New cidery, food truck park proposed in Louisville

LOUISVILLE — A new cidery and food truck park could be coming to a long vacant site of a former bank on South Boulder Road in Louisville. 

The Louisville City Council unanimously approved a business assistance tax incentive and free rebate package Tuesday evening for the project, dubbed The Rose and Raven, worth as much as $240,000 over five years.

The cidery is proposed by business partners Joshua Martinsons and Brant Clark with Corvus Nidus LLC.

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Plans for The Rose and Raven call for a 8,000-square-foot artisanal cider production facility, a kitchen and an outdoor space for food trucks at the former Valley Bank & Trust branch at 511 S. Boulder Road, which has sat empty since 2015.

“Historically, so much American cider has been pretty terrible,” Martinsons told BizWest. “We’ve been making cider for fun for years and figured we could do better.”

The Rose and Raven would bring in a rotating cast of food trucks, likely three to four trucks per day, and could provide indoor vendor space for local purveyors of items such as charcuterie, chocolate and kombucha, he said. 

“This is the kind of place where families hang out and kids run around,” Martinsons said. “There will be bocci and cornhole. It will just be a fun, family-friendly place.”

Development plans are still being drafted, but Martinsons is also considering the possibility of including several suites of office space on a second floor above the cidery. 

“While the applicant is performing due diligence on the site, staff has confirmed it has 

not closed a deal on the property,” according to a Louisville planning memo. “The team has informed staff it hopes to make a decision on acquiring the property in April and would anticipate completing construction by September 2021.”

Should The Rose and Raven come to fruition, the operations could employ as many as 70 people within the first five years of opening. 

Year-one sales projections are more than $1.8 million, planning documents show.

“This is a very exciting project. This is a space that could be really cool but isn’t necessarily so cool right now,” Louisville mayor Ashley Stolzmann said. “I think this use is a good match for the community, and it could really change the feel of an area.”