A barre is opening in the Highlands, but unless you count exercise-related endorphins, it doesn’t have a happy hour.
A Pure Barre fitness studio is opening up next to Le Moo, an upscale steakhouse on Lexington Road near Grinstead Drive. It will be the third Louisville location for franchisees Lucy Gentry and Karen Mumme.
The other two locations are in Westport Village (which was just purchased for $23.7 million) and in The Paddock Shops.
“We felt like there was probably a demographic we weren’t reaching. We felt like we weren’t really servicing the Highlands and that side of St. Matthews,” Mumme said, adding that she and Gentry had been looking in the Highlands for a while but were struggling to find a place with enough parking.
Their new location in the former brake shop Brakeway has its own parking lot as well as a large shared parking lot behind the property.
It will have a different feel than Pure Barre’s East End locations because it is a renovation rather than a new white box development. It also will be the first Pure Barre in the country with garage doors that can be opened during class, according to Mumme.
“It has the essence of Highlands, the essence of Cherokee Park,” she said.
Developer and property owner Kevin Cogan handled most the renovation work, which included taking out the floor drains, laying new concrete floors, painting the exterior purple and installing carpet.
“He has been very, very good for us,” Mumme said of Cogan. “He’s pretty much done the guts of it, getting the building up to shape.”
Cogan is in the process of developing the entire triangle bound by Grinstead Drive, Lexington Road and Etley Avenue. Once complete, the properties are expected to house a large apartment, hotel and retail development.
However, while Cogan works on securing the financing, completing the project designs and moving through the planning and design approvals process, he is leasing buildings on the land to businesses, including Pure Barre, Parkside Bikes, Le Moo and Speedy Mart to ensure it doesn’t sit empty.
The Brakeway building is just under 2,000 square feet, larger than a typical Pure Barre studio, but classes will be limited to 25 people. Gentry and Mumme have hired seven new instructors to teach daily classes, starting with three on Saturdays and Sundays and five to seven during the week.
“We really try to work based on the demand,” Mumme said, adding that they poll new customers to see what class times work best for them.
The Pure Barre near Cherokee Park does not have an exact open date but will open sometime next month. Keep an eye on its Facebook page for an official open date.
New clients receive a discount, $99 for one month, and Pure Barre will be pre-saling classes at a discounted rate as well. Call 502-749-2222 to be added to the list for the pre-sale. A single class costs $22, but the company also offers monthly rates.