The long-vacant lot at the corner of Shelby and Liberty streets isn't so empty these days.
Shipping containers dot the site -- some stacked and others reshaped into patios and galleries. Tables and chairs sit atop freshly laid gravel. A soccer pitch stretches along one side of the nearly one-acre lot.
This site is home to the next iteration of ReSurfaced, the initiative designed to bring new use to derelict lots of land within Louisville Metro.
The fall edition of ReSurfaced will last from Sept. 8 through the end of October.
The aim of ReSurfaced is to transform a vacant plot of land into a space where residents can convene and engage, said Dave Durand, president of City Collaborative, the group organizing the initiative.
City Collaborative, a nonprofit urban research and design lab, has hosted previous editions of ReSurfaced on West Main Street and in a lot along the Ohio River near 14th Street.
ReSurfaced events bring music, art, food and drink to previously unused spaces. The soccer field, new for this fall, will allow organizers to host a five-on-five soccer tournament at the site.
Louisville's professional soccer team, Louisville City FC, will help launch the tournament Friday afternoon, Durand said. Amanda Duffy, president of the soccer club, said the field would help spur interest in the sport.
Brown-Forman is also reshaping a shipping container into a workshop, where a woodworker will build furniture from recycled bourbon barrels.
The site of this fall's ReSurfaced is owned by the Louisville Metro Housing Authority. It previously was home to a grocery store and a paint company, said Tim Barry, executive director of the housing authority.
Durand said the infrastructure of ReSurfaced would remain at the site through next year, though scheduled events will expire at the end of October.
"We can make a determination if we want to keep everything here or try out a new location," he said. "We want to see if we can actively help the community here."
