Almost two years to the day after the three-alarm fire of the vacant building, council members on Monday approved the development plans for two new businesses that will bring new life to the former Lexington Home Brands properties off of Salisbury Street.
The plans include demolition of one building with an adjoining section and renovation of the remaining buildings for retail space and/or mixed-use purposes.
The Lexington City Council also approved on Monday the development plans for Green Works of Lexington, an agricultural lab and research facility and co-workspace for related businesses. The plans include the demolition of the former Lexington Home Brands showroom located between South Railroad Street and South Salisbury Street, flanked by East Fifth and East Fourth streets.
A new two-story building will be constructed to house the Green Works innovation center that will focus on plant science research, development and processing with a concentration in areas of extraction and processing of hops and industrial hemp. It will include indoor agriculture cultivation of botanical, vegetables and other plants suitable for indoor vertical farming.
“It is ripe for development as you are aware,” said Paul Meyer, a representative associate for Southern Cross Management, who bought the property from the City of Lexington in 2019. “It is full of active neighbors… We hope to build off of this activity with this new development.”
Preliminary plans for the Green Works center includes demonstration rooms open to the public and educational activities for school children. It could also involve university-based projects, which will be integrated with local community colleges, state universities, private universities, and other educational institutions.
Read more at The Dispatch (Sharon Myers)