LOUISVILLE—Solid Light Inc., a premier creator of visitor experiences, has announced the purchase of a new headquarters in Louisville’s emerging South of Broadway District.
The 55,000-square-foot building, at 804 S. Fifth St., was the longtime site of CED Industrial Solutions/E&H Electric Supply. With the sale to Solid Light, CED has relocated to 2900 Blankenbaker Parkway.
Solid Light purchased the building for $1.675 million in a deal that closed June 15.
E. Phillip Scherer and E.P. Scherer of Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Kentucky represented Solid Light in the transaction. Larry Williams, of Stephen G. Gault Co., represented the seller, the Theobald family. (Note: Harold and Edward Theobald founded the company 70 years ago. It was acquired by CED in 1982, but the Theobald family continued to own the real estate.)
Solid Light is currently based at 438 S. Third St. in downtown Louisville, and also operates a fabrication shop in Bluegrass Industrial Park. All operations will be consolidated in the new location.
The new location will undergo substantial renovation to accommodate both the Solid Light fabrication shop and the firm’s design operation. Those renovations will include space for media production and client meetings.
Solid Light expects to invest an additional $1 million to $1.5 million on renovations, and plans to move in by the spring of 2017.
Commonwealth Bank & Trust Co. will provide financing for the purchase of the building and the renovations.
Solid Light will handle its own architectural work. Realm Construction Co. of Louisville is the general contractor.
“Our company is growing, and we’re running out of room in our downtown office,” Solid Light president Cynthia Torp said. “For a while now, we’ve needed more room, and we have also wanted to locate all of our people in one spot.”
Torp spent more than a year searching for the right fit.
“I wanted to stay close to the Central Business District, and we needed a pretty large footprint that would provide sufficient office space paired with ample industrial space. The inventory of those kinds of buildings, in our preferred location, is pretty low, so we were patient. We think we’ve found the perfect spot, and we’re also excited about being part of a newly developing part of Louisville’s urban core that seems ready to move to a new level.”
Solid Light, founded in 1999, is a full-service storytelling agency that creates world-class visitor experiences for a wide range of clients. Solid Light’s staff has more than doubled since 2014; the company currently employs 29 people.
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