InsideLouisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week we take a look at the business of Butchertown.

Butchertown is one of Louisville's oldest neighborhoods dating back to 1796.

Its name, of course, comes from the many butcher shops and stockyards that arrived when many German immigrant families settled here.

Those businesses left a long time ago, as did many of the neighborhood's residents.

But today, the neighborhood is seeing a resurgence in its small business community going back to its roots.

But there's been a lot of history between then and now.

We take a closer look at how Butchertown came to be in this story from KET.

Kentucky Life.

>> Well, you know, if you look at the look at the facts and in my opinion, I think Butchertown is Louisville's oldest intact urban neighborhood.

It dates back to the early development would be in the 1790s, but really into the early part of the 19th century.

So slowly, as Louisville grew and expanded, not only southward and westward, it expanded eastward.

[MUSIC] And that's where Butchertown, which wasn't called Butchertown yet.

And it was early days.

It developed.

>> People moved from downtown Louisville, up the Ohio River into Butchertown.

In the 1830s, 40s solidly in the 1850s.

There's an 1858 map that clearly has written on it, Butchertown as a neighborhood of Louisville.

[MUSIC] >> As Louisville developed, slaughterhouses weren't allowed right in the core city.

And so even though butchertown that neighborhood became part of Louisville, it was annexed by Louisville, it was still allowed to have businesses like slaughterhouses and butcher shops and the slaughterhouses, given what they created in the way of mess and dead animals and all that.

They wanted that in the smell.

They wanted that out of the city.

And so as it developed to the east in 1834, the bourbon stockyards were founded and Beargrass Creek flowed right through that area.

[MUSIC] And it was a very good dumping place for all those remnants of animals and what have you, because they didn't want that being right downtown.

>> You had the slaughterhouses, you had the stockyards, and then you had all these people that were taking the byproducts and making and manufacturing stuff to sell.

So we became a viable commercial center.

>> Well, the landmarks in the in the neighborhood include some old industries.

I'm thinking of where Hadley Pottery used to be.

That industrial building dates to the 1850s.

In fact, it is said that that's the first industrial building that was electrified in Louisville.

It is said that Thomas Edison, when he was working as a telegraph, telegraph operator in downtown, that he rented a house there.

[MUSIC] He certainly rented a house.

And we hope that that's the house that he rented when he was a telegraph operator in 1866 in Louisville, before he became internationally famous.

>> And then you have the Heigold House.

Christian Heigold was a was a German immigrant.

And when he built his house in the 1850s, he kept kind of improving on it with the facade in which he he cut stone into like sculptures of the bust of James Buchanan.

And he had George Washington carved into it.

And the Heigold house was was there in Butchertown the point Butchertown and the 37 flood that was so devastating.

The Heigold house actually survived.

And there it stood.

And eventually it was raised.

But the facade was saved because it was so unique and so different.

>> Butchertown was significant, especially the point, especially the point was constantly vulnerable to flood.

And in the 1930s, that flood Butchertown that remains, that survives out on the point.

It's almost significantly all green space.

>> But the 37 flood really kind of stunted.

I'd say the the vitality and growth of the neighborhood.

And because of that ever present danger of the flooding, when the Corps of Engineers ran the flood wall by the river, they also ran it right through Butchertown.

I mean, if you go over, I'll say like Quincy Street there in Butchertown, the floodwall runs right down the middle of the street.

>> I think that Butchertown is truly a Louisville centric neighborhood.

[MUSIC] The architecture is old school.

It's great.

It has been preserved for the most part, which has been fantastic.

[MUSIC] >> If you work downtown, if you're involved in downtown, if you want to go to a baseball game, if you want to go to a sports or a concert venue, if you want to enjoy the waterfront park, if you want to go to the Waterfront Botanical Gardens, all of that is literally within walking distance.

[MUSIC] All of that is literally in all conditions.

So why butchertown for residents?

It is clearly convenient to all kinds of amenities as to why visitors would go there.

It is the story and it's the presence of historical structures.

[MUSIC] And so you have both story and presence in the form of a pedestrian, accessible neighborhood.

>> Developer.

Andy Blieden you saw there in that story, and he has been a visionary when it comes to Butchertown.

In fact, a lot of people call you the mayor of Butchertown.

Is that right?

>> That's correct.

That is something that has been bestowed upon me.

I could not get elected dog catcher.

I don't think so.

That's something.

It's really funny.

You know, you get these kind of nicknames.

But I do love Butchertown and I, I do I've been there a long time and I'm a, you know, I love seeing people and I love talking to people.

And yeah, it's been really fun.

>> Well, it has been a long time.

And going back to the beginning, we heard a lot about the really interesting history of Butchertown.

A, but B that it it had such a downfall and a lot of families left, businesses left.

And, and then now it's having this type of resurgence.

So when you got involved, just tell us about your background and what drew you to the Butchertown neighborhood.

>> Right.

Well, I am born and bred in Louisville, so I grew up in Louisville all the time.

There used to be some restaurants in Butchertown that we would go to and.

So growing up, knowing that that neighborhood was there, and I always had an affinity for Butchertown.

I just always loved Butchertown, you know, it was a connecting neighborhood.

And, and so my, you know, my background is.

You know, really in Louisville and I'm a Louisville guy and always have been.

And so we were my family's in real estate development.

So I grew up with my dad, you know, being in the business and my brother being in the business.

And at one point, you know, my dad said, hey, do you want to come work for the family business?

And I said, are you going to tell me what to do?

And he said, yeah, I own the business.

I'm going to tell you what to do.

And I said, hey, man, you've been telling me what to do for 21 years, you know?

And he said, good.

Your mom made me ask, you know, but he was always a super close advisor and just a brilliant guy and a great salesman.

And the family just has a deep love of Louisville.

And that's like, really in my DNA.

And so I never wanted to go anywhere else.

And Butchertown has this fabric of buildings that are really architecturally interesting and really well built and a lot of craftsmanship.

So what I try to do is this adaptive reuse and really it's recycling, you know, it's getting these buildings and putting them back into service.

And, you know, a lot of the buildings were in gross disrepair in Butchertown just because the only industry really that was left were the slaughterhouses.

So and we had, when I was a kid, you know, there was like ten slaughterhouses from where, like fishers was on River Road to Butchertown and in between.

And so when I started doing my development, there were really like two left.

And so when I was looking at the Butchertown market building, and this was like in 1997, I called up my dad and I said, hey, I found this building because I would always run stuff by him.

And he said, well, tell me about the building.

And I said, well, it's 85,000ft S. And he's like, how's the air conditioning?

And I said, it doesn't have any air conditioning.

And he said, how's the parking?

And I said, it has eight parking spots.

And he says, anything else?

And I said, yeah, it's across the street from a pig slaughterhouse.

>> What about the smell?

Yeah.

>> He said, Andy, have you already bought it?

And I said, yeah.

And he said, I love it.

Really?

Yeah.

Because it was like it, you know, the die had already been sort of cast.

So he was always a big supporter.

And you know, I really so that was really that was a 1997.

And that was really the beginning of sort of our investment in the neighborhood.

And now I think we have 25 properties.

And.

And what we've tried to do is just really focus on the area, because I can manage the real estate, if I can walk to it.

So that that's a, you know, that's a big part of it.

>> Yeah.

And well, and that's one of the things that we just heard from Tom Owen too, saying that, you know, this is such a pedestrian friendly neighborhood.

Those are hard to find these days.

And being in a place where you could walk to Waterfront Park and walk to the stadium and walk to all of these places.

Was that part of it too, for you?

>> You know, it's really funny because one of the most important things that happened is something I had absolutely no control over, which is a stadium.

>> Right.

>> And so, you know, I will tell people, hey, I have this secret to real estate success.

Have somebody build a $77 million stadium right next to where you are.

>> Sure.

You know.

Yeah.

>> But and I'm so glad they put the stadium there because it really activated the area and it's been really positive.

And we get a lot of people, we get a lot of businesses there because they can walk to the entertainment stuff and they can walk to the stadium.

And so what we're trying to do is on game day, you know, build an experience where people can spill out and go into our restaurants and our bars and, you know, go and have a good time.

>> And when the stadium was built, though, this entertainment district was proposed to go around it, which has not come to fruition yet.

So what what's your take on that?

I know a lot of people are frustrated that that's not there yet.

>> Yeah, real estate's really hard.

>> Yeah.

>> It is really hard.

I mean, it just is.

And it's hard to find the right developers.

And it's it's hard to find the right project that land around the stadium is critically important and it has to be developed correctly.

So it's just there are hurdles to getting stuff done.

And real estate's super slow, you know, and that's what I've seen.

So the good news about the stadium and stuff and the owners of the real estate is there are local people.

So it's people that have vested interests.

It's not people from out of town.

And so I think that makes it really important.

And I think there are 48 owners and a lot of, you know, different people and different perspectives and stuff, and a lot of really thoughtful people that, again, love Louisville.

Yeah.

Which is critically important, but it's gone slow and it's been frustrating.

>> Yeah, I'm sure, but it is sort of a slow snowball effect.

You know, as you you've seen when you purchased and created Butchertown market.

>> It was like a snowball in summer.

That's what it was.

>> Well, I mean, it has taken some time, but if that had not happened, you know, the butcher block area probably could not have happened.

So tell I love how you described the Butchertown market versus the butcher block.

So explain to people what the what it is.

>> So we did this commercial development in Butchertown market where we had worked the metal retail store and Moss Hill and bourbon barrel foods and different retailers that came in that were a lot of them local brought their stuff on consignment and, you know, unique shopping experience in an old seed warehouse and sort of valuing the real estate.

You know, a lot of the arches were concrete blocked in, and we activated those and we opened up all the openings and it was built before electricity.

So there's tons of windows because they needed the sunlight.

So it's very beautiful, you know, Italianate, it's an Italianate, you know, brick masonry building.

And what I bought it for and what it would cost to replicate is like pennies on the dollar.

>> Yeah.

>> But you have to be able to sustain it.

So, so the Butchertown market became sort of our mall and we put people in there that sold their stuff at the retail store, but made it there.

So there was enough space for them to actually have like a boutique manufacturing operation.

We could say like Moss Hill made their bourbon barrel foods is made there.

All the stuff is made on site.

So that's very local.

And we've had people from all around the country and all around the world come in and they always, you know, it's an interesting experience.

>> And it's so unique to Louisville.

And as you mentioned, the stadium being there, that brings a lot of national international visitors to see what Louisville and what Kentucky's all about.

>> And it's very Louisville centric.

And so I had a guy on Butcher Block.

There was a guy, Bruce McCann, who bought these buildings.

He's a jet mechanic for UPS, and he like, does real estate on the side.

And he loves Butchertown and he's kind of a visionary.

And he came to me when he bought him because he said, hey, I know you're an expert on Butchertown.

What do you think about this?

And I met with him and he's a lovely guy, and he was just talking about, how do I develop these buildings?

And after we met, I talked to my CFO, Jack Mathis, at the time, and I said, oh, I am so glad this is not me.

This is such a hard project.

>> Yeah.

>> This poor guy, you know, and but it's great strategy and it's just it takes a lot.

>> It's not easy money.

>> It takes a lot of time.

It takes a lot of expertise to be able to turn, you know, sort of, you know, a sow's ear until a silk purse.

>> Right, right.

>> So so then about a year later, he said, I want to sell this to you and have you develop it.

And I'm like, well, you'd make more money if you split it up.

Right?

And he said, no, that's not what I want.

I want to see it develop.

So he, he really was the impetus of doing it.

And he gave me a really aggressive deal to buy it.

And, and then we took these buildings and they could become small headquarters for businesses that needed 1000ft S or 2000ft S. And all local.

These buildings are amazing.

And they're built to fit into these little pockets.

And the craftsmanship is really good.

So I just love it, you know?

And then we have these 12 buildings and they have a shared courtyard.

So our next thing is to really activate the courtyard, have some live music, do some lighting back there on the nice summer nights.

And it's sort of like an oasis that's hidden.

Yeah.

That people don't see.

That's important for the uniqueness of Louisville.

Yeah.

You know, it's like you can only go to this place in Louisville.

>> Sure, sure.

>> And it's kind of wacky.

>> It's unique.

Yeah.

It has character.

Yeah for sure.

Well, we do have to talk about the elephant or the pig in the room is the smell of Butchertown.

Yeah.

>> I smell money.

>> Well, I do wonder it has it has gotten better.

Yes, over the years.

And that has a lot to do with your advocacy for that and the neighborhood and the residents.

Yeah.

But what you know, where does that stand and what do you what do you tell people who want to, you know, maybe put their business there, but have some reservations?

>> Well, I mean, a couple things.

You know, it's not called Rosetown.

It's called Butchertown.

Okay, on purpose.

So it's, you know, it was, it was, it was butchertown first.

And I think there's been more hype about the smell, but it definitely is there.

And like anything else, you know, I've been there since 97.

So I really it's hard.

I mean, some days, you know, I smell it or whatever.

JBS has been a good partner.

You know, they employ 1200 people.

There's a lot of first and second wave immigrants that work there.

So I think it's critically important to have that.

It's good jobs.

They're well paying, you know, health care, nice, nice people.

I think they have 38 different countries represented in the languages they speak.

Wow.

So I always think about that, you know, this is one of the biggest employers in Louisville.

Yeah.

And you know, they were there when I moved in.

>> Yeah.

>> It's not vice versa.

Well, it's, it's like anything else.

It's it, there were a lot less noses in 1997.

And, but, you know, it's my feeling that they want to be a good neighbor and they've invested in the neighborhood.

And if, if it is odiferous, I call them and I say, you guys are rocking today and they get it taken care of for the most part.

And it's just going to continue like that.

And as long as they're there, they're going to be a sensitive partner.

And, you know, they want to be held accountable.

And but that's, that's basically it.

You know, it's they're an important neighbor and an important partner.

And it's where we get the name of the neighborhood.

>> That's right.

Makes it unique for sure.

Yeah.

So what is your vision for this area long term?

What do you want to see there in ten, 20, even more years?

>> I want to see I want to see it continue to be uniquely Louisville.

I, I want to see it continue to be something experiential that you can only get in Louisville.

So I want more entertainment, I want music, I want dancing, I want interesting rehabs, interesting adaptive reuse, bringing these buildings, these beautiful masonry buildings back to what they originally were and then utilizing them for people to enjoy themselves.

You know, one of the greatest things that can happen as a real estate developer is to go into something that is really run down, fix it up, find a great tenant.

And then like it happened with MoonDog and it happened with chicas, the taco place where it was, it was engrossed disrepair.

And then on opening night, we have 100 people, you know, bumping and thumping and eating and having, drinking and having fun.

And, and it's really an exciting feeling for a developer to say, hey, you know, we kind of did this out of nothing and creating jobs, you know, local jobs for really nice people.

>> Yeah.

Well, we, we did have a chance to go and check out some of those businesses at the butcher block.

And now you can see how they are bringing that neighborhood back to life.

>> Me and my husband, we were ready to start a new, new project for ourselves.

I'm Mexican, so it was only right for me to step into to the whole taco scene.

[MUSIC] This area.

Andy is actually our past landlord at our other location at Shahar.

So when we were ready for a new project, we kind of mentioned it to him and he was like, you guys have to check out this space.

I would love for you guys to be here.

And that's how we ended up here.

[MUSIC] If you know him, he's a super radical guy that just he loves crazy ideas like this.

So talking to him and he not only have we just been, you know, a part of the business, but we've created really good friends with him now.

And anytime we tell him our ideas or anything, he's not a guy to like shoot us down or any of any of that stuff.

He's always like, yeah, let's do this.

We have to put this, let's, let's, you know, get stuff going and stuff.

So he's really motivated us to do to continue growing and stuff.

So I think I want to say he's our biggest inspiration.

[MUSIC] >> That's Brenda.

She owns dairy Del.

>> The thing I love about what you've done and what all the business leaders and Butchertown have done, is we share the vision, and the vision is tolerance, and the vision is loving each other, and the vision is inclusiveness.

[MUSIC] And it's all about the experience.

And it's for everybody to enjoy.

>> You have everything for everyone in this little area, whether you want for you want, you know, a cocktail, Vietnamese style, if you want Mexican, if you want hot dogs, if you want, you know, cheese and mimosas or hats or anything like that, you know, there's a little bit of everyone to kind of get together, share the patio and just enough for everyone.

So our biggest scare going into it was like, oh my God, what if we don't get people through the door, you know?

But being in this area, being in this community, like it just immediately we got brought in with welcome arms Moondog next door, the charcuterie place next door.

Everybody was just super welcoming already telling their own guests like, hey, come check them out.

They're new, you know?

So it has helped drastically being here.

[MUSIC] We're always looking out for each other.

We're sending each other our own clientele, like, hey, have you tried out them?

Have you tried out, you know, always looking out for each other?

So I think like that way, we've all kind of helped each other out in that sense.

>> There's a little bit of everything to be found on this block, but no two concepts are the same or doing the same thing in any way.

So it's all very cohesive.

And I think it's such a such a beautiful thing to have like a little bit of everything here where it feels more of a community than a competition in any way.

I think we have a really fantastic bar program that highlights Vietnamese, Southeast Asian flavors.

So it's one of those things where there's so much diversity in this block and so much talent on this block, where I do believe that's the thing that makes us stand out.

And you don't expect a craft cocktail program in this space.

So like when you come into this space, you have a really fun bar program to come with the food that we offer here.

And then everywhere around us too, is also just doing really fantastic stuff as well.

Because everything's in such close proximity, you can really get around this block and do anything you need in a single night within a single block to.

[MUSIC] It's very close to where the very bustling area of town is like nulu, and everything is really fantastic.

And just being like one, one step removed away from it and having all the options that we have that you would probably find in Nulu as well.

It's really nice to kind of almost be like kind of a hidden gem in the city right now.

[MUSIC] We all have the same goal.

In the end, it's like we want to have this block become busier.

We want everyone to come have fun on this block and everything, and it's really nice to kind of just get to know and get to be a part of this community.

[MUSIC] >> You can watch and share this episode anytime.

You can find it online at ket.org/insidelouisville, and give us a follow on social media to learn more about the Butchertown neighborhood and other neighborhoods in Louisville, too.

You can find us on Instagram at KEN LOU.

Thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.