The 13,600-square-foot space at Main and Meadow streets is set to be revived. Photos by Michael Thompson.
A Shockoe Bottom bar owner and operator have big plans to bring a vacant Fan restaurant property back to life.
Roland West and Hani Atallah are taking over the former Martini Kitchen and Bubble Bar space at 1911 W. Main St. where they are planning major upgrades and a new bar and restaurant.
The pair signed a lease for the 13,600-square-foot space this week, and West said they’ll look to open in the late spring or early summer. A name for the concept is still being finalized.
“We’re not necessarily trying to break the mold here,” he said. “Think of a Fan bar, but on a much bigger scale.”
Atallah is the owner of Off the Hookah and Southern Railway Taphouse, both on Virginia Street in Shockoe Bottom.
West is a general manager at Off the Hookah and helped Atallah open Southern Railway Taphouse.
The Fan space has been vacant since Martini Kitchen and Bubble Bar closed in November. The property also once housed the now-defunct Main Street Beer Co.
Brokers Jim Ashby and Reilly Marchant of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer marketed the space and brokered the deal for the building’s owner, Thalhimer Realty Partners.
“The goal was to get a lease signed with an established Richmond operator, which these folks are,” Ashby said.
Thalhimer’s Alicia Farrell represented the new tenant.
West said the interior of the space is being completely redone. It’s expected to cost between about $300,000 and $400,000 to get the venture open. West said he and Attalah are financing it themselves.
Similar to their taphouse in the Bottom, the new bar will focus on craft beer, and the food will be American causal, West said.
West said he was attracted to space because of its size and parking. The property shares a parking lot with an ABC store and a Family Dollar near Main and Meadow streets.
“You don’t have to leave your friends at the bar, because everyone fits in here,” West said. “And you don’t have to parallel park.”
West said he isn’t fazed by the number of other bars in the neighborhood.
“They all have lines on the weekends,” he said.
The 13,600-square-foot space at Main and Meadow streets is set to be revived. Photos by Michael Thompson.
A Shockoe Bottom bar owner and operator have big plans to bring a vacant Fan restaurant property back to life.
Roland West and Hani Atallah are taking over the former Martini Kitchen and Bubble Bar space at 1911 W. Main St. where they are planning major upgrades and a new bar and restaurant.
The pair signed a lease for the 13,600-square-foot space this week, and West said they’ll look to open in the late spring or early summer. A name for the concept is still being finalized.
“We’re not necessarily trying to break the mold here,” he said. “Think of a Fan bar, but on a much bigger scale.”
Atallah is the owner of Off the Hookah and Southern Railway Taphouse, both on Virginia Street in Shockoe Bottom.
West is a general manager at Off the Hookah and helped Atallah open Southern Railway Taphouse.
The Fan space has been vacant since Martini Kitchen and Bubble Bar closed in November. The property also once housed the now-defunct Main Street Beer Co.
Brokers Jim Ashby and Reilly Marchant of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer marketed the space and brokered the deal for the building’s owner, Thalhimer Realty Partners.
“The goal was to get a lease signed with an established Richmond operator, which these folks are,” Ashby said.
Thalhimer’s Alicia Farrell represented the new tenant.
West said the interior of the space is being completely redone. It’s expected to cost between about $300,000 and $400,000 to get the venture open. West said he and Attalah are financing it themselves.
Similar to their taphouse in the Bottom, the new bar will focus on craft beer, and the food will be American causal, West said.
West said he was attracted to space because of its size and parking. The property shares a parking lot with an ABC store and a Family Dollar near Main and Meadow streets.
“You don’t have to leave your friends at the bar, because everyone fits in here,” West said. “And you don’t have to parallel park.”
West said he isn’t fazed by the number of other bars in the neighborhood.
“They all have lines on the weekends,” he said.
I’ve been to southern railway not the hookah. Seems to me this would be an upgrade to the space. As a long time Fan resident I’m always looking for an upgrade. This property sits along side the single most problematic area left in the Fan vicinity….that is the area roughly outlined by the DJ Market, the “meadow crack market” I forget the gas brand it is now but we’ve always known the gas station on that corner as the crack market, the dollar store/ABC lot and empty lot space between all of these places. It is very easy to see… Read more »
Mike Jones– you have hit the nail on the head! Neighborhoods have not been able to change this environment. Thanks for your comments. We need to get rid of the open air drug markets and other problems.
If it’s the gas station at Cary St. and Meadow St., I think it’s a BP now. We used to call it the Kill n Fill. Seeing what this company has done for Shockoe Bottom can only mean good things to come!
I believe this building used to be a Community Pride grocery store back in the day?? That chain was a huge implosion when it fell.
While I’m not disagreeing with Mike Jones, I’m going to quibble – as someone who lived a block away from there for over a year, it’s not as bad as all that.
While its almost certainly the worst block in the fan, and shows the cancerous tendencies of public housing, I never found it actively dangerous. Even the scary BP has gotten better.
Still, there’s a lot of room for improvement there no doubt. And late night traffic there is awesome. But I actually think the gentrification of Randolph and Byrd park is the main driver of that areas improvement