Sportts hopes to win city’s liquor license

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 24, 1999

One of Austin’s popular eating and drinking establishments could be the next holder of a Sunday sales hard liquor license.

Friday, December 24, 1999

One of Austin’s popular eating and drinking establishments could be the next holder of a Sunday sales hard liquor license.

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Sportts Restaurant, 3301 Oakland Ave. West, is that place.

Owner Bruce Hovland has applied for the hard liquor license that is being returned to the city of Austin as part of the city’s acquisition of the Silver Bullet Bar property owned by Ric Berg.

"I think I’ve done everything I need to do to get the license," Hovland said. "Definitely, I’m interested. Definitely, I want that license."

On Monday night at their regular meeting, Austin City Council members voted 6-0 to acquire the Berg property and liquor license for $70,000. Only Third Ward council member Dick Lang abstained. Lang is a bar owner and holds liquor licenses.

Berg’s Silver Bullet property along Fourth Avenue NE is part of its Tax Increment Financing District No. 10 plans for redevelopment of the greater downtown area.

According to Tom Dankert, the city’s director of finance, the city already has had one interested party inquire about the Berg-Silver Bullet property.

"I can only say it is a business interested in moving to a new location," Dankert said. "They are not interested in the liquor license."

Last summer, the Austin City Council approved a revised ordinance concerning liquor licenses issued by the city. One of the new provisions is that anyone interested in acquiring an available liquor license would have to own a facility with an assessed market valuation of $250,000 or more.

The Sportts Restaurant property meets that qualification.

The current assessed market value on the property at 3301 Oakland Ave. West is $274,000. The city has verified that figure.

According to Dankert, the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar property has an assessed market valuation of $600,000.

Eight other bar properties in Austin – Dankert did not identify them – have a combined market valuation of $300,000.

On Wednesday, Hovland went to the Austin Municipal Building to fill out all necessary applications for the hard liquor license, pay all necessary fees, including the $2,250 city fee, and otherwise complete the license application process.

The Austin Police Department has conducted the necessary background check for both the city and the state and local police also have conducted an on-site investigation.

The owner and the business have passed with flying colors and no complaints.

Twice Hovland has appeared before the Austin City Council, when liquor licenses became available, only to be rebuffed.

Since opening the popular restaurant, he has been able to be licensed only for wine and beer.

He expects a hard liquor license to help his already successful business grow.

"We’ve been after this for seven years," Hovland said. "We have beer and wine now, but hard liquor will only help the business."

If Sportts succeeds to grow even more with the hard liquor Sunday sales license, there could be a couple of spinoff benefits for the businesses around Hovland’s at the Oakland Avenue West and Interstate 90 intersection.

Already, Sportts has made a name for itself as a business that is run without incident and one that returns its customers’ patronage to the community.

It is the site of fund-raisers for high school and youth sports teams and benefits for student-athletes and their teams, too.

The Austin City Council expects the sale of the Berg/Silver Bullet property to the city to be completed by Thursday, at which time it could act on Hovland’s application for the license.