What's coming to Story Avenue in Butchertown? What to know about the 'artistic salon' space

Butchertown is in the middle of a renaissance. With a variety of recently opened restaurants and breweries, boutiques, and a soccer stadium for Louisville's professional soccer teams, the neighborhood will soon add another creative business to the area.

MaybeItsFate, "an inclusive and unpretentious community cultivating an art gallery, social club and gateway to the artistic sub-cultures of Louisville," recently filed plans with the city to complete renovations and additions to a three-story building at 1425 Story Ave.

The organization was initially developed by Rebecca Norton and Charley Miller and hopes to provide Louisville with an artistic salon concept focused on making a space for the city's creative minds to gather and build community.

"The city lacks a centralized salon that brings creative minds together for the emergence of new connections, new ideas, and new possibilities," a page from MaybeItsFate's business white paper reads. "Artists need opportunities, they need money and they need exposure."

Miller is an entrepreneur with experience in the game design and software product development sphere and has studied co-op models and art collectives in Europe, according to the group's digitally published white paper. Norton is an educator, artist, and curator who has received several grants and fellowships for her work. The duo bringing a new art co-op to this bustling Louisville neighborhood are married.

Here's what else to know:

What will be inside the MaybeItsFate space in Butchertown?

The space on Story Avenue will boast a public art gallery and a members-only social club. The venue also has a backyard garden and a French-style deck. Members will pay annual dues to access the social club, programming and other benefits.

According to the city business portal, the more than 6,000 square foot property will benefit from using state historic tax credits and is owned by Brook Smith and Andy Blieden, the developer who turned the Butchertown Market into a neighborhood staple.

When will MaybeItsFate open in Louisville?

MaybeItsFate is a member-owned cooperative where the members benefit from profit sharing, similar to the Old Louisville Coffee Co-Op, which is anticipated to open in April 2024, according to the group's website. As a co-op, being a dues-paying member of MaybeItsFate gives the member an ownership stake in the business and equity in the property as well.

The property, which is being purchased via a lease-to-own agreement by MaybeItsFate, is expected to cost $1.425 million and has already seen at least $150,000 invested into renovations and improvements.

"MaybeItsFate should feel like the living room where you should expect the company of familiar faces and the chance to meet someone interesting," the white paper stated. "We aim to cultivate a dynamic atmosphere that provides a certain nexus of historical, geographic and cultural forces for the art scene of Louisville."

Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at [email protected] or on Twitter at @oliviamevans_.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: MaybeItsFate artistic salon in Butchertown to open in early 2024