Property sold, Lenny’s faces another move when lease expires
Friday, June 6th, 2008Lenny’s in Old Fourth Ward will have to find a new location when its lease expires in two years. The sale of the strip mall in which it’s located at the corner of Decatur Avenue and Boulevard was finalized today for $3.3 million to a group of investors.
“For us, it just means in 2-3 years we’ll probably have to move again,” says Bean Summer, the music venue’s booking agent. “On a larger scale, I think it’s a horrible trend for the city. I think they’re pushing out culture and making really ugly choices. They’re losing control of whatever the beauty of Atlanta is becoming. What are we going to do as a city if we have miles and miles of apartments and nothing to do?”
He stresses that the popular music venue is not closing and hopes they’ll own the next location or relocate to a neighborhood less likely to force another move. Lenny’s moved to its current location in August 2006 after its old spot on Memorial Drive was sold.
“I hope people know that we’re going to keep going and we’re going to keep booking shows,” Summer says. “Yeah, we’ve had a lot of ‘public issues’ that have happened to us, but somehow we keep going. But you never know when a tornado is going to hit and gentrification is going to push us out and out.” (more…)
