This morning, 2826 Arnetic owner Frank Maldonado and a crew began cleaning out what was left of the Deep Ellum venue, which is a lot. The art is still on the walls, the bar is still fully stocked, and not much has changed since they abruptly announced their closure last month.
Luckily, they've got until Friday to move everything out, which means they will have almost exactly two months to get it transferred over to their new Fort Worth location.
"July 19 will be the grand opening," Maldonado says as we talk inside the club. The new location will be open under the same name at 3000 Race Street near Dinos and Fuzzy's Tacos in Fort Worth. Local reggae act Fortunate Youth is scheduled to perform the inaugural gig.
"It's a happy moment for us to be moving to a bigger place," says
Maldonado. "I just took the sign off the door."
The new venue in Fort
Worth is in a 13,000-square-foot space, much larger than the 5,000 feet
they had in Deep Ellum. Maldonado says all of the elaborate
murals of Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Dave Matthews and others -- part of
the club's brand -- will be painted over, so whoever occupies the space
next won't be able to use them.
Maldonado adds he doesn't know who will occupy the current space next. Derek Bartels at TXON,
the Deep Ellum property owner that owns the space, can't say either,
but he did offer this: "I've got three different parties interested, but
I can't give out any details until I've got a signed lease."
When asked the nature of the three interested parties, Bartels answered: "Bar restaurants."
