The real estate under two of the region's longest-running Irish pubs just hit the market for a combined $8.2 million, though the beer taps aren't going dry anytime soon. Molly Malone's locations in Louisville's Highlands neighborhood and across the river in Covington are being marketed together, with the properties — not the restaurants — up for grabs.
The arrangement is known as a sale-leaseback, according to WLKY, meaning a buyer would purchase the buildings while Molly Malone's current owners stay on as tenants and keep running the restaurants day to day. Real estate broker Paul Grisanti told the station the two properties are being sold as a package under that structure, with the restaurant operations themselves not included in the deal.
That distinction matters for regulars worried about losing their neighborhood watering hole. Grisanti was direct about it, saying the listing does not mean either restaurant is closing — the current owners intend to continue operating both locations as tenants once a buyer is found, per the same report.
A Highlands Fixture Since 1998
The Louisville location has anchored the Highlands for nearly three decades. Louisville Business First notes the Irish pub has been a neighborhood staple since 1998, long enough to become a fixture for generations of regulars grabbing a pint or watching a game in the heart of the neighborhood's bar scene.
Its sister location across the Ohio River came along nearly a decade later. The current owners opened the Covington pub in 2007, according to Molly Malone's Irish Pub, expanding the brand into Northern Kentucky. That location sits at 112 E. 4th Street inside the Hermes Building, a structure dating to 1888, giving the Covington pub a historic home to match its Louisville counterpart's longevity.
What Comes Next For The Properties
For now, the sale is strictly about who owns the buildings, not who pours the Guinness. Under the sale-leaseback structure described in the listing, a buyer would purchase the real estate while the existing owners continue operating both locations as tenants, keeping the pubs' day-to-day business unchanged even if the properties change hands.
