218-year-old building at key downtown Lexington intersection being renovated. What’s next?

A building at a key intersection in downtown Lexington with a storied history is getting a makeover.

The building at 124 N. Upper St. at the intersection of North Upper and Short streets, across from the renovated former Fayette County Courthouse, was originally built in 1806.

It hasn’t seen a major overhaul in nearly 200 years.

Chad Needham and Chris and Teri Kelly have teamed up to gut and re-imagine the building that in the 19th century was home to prominent lawyers and doctors. Needham and the Kellys have spent much of the last year shoring up the foundation and adding footers to the building to make it structurally sound. Work has now begun on the other parts of the building.

The first floor of the building has been several restaurants in recent years, including the one-time location of the Lexington Diner. It is along a key stretch of Short Street that has become a restaurant and bar district in downtown Lexington. The Short Street side of the building was also home to multiple longtime tenants including a clock repair shop and a barber.

“This is a building with historical significance. It hasn’t really been touched in a couple of hundred years. It was built in 1806,” said Needham. “It’s been a place of commerce on that corner for 200 years.”

According to a history of the late Georgian early Federal-style building prepared by the city’s Historic Preservation Division, the building was once known as the Dr. Walter Warfield building. In the early part of the 19th Century, that area of town was known for being a key area of trade and called “Jordan’s Row,” after John Jordan Jr., who was a pioneer merchant who owned the majority of the block on Upper between Main and Short streets. It was home to many of the city’s prominent lawyers and doctors during much of the 19th century, according to the city’s history of the building.

What’s going into renovated building at North Upper, Short streets?

The overhaul of the building will hopefully be finished by the end of the year.

“We have to totally gut and repair the storefronts,” Needham said.

The group is repairing, replacing and bringing the building up to code but keeping the structural and historical architectural elements that make the building unique.

But it’s a challenge.

Take the floor of the former restaurant space for example. Needham said construction crews found and are tearing out at least five layers of flooring.

Some of the tenants on the Short Street side will likely return once the renovations and remolding are completed in the next year, Needham said.

A tenant has not been named for the former restaurant space at the corner of Short and North Upper streets but there has been interest, he said. When completed, the property will have multiple retail spaces, two condominiums on the second and third floor as well as eight offices. Thanks to the renovation of the basement area, there will also be a subterranean or basement space available.

The group received a small grant from the Downtown Lexington Management District to help pay for restoring the exterior retail spaces.

Needham and the Kellys have helped renovate and redevelop about 100 buildings between them. But the Warfield building is the oldest and trickiest to redo, Needham said.

“We love saving these old buildings,” he said. “We are excited. It’s a great corner. We are looking for a corner retailer or restaurant experience that downtown can be proud of.”

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