City moves to acquire bar site

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 22, 2000

The reality of another parking lot downtown got one step closer Monday night when the Austin City Council decided to play hard ball with bar owner Jim Struyk.

Tuesday, August 22, 2000

The reality of another parking lot downtown got one step closer Monday night when the Austin City Council decided to play hard ball with bar owner Jim Struyk.

Email newsletter signup

With no comment, council members voted 6-0 – with bar owner Dick Lang abstaining – to start condemnation procedures against Spanky’s Tavern, 201 Second Ave. NE.

After the vote, Struyk was a little bewildered.

"I thought they were talking either fix it up or condemnation, and all of a sudden it seemed like they were voting just on condemnation," Struyk said after the meeting. Struyk told the council during the meeting that he would either need more money to relocate or he would like to stay and remodel. The city has offered a package of $62,000 plus $20,000 relocation costs.

Although the vote passed with no comment from council members, two audience members also spoke against the condemnation. Former council member Dick Pacholl pointed out that taking a tax-paying business out of circulation for a parking lot was bad business and Bob Vilt suggested that some of the city’s interest-free loan money be made available for the downtown business owner to help facilitate the building’s renovation.

"I don’t know how many of you have ever been there," Vilt said. "The floors and bar are classic. It’s also a place that’s comfortable for the people who go there."

He added that when he stopped at the bar at 3 p.m. Monday, most of the parking lot across the street was empty, so the idea of making another parking lot seemed "absurd" to him.

The council had the authority to condemn the bar – not because it was unsafe – because it is part of the city’s Tax Increment Finance District No. 10, a district created to "remove blight" from the downtown. The outline of the TIF district is an irregular one, with a large loop at the north end to surround the source of the district’s funding, the new Hormel Corporate Office South. The receiving end downtown includes the already purchased Wold Drugstore and Silver Bullet buildings, as well as Spanky’s Tavern and five other downtown bars: the Bakery, Brown Derby, Margaritaville, Thirsty’s, Hey Rube! and the Alaskan.

Several other downtown properties – a lawyer’s office and the Curves for Women building among them – also are targeted in the TIF district, which includes far more properties than the city will be able to purchase with its lion’s share of the new Hormel building’s property taxes.

According to at-large council member Dick Chaffee, starting the condemnation process was a logical next step for the city because negotiations with Struyk were going nowhere.

"We will continue to negotiate; hopefully, we can resolve it before it gets to court," Chaffee said. "Staying and remodeling probably won’t be an option; as I understand that corner will be cleared." He added that he hoped the land would continue to be redeveloped, and expressed hope that its parking lot phase would not be permanent.

"I wish we had more money to up the price for him," council member Neil Fedson said, referring to Struyk’s earlier statement that he had $130,000 in the building already, a sum the city’s offer didn’t come close to matching. "I can understand where he’s coming from, but I still think it’s the best route for downtown Austin."

After the meeting, Struyk talked to other bar owners gathered outside City Hall.

"I think if it comes to any bar downtown, that’s what the vote will be," he warned them.