Renovated Highball To Be Less Baller Without Bowling?

What's happening over at the giant pit in the ground formerly known as the Highball and surrounding environs on South Lamar? Doesn't look like much, reports Drafthouse blogger Afsheen Nomai, but things are stirring 'neath the surface of the second coming of the Highball/Drafthouse: grading, foundational work, a parking ramp. But the real news, writes Nomai, concerns what patrons can expect at the new Highball, which is "losing bowling," but not the old bowling lanes themselves, which are being repurposed. Via the Drafthouse blog:

First, every body knows that the Highball is losing bowling. But the lanes will be with the Highball in spirit as they have been salvaged and will be reused for the bar top, dance floor, some benches and, according to the architects, "a wood ceiling element."

But while the neutered Highball may lack (bowling) balls, it'll feature seven karaoke rooms, a more intuitively placed ballroom with a stage and dance floor near the bar, and a "formal outdoor patio" that can be "enclosed for private events."

But without bowling, will the Highball be, as one Drafthouse commenter laments, "No bowling = just another Austin bar?" Or can The Goodnight accommodate Austin's retro balls-and-booze needs?

· The New Highball: A South Lamar Update [Drafthouse]
· All Highball Coverage on Eater Austin [-EATX-]

Renderings of the future Drafthouse, Highball. [Photo: Alamo Drafthouse/Official]

The Highball

1120 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704