Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Another Restaurant/Bar For Mass Avenue

Cory Schouten over at Property Lines blog tells us my neighborhood is getting yet another restaurant/bar. The Blu Martini's owner has plans at the Beilouny's point where College and Massachusetts Avenue intersect for an upscale martini/restaurant bar to be called Forty Five Degrees. Shouten writes:


An upscale martini bar and restaurant has signed a deal to take the anchor retail space at 757 Mass Ave, the luxury condo building at the southwest corner of Massachusetts and College avenues. Bill Pritt, the owner of Blu Martini, plans to open a new concept called Forty Five Degrees. It will be a full-service restaurant with “a healthy and unique menu including sushi.” Pritt has signed a five-year lease for 3,500-square-feet and hopes to open in January.

I hope Pritt got a better deal than the Beilouny's owner was offering other prospective tenants. The owner wanted over a $100 grand in base rent, which included rent for potential outdoor seating space, and included nothing for build-out according to inquiries about a year ago. The owner also didn't want a tenant where loud music would be an issue.

Parking is really becoming an issue on Massachusetts Avenue. This particular block will now have five restaurant/bars, two clothing stores, a comedy club, and a two beauty salons, as well as the firefighters hall. I had a conversation with two of the bar owners earlier this week, who both agreed parking had really become a problem for their patrons after the Chatham Tap opened this fall.

I remember when the only sign of life on this part of the Avenue was the Metro nightclub. The old Betty Boops nightclub up the street provided quite a cultural clash between the gay patrons going to the Metro and the poorer inner-city blacks who frequented Betty Boops. As with many major cities, it's the gay population which first revitalizes these run down neighborhoods, and this neighborhood was no exception. As real estate prices have skyrocketed, you're seeing fewer gays living in the neighborhood and more and more wealthy retirees.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

9:16, I realize Senator Kenley is a public official and thus different netiquette standards apply than for the rest of us, but this was obviously a fairly private reply to your concern.

The man gave you his phone numbers, including his cell phone number, because he genuinely wants to address your criticism.

I don't think he expected you to post it on a public blog for everyone to see (and possibly harrass him).

People who anonymously post private or semi-private information that was provided in a private email rub me the wrong way. Gary, I don't want to tell you how to run your blog, but out of respect for Senator Kenley you might want to consider deleting his private numbers (or at least call him and ask him about it).

Anonymous said...

I have to second Jeff Newman's sentiment. The legislator was thoughtful enough to reply in a non-form letter fashion and offered his own time to discuss the plan further. I could never even get an automated response from Bob Behning when he was my state rep. To post his personal phone numbers in this manner is despicable.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry about Chatham Tap.....it will close soon. Almost everyone I know who has gone there including me, vow to never return as the noise is overwhelming.....between the blare of music and tvs, the conversation of the patrons will soon drive this place out of business.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Wishful thinking on your part, anon. 6:37. The place is very popular and is doing extremely well.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Very well, Jeff, but you really shouldn't be giving out your telephone number to complete strangers if you don't want it passed around.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree, Gary. Senator Kenley needs to acquire a little more savvy with regard to personal information he shares in electronic correspondence with people he doesn't know.

Anonymous said...

I would second the motion for more parking in this area. Being a non-Indy resident, it's hard to park on Mass Ave on a weekday afternoon, not to mention ANY time there is an event in this area or a weekend. And backing out in that traffic is just asking to be hit. What about the open lots around there? Couldn't the city buy up some of that land?

Anonymous said...

For those of you who were upset with me posting the information sent to me by Senator Kenley, you can find each and every phone number he gave me on his website - I checked before I posted it.

To the admin of the blog: I'm disappointed that a blog for 'truth' would arbitrarily delete such a comment, especially considering he's a senator, and I'm a lowly citizen he doesn't know. If he's comfortable giving me those phone numbers (that are again posted on his website), he should be just fine with everyone having them. Your censorship of the post is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

I looked for the cell phone number on the website and couldn't find it. If it's there then you are right, I shouldn't have asked for Gary to remove the comment and I'm sorry.

I look after a listserv and I'm sensitive to private emails being shared with the class, ok?

btw, not to suggest otherwise, but where exactly does it say that this is a "blog for truth"?