As of June 7, Starr Hill is officially defunct after eight years in business, and the word from owner Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management is that the W. Main Street building’s next commercial reincarnation is still undecided. But neighborhood folks seem to know a little more. Even speaking from Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he’s away for a tattoo convention, Ben Miller of Ben Around Tattoos, an adjoining business on W. Main Street, says he knows what’s coming next.
For the last eight years, the recently closed Starr Hill restaurant and music hall was a business anchor on W. Main Street.
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“It’s going to be a sports bar,” he says. “I’ve heard it from Starr Hill employees. I’ve heard it enough times from enough people to believe that’s what’s happening.” Miller’s not alone. Laura Galgano, one of four owners of the Blue Moon Diner, says she’s also heard that a sports bar’s going in the old Starr Hill space, though she says it doesn’t make much sense with Wild Wing Café across the street, a sentiment Miller shares.
While local business owners speculate on the newest neighborhood addition, Jamie Sisley of Red Light Management says no decisions have been made about what will replace Starr Hill. “I’ve heard 12 different rumors,” he says. “None of them are true. There’s nothing pressuring them to make a decision.”
According to the owner of the building, Jessie T. Hook, the lease is still current and gives Red Light Management the option to renew. As for the sports bar, Hook says there’s no truth to the rumor, but adds she’s not intimately involved with the business side. “They send their rent check,” she says, “and that’s the end of that.”
With Starr Hill shutting its doors, will W. Main continue its revitalization? Michael Osteen of the city Planning Commission says “big things are happening there. [The closing] might be a step back, but not a long-term setback.”
Even without the draw from Starr Hill shows, neighborhood businesses don’t seem worried. “I don’t see where it’s going to have much impact on the neighborhood,” says Miller. “With restaurants like Maya and Horse & Hound opening here, it’s bringing people to the area.”
Horse & Hound co-owner Luther Fedora agrees. “The Starr Hill crowd doesn’t really come here,” he says. “I don’t even know if they realize we’re open yet.”
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