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Trû North Café reopens after repairs to storefront KULR-TV
A new business is coming to one of the most notable buildings in St. Petersburg’s historic neighborhood The Deuces.
The Catalyst, a lounge and speakeasy bar, is set to open in what was once the Chief’s Creole Café. It’ll have a soft opening on June 1, with a grand opening set later this year, said co-owner Jason Bryant.
The new bar aims to kickstart the ”renaissance” in the historic Black business corridor that has struggled from community displacement due to the construction of Interstate 275 and Tropicana Field.
It’ll be located on the corner of 22nd Street and Ninth Avenue South.
“We call it The Catalyst because the Deuces at one point it was a very lively spot and we want to basically be a catalyst to get it back going again,” Bryant said. “And that includes not just people coming to our establishment, but all of the surrounding restaurants and businesses.”
Bryant said his business partner Jeffrey Copeland asked him to consider opening something in the former Chief’s Creole Cafe when it announced last April it was closing. The restaurant was a neighborhood staple for nearly a decade.
Bryant, who is part of the local investor group Urban Collective that owns the historic Manhattan Casino and 22 South food hall, said he wasn’t ready to start another business venture at the time, but the opportunity spoke to his passion for investing in the Deuces community — and keeping it local.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ILB5PMWERAI6TKTRIBWI6S7HAY.jpg "Carolyn and Elihu Brayboy, owners of Chief's Creole Cafe on 22nd Street S in St. Petersburg, announced in April they were closing permanently. Now a new lounge called The Catalyst will take its place.")
“I admittedly have mixed feelings about progress when it comes to business and St. Pete, because as a native, I understand what’s going on,” Bryant said. “I grew up on the south side and I can clearly see the neglect. And it’s so weird, because less than a mile away where everything is happening, you can clearly see where the money is going.”
Chief’s Creole Cafe, known for its Louisiana-style gumbo, po-boys and crawfish, permanently closed after owners Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy retired. Before that, the building now featuring a large mural of jazz artist Louis Armstrong used to house the Sidney Harden Grocery Store, the only grocery store catering to St. Petersburg’s Black community for decades.
“I really thought about what it is and what it could stand for,” Bryant said.
The Catalyst will have cocktails, cigars and hookah. In a partnership with Sid’s Caribbean Grill, it’ll serve Jamaican cuisine as well. Some nights will have speakeasy features where visitors will need a code to get in.
“The renaissance is being picked up again and the Deuces are back,” Bryant said. “We want to really make sure people know that this is another place where you can come hang out.”
Bell Works Chicagoland in Hoffman Estates will take a major step toward the well-rounded, self-contained "metroburb" it was designed to be with the opening of the World's Fair by Fairgrounds cafe on June 8.
The new concept from Fairgrounds Craft Coffee and Tea will offer the same variety of beverages and food its customers have already known at Bell Works, but with the addition of a cocktail menu including coffee-and tea-infused drinks, in a larger, vibrant setting.
The 5,743-square-foot establishment is the innovation of Infuse Hospitality, a Chicago-based food and beverage management company.
"We're more than excited to be a driving force in bringing back vibrant lifestyle centers like Bell Works Chicagoland, which is transforming the former AT&T space into a hub of innovation and community," Infuse Hospitality founder and Chairman Michael Schultz said in a statement. "Our newest location, World's Fair by Fairgrounds, is right in the heart of Hoffman Estates. We hope our presence, along with the other businesses and amenities in this repurposed space, will bring even more to the community and the surrounding area."
World's Fair by Fairgrounds is exactly the type of service business that's been intended from the start to make Bell Works attractive to office tenants and residents, as well as visitors from the wider community.
The redevelopment of the former AT&T headquarters at 2000 Center Drive is home to numerous businesses, as well as the It Gym, Fit Lab at Bell Works, and the coworking space coLab.
While all the commercial space is within the sprawling original building, Hoffman Estates trustees in February granted final approval to 164 high-end townhouses and preliminary approval to about 300 apartments on a 20-acre site on the east side of the former corporate campus.
Infuse Hospitality is opening another new business -- Fairgrounds Elm Grove -- west of Milwaukee, where Fairgrounds Yankee Hill has found success in the city's downtown.
For more information, visit fairgrounds.cafe or follow the company on its Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok accounts.
The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a red brick cafe in South Korea by Seoul studio Sukchulmok. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.
Seoul studio Sukchulmok has designed a red brick cafe in South Korea inspired by European public squares.
The building, named Parocindo Bakery Cafe, features lively curved shapes and rounded walls. For its interior, the studio used small tiles made from travertine limestone.
Commenters dissected the project. One loved the project and thought it was "beautifully executed", whereas another described it as "odd" and "strange".
Other stories in this week's newsletter that fired up the comments section included an opinion piece by Patrik Schumacher on the "lack of architecture" at the Venice Architecture Biennale, four inflatable structures by Steve Messam at Clerkenwell Design Week and BIG being named as the masterplanner of Neom's octagonal port city.
Dezeen Debate
Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.
You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.
It was the week of the underdogs.
Two recent stories pitted the small against the mighty -- and in both cases, the small persevered.
Reporter Ryan Stanton literally stumbled on the first story while walking around Ann Arbor. One day he came across a note written by a 9-year-old girl, a plea to the city to save a sidewalk slab with a heart-shaped cavity.
“Dear Sidewalk People,” Dahlia Grocoff wrote, ““There is a heart in this block, and as me and my mom were walking home from school, we saw that there was an ‘R’ on the block that the heart is on. You see, the heart is not just a heart. Ever since I was little, I said hi to the heart. Don’t you see how much it means to me? Every time I pass the heart, I say hi and it brings me joy.”
The girl’s note helped save her beloved sidewalk slab. The city even wrote her back.
It’s this kind of civic engagement that melts even this jaded old newsman’s heart.
The second story comes out of Pittsfield Township from reporter Makayla Coffee who has been covering a situation between Brewed Awakenings, an independent café, and a developer looking to bring a Starbucks to the same plaza.
Brewed Awakenings Owner Kim Kaster isn’t irked by the competition as much as she is concerned about the proposed drive-thru planned for the mega-chain coffee behemoth. At other locations, it’s not uncommon to see a dozen SUVs idling in line, waiting for their turn to get a latte.
The Pittsfield Township Planning Commission recently ruled against the Starbucks drive-thru, however, which Kaster said was a “huge victory.”
That’s what caught our eye in Ann Arbor this week. Take a look at those headlines, and others, below.
Ann Arbor responds to 9-year-old girl’s plea, agrees to save sidewalk with a heart
‘A huge victory.’ Residents join forces to fight potential Starbucks drive-thru
Ann Arbor-area landscaping and nursery business to close after nearly 40 years
Wrong-way driver causes crash injuring 4 on US-23
What’s that? A new restaurant has opened right outside downtown Chelsea
Broken windows, threats led to workplace safety inspection at Washtenaw County building
About “Hello, Ann Arbor”: Each week, we deliver the big headlines straight to your inbox. Sign up here for the newsletter.
John Counts is editor for MLive/The Ann Arbor News where he started as a police and court reporter in 2012. He lives in Whitmore Lake with his wife, two daughters and two dogs. He can be reached at johncounts@mlive.com.
MORE ‘HELLO, ANN ARBOR’:
Hello, Ann Arbor: Saying good-bye to Angelo’s; big property tax jump
Hello, Ann Arbor: Average house prices top $680K; Art Fair is coming
Hello, Ann Arbor: Former Denny’s could become Chick-fil-A; grappling with downtown affordability
Hello, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan graduation day; student grades threatened by strike
Credit: The Hudson Cafe via Instagram
The Hudson Cafe installed a new bar area as part of renovations to its downtown Detroit location.
May 25, 2023 07:42 AM
One of downtown Detroit's most popular breakfast and lunch spots reopens this morning after a four-month closure for renovations, according to a late night post to its Instagram account.
Hudson Cafe customers will notice a host of updates including new flooring, booths, tables and a seven-seat bar area. The renovations also included new kitchen equipment and updated heating and cooling system.
Hudson Cafe owner Tom Teknos prior to the short closure told Crain's that the work would cost $600,000-$700,000. The restaurant, at 1241 Woodward Ave. across from the old Hudson's building site, closed on Jan. 22. The Detroit location's 35 employees remained on staff during the renovations.
Credit: The Hudson Cafe via Instagram
Renovation of The Hudson Cafe in downtown Detroit included bringing in new tables and seats.
Teknos was not immediately available for comment Thursday morning.
Since closing the downtown location early this year, a second Hudson Cafe opened March 3 in Northville at 17101 Haggerty Road with a staff of 50 employees.
Both locations offer a variety of breakfast and brunch foods including pancakes, crepes and chicken and waffles. Lunch offerings include the Hudson, the restaurant's take on the former Detroit department store's legendary Maurice Salad. Beer, wine and cocktails are available, too.
Hudson Cafe, which opened in 2011, is named after the J.L. Hudson Co. department store that sat across the street from where the restaurant is. The store opened in 1911 and was demolished in 1988. Dan Gilbert's Bedrock LLC is building a mixed-use development on the site.
takanadalagi.blogspot.com Two new sibling bars are opening in far south Austin sometime this year. There’s cafe and cocktail bar Drifters S...
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