In the spring of 2003, when Niko and Lola Nousiadis opened Niko’s Italian Cuisine in The Springs medical complex at 2200 E. Parrish Ave., there was only one other building in the new development. “There was nothing out here then, but Highland Elementary School, Foodland and a few other places,” Lola Nousiadis said last week.

Her son, Christo, remembers “mostly cornfields out here.” Today, the East Parrish-Kentucky 54 corridor is busier than Frederica Street, crammed with retail and restaurants — with more coming every week. And the Nousiadis family is adding a second store in Wesleyan Park Plaza. “Everybody is coming over here now, so we’re going over there,” Lola Nousiadis said.