Rabbit Hole Distillery plans massive expansion in Nulu. Here's what's proposed

Rabbit Hole Distillery is sharing an updated vision for its planned expansion, set to span an entire half-block in Nulu and include a single barrel tasting facility, gift shop, bar area and expanded office space.

The aim of the brand home expansion is two-fold — improve the logistics of its on-site distillery operations and grow the public-facing hospitality and tourism experience.

Founded in 2012 in Louisville by CEO Kaveh Zamanian, the company opened its three-story Nulu distillery in 2018 at 711 E. Jefferson St.

“As soon as we determined the Nulu neighborhood is where we wanted Rabbit Hole to be, from my standpoint, my personal vision for the brand was to establish Rabbit Hole as one of the major American whiskey brands,” he said. “And in order to do that, I knew that we had to have not only outstanding products, but more importantly, also have a place that we can make and showcase those products. So the ambition for Rabbit Hole from very early on was rather grand.”

The new project would expand the current Rabbit Hole footprint to include the entire half of the block, stretching from Shelby to Clay streets and Jefferson Street to Nanny Goat Strut.

The enhanced visitor experience would include tasting rooms, a gift shop, a single barrel tasting facility and courtyard area. It could welcome approximately 150,000 people annually, Zamanian said, tripling current visitor figures.

New exterior renderings show a striking black metal and glass structure that would largely hold Rabbit Hole’s expanded office space. They also show ideas for a green roof, elevated pedestrian walkway and reconfigured docking area.

Rabbit Hole filed initial rezoning paperwork with the city in March 2023 for the expansion and plans to file updated documents in January 2024.

Zamanian presented updated renderings of the proposed expansion at a Dec. 18 neighborhood meeting outlining the latest in the project’s development.

“This is a proposal that's really aspirational, and it's conditioned on several other steps having to actually fall into place before we can move forward,” he told the Courier Journal. “This is the earliest stage of this project. The main thing that we did was to showcase the design, if you would, and what our ambition or aspiration is for the new Rabbit Hole.”

Zamanian noted the city permitting and zoning process is only just beginning and financing — which could include tax increment financing — is still being worked on.

“A project like this is expensive, and I think for us as an emerging brand, we need to be mindful of cost,” he said. “There's various tax incentives and things like that that we're hoping to be able to secure and without those incentives, it is going to be a much more challenging project.”

He declined to share an estimated cost for the proposed expansion.

Distillery plans expansion as Nulu grows

The bourbon and rye whiskey distiller secured ownership of the entire half-block when it purchased lots it didn’t yet own, totaling $10.6 million, in 2022, deed records show.

On the logistics side, the redesigned loading dock and operations area is meant to better move trucks in and out of the property — entering on Jefferson Street and exiting onto Clay Street — with less disruption to the site’s neighbors.

“This really for us was in anticipation of continuing growth in Nulu and trying to be a step ahead of that growth and make sure that we're continuing to be good neighbors for our neighborhood and also for the city overall,” he said.

Among many in-progress projects in the Nulu area are two developments directly across Jefferson Street from Rabbit Hole. A Hilton Tempo hotel is under construction and set to open in spring 2024, and a mixed-use building set to include a food hall, co-working space, and traditional offices is eying a spring 2025 opening.

Expanded production and distillation are not a part of the proposed expansion. In fact, the project is intended to lessen such activity on site.

“It’s really about streamlining and moving aspects of our operation out to Henry County,” Zamanian said at the neighborhood meeting, referencing the company’s out-of-county warehouse facilities.

Elevating the distillery into a 'hub for American whiskey'

The planned expansion would involve the demolition of a few buildings, though three older structures are expected to be saved and repurposed, current plans show.

The building at 218 S. Shelby St. would be home to a dedicated tasting room for Mary Dowling Whiskey Co., a new venture from Zamanian and Rabbit Hole launched earlier this year that’s named after a pioneering Kentucky woman known as the “mother of bourbon.”

A first-floor retail space is planned for the building, built in 1865, with the tasting room upstairs. During construction it would act as office space for Rabbit Hole employees.

Two other buildings, the former Bridgestone Tire building at 727 E. Jefferson (built in 1890) and the church at 707 E. Jefferson St. (built in 1940) would also be incorporated into the new vision.

Part of Zamanian’s aspirations for the site is to make it a hub for American whiskey for parent company Pernod Ricard.

The Paris-based wine and spirits company bought a majority stake in Rabbit Hole in 2019, with Zamanian retaining the majority of his shares and continuing to run the company.

With a planned innovation lab on-site, Zamanian hopes to add 30-50 positions that draw expertise and experience to Louisville.

“Nulu and Louisville is really poised for tremendous growth,” he said. “And I think Rabbit Hole could be a part of that growth by being able to create job opportunities that attract people from other metropolitan areas to our local neighborhood, and this is our way of being able to contribute to that.”

Growth & development reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at mglowicki@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4000 or on Twitter @mattglo.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Rabbit Hole shares details of Nulu distillery expansion