Lubbock’s downtown has seen better days. Many storefronts are closed or abandoned. Few restaurants and bars are located in downtown and the ones that have chosen to stay, don’t stay open late.
But besides all of that, there are many working to change what downtown looks like and they’re focusing on Broadway.
“You take any city, if they have a vibrant active downtown that usually means that they have a strong economy off of that,” said Marc McDougal, the CEO of McDougal Companies which works on a downtown development project. “You have 35,000 Tech students with a mile away from downtown and with what’s happening in Overton, you move to downtown and re-energize downtown.”
McDougal Companies estimates the area’s value will increase more than 70 million dollars by the end of 2030.
“The more people we can get downtown, the more restaurants you’ll see. Activity breeds activity,” said McDougall.
The Brewery LBK is the newest business brewing traffic on Broadway.
“I thought it was a great thing for Lubbock, I thought it was something that would help Lubbock grow economically,” said the general manager of The Brewery LBK, Robert Box.
“It’s something that Lubbock kind of just really needed for a long time,” said The Brewery LBK’s head brewer, Tim Hardy.
Right now, the space itself doesn’t look like much. In the next couple of weeks, they will start construction adding a bar, a sitting area and a section to actually brew the beer. They hope to pour their first pint by the end of the year.
“My goal is for this to be a place where you can go with your friends on Saturdays after the Tech game, where you can go with your family, where you can meet people,” said Box.
And besides brewing and building a community, Box hopes to have a hand in developing downtown as well.
“If you go to Austin, Oregon or Massachusets, you see where breweries open up, businesses grow around it because they come for the brewery,” said Box. “I hope that we’re the spark plug and that we’re the center piece so more businesses come to downtown.”
