It’s tough to pinpoint the exact moment Washington Avenue began to transform from a largely vacant business district to a thriving neighborhood. Still, you could do worse than to look to 1998, when Kevin, Sean, and Tim McGowan bought an old warehouse building near N. 13th Street and moved in, eventually bringing along their brothers Bill and Seamus. The McGowans began to remake one part of downtown from moribund to vibrant by living together on one floor of the eight-story building, with cardboard partitions and shared amenities. They jokingly called it “the commune,” but their plan was more free market–oriented. They were each going to take a floor, build it out, live on it, and together run a street-level bar.
They discovered a few things. First, their friends were eager to hang out downtown. Second, says Seamus, “The size of a floor was too big for each of us; putting furniture in it would bankrupt us.” So they developed the building into condos for resale. They also learned that they could get state tax credits for rehabbing historic buildings if they held onto them for at least five years. The proposed condos became rental units. As the real-estate market faltered and tightened, McGowan Brothers Development acquired and renovated five more historic buildings on and around Washington Avenue near their first one, comprising 235 loft-style rental units across the six buildings. In a sense, they were re-creating their commune on a larger scale.
So they asked themselves what else they needed downtown. They created Lucas Park Grille on the first floor of one of their loft buildings. “We got into creating businesses because we had the space,” Seamus says. A string of successful businesses followed: Irish pub Flannery’s, Fitness Factory gym, and Great Cuts salon. The McGowans opened Rosalita’s Cantina at the end of 2010.
Their next project, Seamus says, will be building a parking garage on Lucas Avenue near N. 13th Street, so those drawn to the increasingly lively loft district will have a place to ditch their vehicles and explore on foot, as cities were once meant to be seen.
And now the McGowans are converting the 24 residential units of the Grace Lofts, above Flannery’s, from apartments to condos, testing the waters.
What else are they missing downtown?
“We’ve asked ourselves that question lately, and I guess it’s good, because we’re not missing anything anymore,” Seamus says. “Everyone wants retail, but until downtown’s population grows, you’re not going to get any national retailers to come
into these buildings.”
