LEXINGTON, Ky. — Changes are coming to Lexington’s Greyline Station, as a centerpiece tenant is moving out. The Julietta Market will leave its original location at Greyline Station to pursue other locations.
Since 2020, the Julietta Market has been a central part of the renovation of the 65,000-square-foot Greyline Station, a former city bus garage. Now, come the end of October, the market will move as both entities reimagine their business models.
Five days a week, Fern Lewis works at Da Dawg House located the Julietta Market inside Greyline Station.
“I think it offers a great opportunity; when people are in the building, it’s a good feeling. It’s in the center of Lexington,” Lewis said.
Lewis co-owns the stand, and it’s been opened since June 2021. But now she is unsure where they’ll set up shop as Julietta Market leaves Greyline Station.
“We have to consider what’s best for Da Dawg House at this point. We’re not sure what we’re going to do,” Lewis said.
Julietta Market Executive Director Adina Tatum says the nonprofit public market is not renewing its lease with the developers of Greyline Station after partnering with Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit that helps develop public markets.
“We needed a little bit more exposure for our market and a little bit more control over programming for what we were doing,” Tatum said.
For the last three years, Julietta Market has been within the doors of Greyline Station, leasing the middle portion of the building from the owners. Now they’re seeking a space that is both indoor and outdoor.
“Any public market, you typically have outdoor space, and we don’t have any outdoor space here and we need the ability to have outdoor space so that we can have exposure to the community,” Tatum said.
Tatum said costs were getting too high for the market to stay in Greyline, but says rent was not raised in their renewal. Tatum said insurance increased as food stalls and the kitchen opened, businesses the market did not have when it originally opened.
“Us wanting to have that lower rate for our business owners to remove that barrier for our entrepreneurs and we don’t bring in the revenue to make up that difference,” Tatum said.
Chad Needham, developer of Greyline Station, says they’re now reimagining the market, keeping their focus on small businesses.
“The opportunities for retailers to come here in a vibrant and inclusive, open market space, we want five to six days a week,” Needham said.
Needham said the Julietta Market is leaving on their own terms and wishes them success. Now, he says their focus as the landlord is keeping Greyline Station vibrant.
“Our goal as the landlord is just keep this activated, keep it exciting,” Needham said.
Lewis hopes whatever replaces Julietta Market brings in more foot traffic, and she hopes to keep Da Dawg House at Greyline Station.
“It was thriving, people were coming down here, business was good and that was in the middle of COVID. I’m not sure where the breakdown [is] or what’s happened, but it’s just been a steady decline,” Lewis said.
Tatum said the market is close to finalizing a new location but could not share it. She also said the market will still keep rent costs low to avoid entrepreneurs from having a barrier to following their business dreams.
Current businesses within the market can move with them or move elsewhere. Many tenants of Julietta Market have opened their own brick-and-mortar locations.
Julietta Market is still open, with businesses having varying hours. It will stay at Greyline Station through Oct. 31 when the lease expires.
Other businesses such as The Social Vegan, Old North Bar and North Lime Coffee will not be impacted as they lease directly from Greyline Station.