I'd love to read more about that. Is that a new idiom?

there's a lot

there are a lot

There's no way "there's a lot" is a contraction of "there is a list of a lot" which is what you're implying based on the way this particular thread has evolved.

Also, your example is ambiguous because "lot" is a singular noun (you wouldn't use "are" if the object is a parking lot, for example) but if you're truncating a longer phrase like "a lot of widgets" then "a lot" is modifying a plural noun (you'd definitely use "are" for that, or the informal apostrophe+s we're discussing).

Please tell me what else it's a contraction of. :)