Gregory A. Hall and Sheldon S. Shafer

The Courier-Journal

The long-rumored whiskey tourism project at the heart of downtown Louisville's historic Whiskey Row block is a rumor no more.

Tax incentives for Brown-Forman Corp.'s planned Old Forester Distillery and visitors center in the 100 block of West Main Street received approval Thursday from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority.

The $30 million project by the Louisville-based maker of Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel's received approval for up to $1.3 million in incentives and could provide up to 20 jobs.

Old Forester, the brainchild of Brown-Forman founder George Garvin Brown, is the company's original brand and America's first bottled bourbon.

The company will use two historic properties it has bought — 117 and 119 W. Main — to build a distillery for Old Forester and a visitors center. The distillery will include fermentation, distilling, barrel-making, filling and dumping and bottling, allowing Brown-Forman to double the current production of its original whiskey.

The purchase price of the buildings, which collectively have about 55,000 square feet with 52 feet along Main, has not been disclosed, Brown-Forman spokeswoman Elizabeth Conway said.

The distillery will offer tours, a tasting room, exhibits, bourbon-making demonstrations and event spaces — and is expected to be the anchor of a mixed-use development on the block.

The two-year construction process could begin soon if zoning and other approvals are obtained, Conway said, with a goal of opening in fall 2016.

The Brown-Forman facility will join other tourism sites in Louisville and the region, including the nearby Evan Williams Bourbon Experience at 528 West Main, in capitalizing on the popularity of whiskey and bourbon.

"Bourbonism is real and just keeps growing in our city and our state," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. "Not only is Brown-Forman growing one of its strongest brands, it also is redeveloping two key structures in a historic block of our downtown, which will encourage more investment, more stability and more growth."

For more than 18 months, developers have been discussing the general outline of what would be at the site.

Developers previously have said the bourbon tourism facility would anchor a mixed-use development — located on five tracts on the north side of main at the middle of the block between First and Second — and have widespread benefits, including adding tax revenues to help pay debt on the nearby KFC Yum! Center.

Brown-Forman bought the two buildings from Main Street Revitalization, which includes members of the Brown family and the Brown-Forman company. Main Street Revitalization still owns three other buildings on the block. Cast-iron facades along the block have been preserved from one-time warehouses that were at the core of what once was a downtown alcohol business district known as Whiskey Row.

The new Old Forester Distillery buildings were built around 1857 and used for warehousing barrels of whiskey produced at numerous distilleries in the area. At least 19 distillers, wholesalers, and other whiskey-related businesses called that block of West Main Street home, according to Brown-Forman.

In fact, Brown-Forman owned the 117 W. Main building between 1900 and 1919, the company said, and used it as a warehouse and for offices.

"We're returning to our roots with this distillery, just another wonderful example of Brown-Forman's commitment to historic preservation and downtown development in Louisville," said Geo. Garvin Brown IV, the company's board chairman and a fifth generation descendant of the company founder.

Whiskey warehouses there backed up to Washington Street, putting them close to the major interstate highway of the time — the Ohio River.

But the Whiskey Row name extended beyond just the block that would be used by the Brown-Forman project. In fact, the first corporate offices for Brown-Forman in the 1800s were in the 600 block of West Main.

The site is expected to become part of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail distillery tourism program administered by the Kentucky Distillers' Association. The Evan Williams Bourbon Experience already is part of the trail's passport program, as is the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Shively.

"Brown-Forman is a bold leader in Kentucky Bourbon and American whiskey, and we couldn't be more excited for them and their legendary Old Forester brand," distillers' association president Eric Gregory said. "This announcement is further proof that the historic resurgence of our signature industry is real, is revolutionary and has no plans of slowing down — especially in Louisville."

The distillers' association refers to Louisville as the "Official Gateway to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail" because many of the tourists in the program use Louisville as a base for their travels.

"Louisville has quickly become the epicenter of our mellow amber nectar, from the emerging culinary scene to the fantastic bars on the Urban Bourbon Trail and the growing Whiskey Row of distilleries," Gregory said.

Besides the Evan Williams experience, Angel's Envy has a distillery planned on Main Street near Louisville Slugger Field and Michter's is renovating the Fort Nelson Building at 801 W. Main.

The Brown-Forman announcement ends months of speculation regarding part of the historic block that once was slated to be demolished.

After a previous owner, developer Todd Blue, sought to demolish buildings that he owned on the block, Main Street Revitalization bought four properties in 2011 for $4.85 million. It also received a fifth tract, valued at $1.4 million, that Blue had donated.

The city of Louisville is giving Main Street Revitalization a forgivable $1.5 million loan. For each $1 million spent, $100,000 of the loan would be forgiven.

Also, Christy Brown, the widow of Brown-Forman chairman and chief executive officer Owsley Brown II, donated $1 million to the project, which is to be matched by the city. The Metro Council has approved $500,000 of that, with city officials having pledged to find the rest.

Several investors have pledged to put any profits from Whiskey Row into a fund for local preservation.

The Main Street Revitalization group has spent several million dollars stabilizing the five buildings it owns, as well as the facades of two other structures at the east end of the block retained by Blue. The square footage of the three Main Street Revitalization buildings not in the Brown-Forman project is almost 90,000 square feet.

The Brown-Forman project would complement a development at the west end of the block that Valle Jones, her brother Stephen and architect Bill Weyland own called Whiskey Row Lofts. It includes five restaurants, 35 apartments, event space and a theater. Valle Jones is a co-developer, but not an investor, in Main Street Revitalization.

"We are very excited to see Brown-Forman return to this block and bring the 'whiskey' back to Whiskey Row," Valle Jones said in a statement.

Jones also is co-developer for Main Street Revitalization, although she is not an investor. Previously, she and co-developer Craig Greenberg have said that a bourbon tourism facility was expected to anchor a multi-use development in the block.

"Our group has been working with Brown-Forman to see this project come to fruition," she said. "This development is a celebration of Whiskey Row's history and will undoubtedly become a major tourist attraction. We look forward to sharing our own development plans in the near future."

Julius Wilkerson has operated the Big City Styles shop at 124 W. Main across from the Whiskey Row property for 16 years. He said he was weary of seeing the empty buildings and "you better believe we will be happy to see activity in them. We welcome all good business to the area."

Judy Palombino, a co-owner of Manny & Merle's restaurant, at 122 W. Main, said she also had been eagerly awaiting an announcement about plans for the long-empty historic buildings across the street. "We knew that something would happen, we just weren't sure how long it would take or what was coming. Given the fact that this area is actually named Whiskey Row, a distillery will put a stamp on it. It is going to be great for this area."

She noted that an Aloft hotel is under development in the block and predicted that other new nearby development will follow.

The remaining lots at the east end of the north side of the 100 block owned by Blue currently have surface parking, which the Waterfront Development Corp. board approved as a use for at least five years.

Blue, who since has moved to Houston to pursue interests in the luxury automotive business, said last month that he has not developed a long-range plan for use of his part of the block.

Mike Kimmel, deputy director of the waterfront agency, said the waterfront corporation board will have to approve the design of the Brown-Forman project. The plan also will require review and approval by a committee of the Metro Planning Commission.

Meanwhile, the city has budgeted $500,000 to repair the sidewalk along the north side of Main Street in front of the historic buildings to be redeveloped. The sidewalk project is being overseen by the Louisville Downtown Partnership. Rebecca Matheny, the partnership executive director, said the sidewalk repair work should begin by mid-November and be completed next spring.

A covered sidewalk was removed over a year ago but pedestrians are still diverted away from the historic facades. One complication is that there are some old vaults beneath the sidewalk that may have to be filled in.

Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087. Follow him on Twitter at @gregoryahall.