By Benjamin Nicholls
Hillcrest Business Improvement Association
Our neighborhood marketing meeting begins each month with a standing agenda item, which is formally referred to as “community news,” and informally known as “Hillcrest gossip.” Predictably, anything and everything is discussed with this agenda item; we chat about what businesses are officially coming, what businesses are officially going, and we keep the gossip fresh with rumors of both. It’s our unique take on kicking off a vibrant marketing session where we’ll inevitably dream up something fabulous to help keep those businesses coming. When tapping into the larger wire this past month, things were seemingly dour as the closures of Pomegranate, Kemo Sabe and Bite became the focus of Hillcrest news.
When neighborhood businesses we love close their doors, it’s easy to overlook the boom of new growth in Hillcrest. For every Hillcrest business that’s become a casualty of the U.S. economy, another business has taken its place. Take Fifth Avenue, for example: There is a bubbling new energy just south of Robinson, where R Gang Eatery opened with rave reviews and the new Busalacchi’s is nearing completion. These new gems will join current hot spots Pappalecco, The Tractor Room, Deli Llama and Babycakes’ brand-new “Baby Bar” as desirable restaurant destinations. Right around the corner, you’ll find the birth of Burger Lounge’s newest location on Fourth Avenue. And make your way just down the street to shop at the new Artist Craftsman and Supply or head over to Pretty Please boutique at the Uptown Center.
And in the meantime, Hillcrest’s nightlife can start preparing for the brand new club “Eden,” which is taking over the old Universal space on the corner of University and Tenth avenues. Frankly, when Universal closed, I feared that space would be unoccupied for years—and now, less than a year later, a new entrepreneur is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Hillcrest.
Hillcrest has never been a neighborhood that feared the sky was falling. At our marketing meetings we’re keeping our ears tuned in to exciting neighborhood rumors. A few that have come our way thus far are a streetcar from downtown to Hillcrest, a coordinated parking validation program, the redevelopment of Hillcrest’s DMV into an exciting mixed-use project, and a colorful “Shop Hillcrest for the Holidays” campaign. Folks, this is the season to get excited about Hillcrest—after all, rumor has it, the best is yet to come.
—Benjamin Nicholls is the executive director of the Hillcrest Business Improvement Association.
