Two long-standing, American roadhouse style restaurants and watering holes, K.T.’s and Austin’s have been sold to new owners.
The popular, long-lived Lexington Rd. restaurant and bar, K.T.’s has been sold to Kevin Grangier, owner of popular Anchorage restaurant the Village Anchor and Pub. The ownership turnover will be effective Nov. 21, but little will change at the restaurant until the first of the new year, as Grangier makes his final decisions about how to manage the large space at 2300 Lexington Road. Grangier reportedly said he wants to get a feel for what type of restaurant neighborhood residents would like before making any changes.
Grangier had been considering another property in Eastern Jefferson County, but he was drawn to the “great bones” of K.T.’s physical plant, and its location at the corner of Lexington and Grinstead, a hop and a skip from I-64.
There has been a restaurant at the current location since the 1950‘s, when The Old Kentucky Tavern drew a generation or two of customers. K.T.’s opened in 1985, and has been a popular drinking, dining spot and brunch spot ever since.
Austin’s, 4950 U. S. 42, has been purchased by Goodwill Industries, apparently with the intention of eventually turning the site into a donation center and store. For the immediate future, Austin’s will continue to operate on a month-to-month basis.
Both restaurants had been owned and operated by a management group owned by John Hagan, Byron Nugent, Kyle Farnsworth and William A. Musselman.
