Austin Dive Crow Bar Will Relocate Because South Congress Building Is Too Damaged After Fire

It turns out South Congress dive Crow Bar’s building has to be straight-up demolished because it was too damaged after it caught on fire last year on 3116 South Congress Avenue.

According to Crow Bar’s Instagram, there was “extensive damage in the walls in the older part of the building next to the patio.” Owner and founder Steve Gee noted in the same post that he’s looking to reopen the bar in a new location. Eater has reached out to Crow Bar for more information; watch this space for updates.

The fire at Crow Bar happened early on September 18 on the bar’s patio and spread to the deck and the first and second floors. Around the same time, there were several other fires that happened in the same neighborhood during the same time, according to the Austin Fire Department. The AFD was investigating the fires as arson because it believed that it was “intentionally set.” A suspect was arrested soon afterward.

Crow Bar staffer Aryn Black started a GoFundMe for staffers during the bar’s closure. Fellow South Austin bars Little Drinks Lounge, the 04 Lounge, and Casino South held a fundraising pub crawl for the bar in October 2022 too. The team had been cleaning up, digging through, and fixing up the damaged bar since then, with a plan to reopen in early 2023. But that can’t happen now because of how bad the fire damages were.

Gee opened Crow Bar in 2010.