More bar turnover! Acre 121, the southern spot at 14th and Irving in the Highland Park building, has closed. A couple of weeks ago, PoPreported that it would be replaced with a cycling bar from the Hilton Brothers, local businessmen and musicians. Known as Thievery Corporation for their musical endeavors, they’ve opened a series of lounges and spots around town, such as the 18th Street Lounge, the Gibson, American Ice Company and more recently Ten Tigers Parlour, often working with other restauranteurs, developers and such. The New York Times has more on the bros.
I recently spoke with someone from the developers of the building, who gave me more details about the spot. For one, they plan to rejigger the interior to make it a bit more bar-friendly — currently the bar is off the side and behind some big posts, making for a somewhat awkward space.
They also plan to make the patio area more of a patio, as right now it’s covered in a kind of plastic tent (see above) — maybe more of a canopy that’s open to the street, similar to the bars on 17th Street in Dupont.
The vibe would be European with a cycling theme, lots of beer, especially Belgian, and European street food; PoP had mentioned Doner kebab, which would be awesome. The District Karaoke league, which had competitions fairly regularly at Acre, will be moving to another bar.
Sounds like a good option for the space, which has had some turnover — it was originally the delicious CommonWealth, a British gastropub from the Hank’s Oyster Bar folks, who closed it to focus on Hank’s, and then Acre 121. I liked the food at Acre but only went once or twice, and it was kind of an odd vibe. Hopefully the Hiltons and the developers can make this a cool spot.
Photo from Google Streetview
