With the opening of several new businesses, West Ashley’s hippest corridor is experiencing yet another renaissance
by Jenny Peterson | Staff Writer
The quaint downtown of otherwise sprawling West Ashley, The Avondale Business District currently consists of two main walkable strips of bars and restaurants, shops, a neighborhood brewery, and a former Thrift store outfitted as a retro dining and shopping center—all anchored by the appropriately-named Triangle Char + Bar in the center, with two roads flanking it.
Roughly 20 years after its millennial renaissance, Avondale has developed its own identity: local businesses and nightlife, impressive graffiti murals and plenty of character.
It’s a thriving district where patrons can make a day or night of it—brunch inside the revamped Victory Building with its retro tall pink tower, coffee at Highfalutin Coffee Roasters, consigning and bike shopping, happy hour or dinner at many bars and restaurants, or grabbing a nightcap from the storied 70-year-old dive bar Gene’s Haufbrau—all without leaving the strip.
It’s an in-demand location not just for residents and visitors, but also local businesses.
“When Caroline’s Aloha Bar/Voodoo (announced it) was going vacant, we had eight people pitch ideas for that space within a week—and it wasn’t even on the market; they saw it in the newspaper,” said Ed Kronsberg, landlord for the Shoppes at Avondale, the strip of businesses along Magnolia Road.
Immediately on the horizon for the Shoppes at Avondale is Bearcat, a new American restaurant with a custom wood-fire hearth set to open in mid to late January; and a small grocery store and grab-and-go market in a 4,000-square-foot space where Gullah Gourmet previously operated, Kronsberg said.
“We just signed a letter of intent. It will have specialty groceries, a little bakery, sandwiches and crepes,” Kronsberg said. “We’re going to get our little grocery store that everybody wants.”
From ‘The Point’ to ‘Avondale’
Kronsberg—born and raised in Charleston and whose family opened Edward’s Department Store downtown and near Avondale in the 1950s—was among a small group of people in the mid-2000s to envision Avondale as ripe for a renaissance.
“Everybody back in the day called it ‘The Point,’” Kronsberg said. “It’s always been kind of a funky, cool area, but it had seen its better days.”
At the time, Gene’s Haufbrau was one of the only bars operating in the strip.
In the year 2004, Kronsberg found himself unexpectedly taking the reins of what was a scrap business. A lawyer by trade, Kronsberg came on as chief operating officer and changed the direction from scrap to property ownership and management. They moved offices from downtown Charleston to the second floor of the Community Yoga building, next to Gene’s Haufbrau, and purchased the Shoppes at Avondale.
Kronsberg said several people were pivotal in creating today’s Avondale: Skip Condon, owner of Triangle Char + Bar (whose family owned Condon’s Department Store downtown); Geoff Richardson, co-owner of Lava Salon in Avondale; and then Triangle general manager Michael Lotz—who Kronsberg recalls had a robust Rolodex and “knew everybody.”
“The four of us put our heads together to try and come up with ways to bring Avondale back. First, it was branding it by calling it ‘Avondale,’” Kronsberg recalls.
The group of plucky business owners formed the Avondale Business Association to come up with unique and fun ways to connect the neighboring Byrnes Down community to the walkable business corridor. It works closely with the Lowcountry Local First organization.
“One idea was a Spring Fest or a Winter Fest, which were sort of like block parties,” Kronsberg said. “Geoff Richardson came up with ChART (Charleston Art) outdoor mural initiative.”
The initiative started with the Avondale Point Mural Competition in 2009 and was embraced by the community. There are several rotating murals on the outside of buildings throughout Avondale, including along the exterior wall of DB’S Cheesesteaks on Highway 17 and along Alycia Alley.
An annual 5K race and outdoor party, first started in 2010, is still hosted by Triangle Char +Bar each spring and continues to raise money for the Charles Webb Center, a cause near and dear to Condon, Kronsberg said.
The local, artsy vibe took hold with the community. As a landlord, Kronsberg was deliberate in bringing in homegrown businesses as tenants.
“From the beginning, the thought was, ‘Keep it local. Keep it mom and pop,’” Kronsberg said. “It’s fun to interview (potentially new tenants) and hear the different ideas.”
Kronsberg can recall the former bars and restaurants that took residence along the Shoppes at Avondale strip—including legacy restaurants and bars that have since closed their doors, such as Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge, which operated for nearly 20 years serving flaming tiki drinks, Liberty Café, Gullah Gourmet, and Al Di La, a beloved Italian eatery, to name a few.
His biggest “wish” for Avondale?
“I’ve tried on three occasions to get Glazed Donuts, because I thought donuts were the one thing that’s missing,” Kronsberg said. The DB’s Cheesesteak building is the former location of Krispy Kreme, which moved further down Savannah Highway several years before Avondale experienced it’s renaissance.
Other changes that have recently taken place among longtime Avondale staples including a recent expansion of Avondale Wine & Cheese into the space formerly occupied by Cannon Distilling, which moved to James Island. Avondale Wine & Cheese now has a larger footprint and can accomodate private events. Next door at Lava Salon, there has been physical changes to their interior and philosophical changes in how the company is doing businesss to remain relevant in the ever-changing hair-styling industry. Across the street at Mellow Mushroom, the pizzaria recently underwent a massive renovation that pays homage to the building’s movie threatre roots.
New restaurants moving in
Ray Jenkins, beverage director and partner of forthcoming Bearcat which will open in the Al Di La space in mid-to-late January, is from West Ashley, and recalls the Avondale of his youth.
“We used to all hang out at the skate park on Sycamore Avenue and then skate over to Gene’s (Haufbrau) and get fried fish sandwiches and chicken sandwiches all the time,” Jenkins said.
With the chef de cuisine, John Coleman, also residing in West Ashley, the restaurant executives are excited to bring a high-end dining concept to the beloved neighborhood that will appeal to all ages, including 30-something professionals moving to the area.
“We wanted to provide a bigger city experience in more of a neighborhood setting,” said George Kovach, owner of Bearcat. “All of our bar snacks are going to come off of the wood-fired hearth that we will serve until we close at midnight.”
Already open in Avondale in the revamped Victory building (inside the former Helping Kids with Cancer Thrift Store and Rodenberg’s Grocery before that) is Ruby Sunshine, an all-day breakfast and brunch concept from Ruby Slipper Restaurant Group, an offshoot of New Orleans-based Ruby Slipper Café, which offers Southern brunch staples and eye-opening cocktails. The first restaurant inside the Victory building was Poke Burri CHS.
Another Avondale newcomer is Amor Healing Kitchen, a non-profit which motivates teen volunteers to cook healthy plant-based meals for people facing critical health challenges. The healing kitchen moved into the former space of Kaminsky’s Dessert Café thanks to the “angel kitchen donor,” and will explore offering grab-and-go meals in the new year.
Parking/traffic challenges
The area has gotten so popular that parking has became a challenge in Avondale, and the issue is on the City of Charleston’s radar.
Most parking lots are privately owned, making street parking the only public option, said Eric Pohlman, West Ashley project coordinator with the City of Charleston’s Department of Planning, Preservation and Sustainability Planning Division.
The city works with new businesses moving into to the area about adding additional city-required parking spaces—often off-site—if the business is projected to bring additional traffic than the former tenant.
Kronsberg said businesses working together have helped alleviate parking woes, with daytime businesses allowing nighttime businesses to use their spaces and vice-versa.
“Recently you’ve seen parking companies come in to charge to park in lots … which has freed up spots for those who are willing to pay,” he said.
Major overhaul traffic alleviating projects for Avondale by Charleston County include a proposal to shift Avondale Avenue from its current location 50-80 feet to align with Nicholson Avenue across Highway 17 to create a proper four-way intersection, Pohlman said.
That proposal would require the removal of the DB’s Cheesesteaks building, which Pohlman said was not well-received among the community. The county is still accepting public comments and will discuss at a future meeting; any work is three to five years out, Pohlman said.
Other proposals include creating a dedicated left turn lane heading into the Byrnes Down neighborhood and add a planted median sidewalk on Highway 17. The goal is to create a safer and more accessible Avondale—and even try and recreate similar corridors throughout West Ashley.
“It’s a walkable community. It’s beloved by everyone. During a master plan called ‘Plan West Ashley,’ all we heard was, ‘We love Avondale. We want to see more ‘Avondales’ around West Ashley—locations that have small, unique local businesses,” Pohlman said.
Kronsberg said it takes a village, literally, to make the magic happen.
“The neighborhood looks out for their residents and everybody tries to work together and not step on each other’s toes; the area itself is very livable and very walkable,” Kronsberg said. “To be able to have a vibrant community is symbiotic. Everybody works together to make it work.”
