New home for LVAA: Portland warehouse

• The warehouse with 33,000 square feet over two stories is adjacent to Tim Faulkner Gallery.
• The purchase comes more than two years after LVAA left its home at the Water Tower.
• Fund for the Arts CEO Christen Boone said LVAA can strongly influence Portland's development.

The 105-year-old Louisville Visual Art Association bought a building in the Portland neighborhood's warehouse district Friday for $460,000 with plans to launch a capital campaign by June 1 for renovations to its new home.

"The idea is to make it an art-centric location," said LVAA executive director Shannon Westerman. "Other arts nonprofits could rent space from us there, and there's plenty of room for artists' studios, which there is need for in this town."

Westerman said those are just some of the ideas the organization is exploring for the 33,000 square feet of space in the two-story building at 1536 Lytle St., adjacent to Tim Faulkner Gallery.

RELATED | Against the Grain taps Portland production site

"It will be the more the merrier," said gallery owner Tim Faulkner, of LVAA moving just behind his gallery, which moved to Portland nearly a year ago from the Butchertown neighborhood. "It will bring more recognition to this warehouse district here and show that there is positive, usable space for the arts community."

Some artists have even established studios in other warehouses in the past decade, including Letitia Quesenberry, who has worked in a nearby warehouse for the past three years.

"It's such a great spot," she said. "I'm just excited to see what happens."

The planning process for the space is slated to happen over the next year with specific plans revealed in phases, according to Westerman and LVAA board president Bob Hallenberg. Westerman estimated that LVAA, which now has administrative offices, a gallery and educational space in three different locations, will likely move in during the summer of 2016. A goal for the capital campaign will be announced later.

"The easy part is acquiring the building," said Hallenberg, adding that LVAA did not have to borrow any money for the purchase.

Westerman said the purchase price for the building was covered by two donors who requested anonymity.

LVAA purchased the building from a group that included developer Gill Holland and George Parker Jr. That group had purchased the building for the Louisville Film Society, which had plans to fill the building with a multi-screen movie theater along with a cafe, office space and a beer garden. Holland is an LFS board member, and Parker is the organization's former executive director.

"At the end of the day, we were just too young as an organization to raise the needed funds," Parker said.

In recent years, Holland has jump-started an effort to raise about $24 million to revitalize the Portland neighborhood, where the median household income was $22,999, according to 2011 Census data, and Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator data show that 1 in 10 Portland homes is vacant. He also had launched a design project for architects to create designs for the shotgun houses that are ubiquitous in the neighborhood.

"It's crucially key to have nonprofits involved in the Portland revitalization plan," Holland said.

Westerman said Parker called him late last year about selling the building to LVAA. And he said he hopes LFS could have a future in the building. Both have had discussions about the younger organization renting space from LVAA.

The purchase comes more than two years after LVVA had to abandon its home at the Water Tower on Zorn Avenue after the Louisville Water Co., which owns the structure, announced in July 2011 that it planned to install the WaterWorks Museum in the space. After LVAA left the building in late 2012, it opened a new gallery called PUBLIC the following January on Main Street and created an education studio for its art classes for children and adults at the Clifton Center on Payne Street.

"Working from multiple locations has been a struggle, but we've been resilient," said board member Steve Wilson, a partner attorney at Bingham Greenebaum Doll and chair of the LVAA facility committee.

In the intervening year, the loss of the Water Tower location has impacted the organization's budget, said Hallenberg, who estimated that LVAA earned between $50,000 and $60,000 in revenue annually by renting out the space for special events.

"Having this new home will give us an opportunity to take control of our own narrative and be visionaries," Wilson added.

Westerman said LVAA had looked at two buildings in the NuLu district that includes East Market Street. However, LVAA was outbid by competitors after making offers. Those spaces, he said, weren't nearly as large as the warehouse in Portland and didn't have parking space, which the warehouse has.

Other LVAA leaders said they are happy to be not only in a large space but also in one that is in close proximity to downtown, I-71 and many of the children the organization serves in its Children's Fine Art Classes program. That program works in schools throughout the region, including many Jefferson County Public Schools, by offering free art classes to children, regardless of their families' financial background, who demonstrate high abilities in visual arts.

Wilma Bethel, an LVAA board member and CFAC art teacher for 40 years, said the extra space in the building will help the organization improve its programs.

"We'll be able to do everything in one spot," she said. "I think that operating in three different locations takes a toll on the administration."

Leaders also pointed out that LVAA already works in spaces throughout the community not only via its CFAC program but also its Open Doors Community Outreach Program that provides art-making experiences to under-served populations, including at-risk youth, refugees and immigrants, senior citizens and domestic abuse survivors.

While the Louisville Fund for the Arts will not be involved in the capital campaign, Fund CEO Christen Boone said she is encouraged by the even stronger role that LVAA can play in community development by being located west of downtown.

"I look forward to supporting them and making connections like this in other parts of the community where there are at-risk and distressed neighborhoods," she said.

Hallenberg said LVAA is now planning a pre-capital campaign cocktail party to show people the building. He said he and other leaders expect to have renderings from architects and other planning details by June 1.

Reporter Elizabeth Kramer can be reached at (502) 582-4682. Follow her on Twitter at @arts_bureau.