427/429 Crockett Update

It’s all over but some flooring installation and the grand opening for the new spaces at 427/429/431 Crockett Street. It has been an interesting ride for General Contractor John Cush and Architect/Owner Jason Cram. Historic rehabs always bring special surprises, but surprises here included not enough electrical capacity (not at just the buildings, but for the entire block), and not enough city water. Both surprises led to ‘big digs’- first for a SWEPCO electrical vault in the alley behind the building and in trenching a trough across Marshall Street to run more water to the buildings.

 

The two buildings are truly downtown ‘mixed use.’ The two-story, 429/431 Crockett, includes apartments up top and commercial space below. There are just two commercial spaces still available-  an 1,865 SF space and a 1733 SF space on the corner.

The one story, 427 Crockett, has been transformed from a bus station convenience mart to a lovely commercial space (already leased for a photographic studio) and a restaurant with quite a history downtown-  The ‘new’ Glass Hat.

The Glass Hat opened in downtown Shreveport in 1937, first as a cocktail lounge and later as a lounge/grill. One newspaper reporter of the day described it as a ‘place of gay entertainment, where you can let your hair down in a dignified manner and for an outlay of cash entirely up to your own ideas and own purse.’  Amazingly, for a period of time drinks were on the house every day at 5 pm. We don’t know how long that may have lasted, but we can imagine the popularity of free drinks.

Many ads described The Glass Hat as ‘fashionable,’ ‘ultra smart’ and touted the ‘pretty barmaids’ but our favorite HAS to be this one. Yes, it’s an extraordinary announcement concerning Fried Chicken. This makes us chuckle. Apparently fried chicken has ALWAYS been a crowd pleaser.

We are unsure if the menu of the ‘new’ Glass Hat will include fried chicken, but we do know that plans now are for breakfast, lunch and some later evenings. There will be a bar in the rear of the large dining area, and there is a separate large meeting room for smaller service organizations and lunch meetings.

Meantime, the rest of the space is coming together nicely. The owners decided to open up the large original skylights in the building and they make a world of difference in the amount of natural light spilling in.

 

There will be more information coming soon on the restaurant, commercial spaces- and a walkthrough of the amazing apartments- so stay tuned!

If you are interested in looking at one of the commercial spaces still available, contact Jason Cram for pricing and build out options. You, too, can be a part of downtown’s history!

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Story posted May 2022

Driven past 427/429 Crockett Street lately? The buildings are a beehive of activity! This week, concrete was poured as work continues on bringing the spaces back to life as apartments, commercial space and an eatery. To read about the buildings’ plans, scroll down…and a little bit farther down, enjoy the history of the buildings that include both  otters and a strange afterlife. (You just never know what stories these historic buildings hold)!

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Story from Jan. 12, 2022

Architect Jason Cram’s small but amazingly energetic crew is making good headway at 427/429 Crockett Street and the changes are pretty remarkable. Cram started with two small buildings across from the former SporTran Bus Terminal that had become a payday loan shop and convenience store. Over the years, both had been remade and remodeled into something that only vaguely resembled the original historic properties.

Cram has uncovered the beautiful windows, the 1930s-era neon sign, the cast iron column and high ceilings and is well on his way to returning the building to its original appeal.

To read more about what these spaces will become, and the very interesting story about what was there before, read on…

 

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Story from April 28, 2021

A big change is coming to the 400 block of Crockett Street.

427 and 429 Crockett Street, two buildings that look sketchy and down on their luck, are soon to become this:

The new owners, A&J Properties, plan to have casual dining at 427 Crockett Suite B, and lease space at 427 Crocket Suite A. The hope is to have a possible Quick Care- type clinic and/or pharmacy at 429 Crocket, but the owners are definitely open to other tenants and will build out to suit. On the second floor of 429 will be upscale apartments and the owners will build to suit the tenants who are early renters. Plans are for construction to begin in mid summer and to be complete by the end of the year. Interested in a retail or apartment space? Contact Vintage Design Group, LLC at 318-990-902.

A Little of the History of 427/429 Crockett Street ——————————————

The one thing that is certain when purchasing a building downtown is that there will be at least one back story. In the case of most of our historic inventory, you can multiply that by infinity and beyond. Take the case of the properties at the corner of Crockett Street and Marshall. The buildings that jointly would have had the addresses 423, 425, 427, 427 1/2, & 429 Crockett come with a lot of history—some which is still on view. Though the ground floor of the two-story has been rehabbed over the years, the top floor still retains a more original layout. In 1918, this would be where you would have come to rent a furnished room from Mrs. C.W. Linxwiler. By 1922, the rooms were made available for men only, by 1923, both men and couples could rent, but not single women. The space stayed a boarding house until becoming the Avalon Hotel in 1935, then the LaSalle Hotel, and in 1950- the Order of Otters. Hands down, this would be our favorite use because we love the name. The Order of Otters was a Fraternal Organization that got its start in Shreveport in 1934. It was a civic & fraternal society that was apparently part of a national organization. The meeting place was known as the ‘otter burrow.’ Of course it was. We love that grown men would have told their wives not to wait up because they were going to the ‘burrow.’

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The most unusual of all the tenants was architect Louis E. Moossy, whose office door still stands at the top of the stairs. In 1964, Moossy was voted the head of the American Institute of Architects Shreveport Chapter. A prestigious assignment,

Moossy followed in the footsteps of such luminaries as Samuel Wiener, Clarence King, Luther Haas, Edward Neild, and Dewey Somdal. In fact, Moossy worked for the organization Somdal created, Somdal and Associates. Though his architectural career was likely long and varied, two things about Moossy stand out. One was his precedent-setting lawsuit Moossy v. Huckabay Hospital, Inc.,  (1973) under which the court ruled that an architect employed to prepare plans and specifications for a building on which there are no cost limitations agreed upon can recover compensation for his services irrespective of the costs of construction. This particular ruling has been referred to dozens of times over the years in various court cases.

Hands down the strangest part of the story of Mr. Moossy’s life had to do with his death. After his sudden demise in 1998, Moossy’s daughter Deborah placed his remains in the family car with the intentions (we hope) of eventually taking him on a fine final drive. However, that Broadmoor garage is where Mr. Moossy’s earthly remains stayed for the next eight years. Family member were suspicious that there was no gravesite to visit, but daughter Deborah stayed mum, even after being sentenced to prison for attacking a neighbor who left a bag of dog food on her porch. Mr. Moossy’s remains were finally discovered when the family home and car were sold and the cremation box fell out of the car on the way to the scrapyard.

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While nothing much can top that story, other tenants of the ground floor and adjacent one-story building include grocery stores, meat markets, the Russian Village Bar (1940-44), office supplies, bookkeeping services, blueprint & cigar sales, and the famous Glass Hat Restaurant. The Glass Hat is most known for its location on Texas Street, where it moved in 1939.  For a time from 1957-59 it was Ridgway’s Blueprints. Ridgway’s, as you may recall, ended up down the street at 719 Marshall, in a building that was converted into the Ridgeway Square condos.

The good news is that these buildings steeped in history are now for sale. Interested in seeing the buildings for yourself? Here’s the scoop.

• Asking Price: $395,000

  427 & 429 Crockett in downtown Shreveport are for Sale. The two story can be renovated using Historic Tax Credits; both buildings are in a Federal Opportunity Zone. The buildings together are 13,600 sq. ft. and are situated on the corner of Marshall and Crockett Street. 427 is a former downtown grocery , and 429 housed the former Pay Day Financing operation on the 1st floor. 2nd floor is a vintage historic office type building with original floors, windows, etc. within the line of site of 621 Edwards St. which is also for sale by same ownership. Both can be sold as a package deal along with 9035 Jewella Ave.

  • Total Sq. Ft. – 13,600 sq. ft.
  • Total Available Sq. Ft. – 13,600 sq. ft.

• CONTACT

  Stephen Hamm ( email ) • Berkshire Hathaway HS Ally Real Estate
  Phone: 318-231-2000