"Louisville’s Portland neighborhood is starting to look like the new NuLu—the next previously-overlooked historic Louisville neighborhood ripe for redevelopment and preservation'" reports Ashlie Stevens.
"Real estate developers are buying old buildings to renovate. Artists, galleries, chic restaurants and creative class nonprofits are moving in. And some current residents and community activists are concerned that the historical and architectural character of Portland is worth more to developers than the human character of the historically working-class neighborhood."
Portland was a thriving river port in its early days, but now 46.7 percent of current residents live below the poverty line and 1,400 vacant or abandoned properties dot the neighborhood.
Stevens's article includes a discussion of Gill Holland, "the mastermind behind the transformation of downtown’s East Market Street area into trendy NuLu," who "has spoken since early 2013 about his goal of 'looking west' and revitalizing Louisville’s Portland neighborhood."
For more on Holland, see an earlier article by Jere Downs.
