobby. There
will be one (1) store that will open to the parking lot on the
Woodland St. side. There will be 5 stores that will open to the common
lobby. The existing Gallery will expand back to add square footage and
access the center lobby.

There will be a High End - Local & Ky made "Fine Woodworking Gallery"

I am targeting stores that will be a complement each other, so that
the entire group of stores and Triangle area will benefit.

This project is close to my heart as well as the Woodland Park Area
residents. I will market the available spots soon and show them on
appointment.

Thanks,

Mark Miller

On Mar 19, 9:38 pm, Becca <rebeccas...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Boy, this kind of thinking is right up my alley! In fact, the need for
> a permanent location of Kentucky-based local foods has been circling
> in a number of circles for a long time. Here are some initiatives is
> this area that I know of:
>
> - There is a new store opening (is it already opened?) in the
> Lexington Center that is going to stock only Kentucky Proud products.
> It's actually a retail store for of Elk Creek Vineyards, a KY produced

> wine. Here's the official press release from the Lexington Center.http://www.lexingtoncenter.com/aboutLCC/news.php#kentuckyProud