Grady Amick

Mid-City Market, owned by Branch Properties, will replace the Highlands’ Mid-City Mall.

The Highlands’ Mid-City Mall, which has been on the market since 2024, just sold to Branch Properties, a firm that builds and runs “grocery-anchored shopping centers,” according to their website.

“It’s going to be a big plus for the neighborhood,” Sandy Metts, the property’s owner, said in an interview. 

Public sketches for the new market show greenery and parking spaces nestled within a quad of buildings that resembles a strip mall. 

“This is a critical juncture, and the success of this project is going to dictate the success of the corridor for decades,” Rob Willy, who has worked on the development project, said.

Willy, Brandon Coan and Cliff Ashburner all collaborate with or work for Branch Properties, but all three live in The Highlands and said that they considered the community’s interests when they sketched the project. 

Branch Properties’ architect spent a week in The Highlands to match the new buildings with its style of masonry. 

The development has two “parklets,” which are small landscaped areas with benches and brick lining. At a public forum, a community member said that homeless people might sleep there.

“This is gorgeous, and it looks real comfortable,” she said. Ashburner assured her that a highly managed property will have less of that activity than a neglected one. 

Metts confirmed that there will be a grocery store. Though Branch Properties has not confirmed exactly what it will be, Louisville Business First reported that 24 of their last 34 projects involved Publixes, making it the likely option.

“Valu-Market has been a wonderful tenant,” Metts said of the chain in the mall today. “This is a bigger store.” 

There was also a Family Dollar at the mall, but the property has been completely cleared and only the outline of the sign remains.

“They’ll bring in some national tenants and some local tenants,” Metts said. 

One tenant that will not return is the beloved Baxter Avenue Theaters. Despite a petition with nearly 6,000 signatures, Baxter closed indefinitely on Dec. 31. 

“The movies were there for 30 years, and after COVID, no movie theaters did well,” Metts said. “I had to cut their rent in half just to let them stay.”

Nearly New, a thrift store in the mall’s yellow-walled cavern of a basement, was bought in October 2025 and is now called Nearly New 2 U. 

“Even though it’s saying it’s being closed, I still had to have it. So I bought it and opened it, and created what I think is a much better store than the thrift store that was here,” Robert Archambault, the store’s new owner, said. “We’re open to stay until the sheriff throws me out after eviction court.”

“The new place that’s being put up is going to be part of the 15-minute city thing and everybody will be single file,” he said. He said that Metts is a good person to work with, and that he is happy to see her succeeding, but he’ll mourn the building, which has stood for 62 years.

The Louisville Free Public Library’s Highlands–Shelby Park branch, whose popular “Teen Outpost” is fitted with electronics and games, will have a spot in the new market. 

Metts said that zoning and pure practicality prohibit the stores having housing on top of them, which some community members suggested.

“There’s restrictions on how many stories you can build,” she said. “They would need to build multi-level parking,” which would be expensive and cumbersome.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Grady Amick

The outside of Mid-City Nails, a nail salon in Mid-City Mall.