Downtown Seafood Restaurant Shutters
Latest closing is part of dramatic change for Water Street entertainment district.
Lowcountry, 1114 N. Water St. Photo taken September 22nd, 2020, by Mariiana Tzotcheva.
Farewell, lowcountry.
The southern-style seafood restaurant abruptly closed its Milwaukee location Sunday.
“Five years, thousands of tables and a whole lot of good nights. We’re grateful for every one of you who walked in, sat down and made this place feel like ours together,” the business said in a social media post.
The restaurant was located at 1114 N. Water St.
The business’s four other locations, all in the Chicago area, continue to operate.
Known for its seafood boils, the bar and restaurant opened in 2021 as the city emerged from its COVID-19 restrictions.
The closure is just the latest change for the Water Street entertainment district, which saw Silk on Water announce a multi-month “temporary” closure Friday, Vagabond, a Mexican restaurant, close in July, and Duke’s on Water close in May. Another bar is openly for sale. The district has been plagued by violence and loitering in recent years.
The chain launched in Chicago in 2015 under the ownership of Pan and Dana Hompluem. The Milwaukee location’s current license shows it is solely owned by Che Mei Wong of Chicago.
The lowcountry property was previously occupied by Bar Louie, another Illinois chain, and Brew City Barbecue. It is owned by SSG Property Holdings, which lists Matthew Spellman as its registered agent. Prior to its use as a restaurant, the building housed a wholesale florist.
The restaurant occupied the entire first floor of the 12,778-square-foot building and its large patio. The second floor is leased to other tenants.
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What is the solution to the loitering and violence problem? Do we really need to see water street shuttered in order for the riff raff and menaces to find another area to disrupt and ruin? It just seems like every week there’s another contributing factor towards the decline of an area meant for entertainment. There is already a teen curfew, so we cant just say its unaccompanied minors. It seems in a lot of cases involve loitering after bar close.
Maybe they can try equestrian patrols down the sidewalks. Large horses will tend to move people out of the way in a non- threatening way. They are very visible and give the riding police good visibility of what is going on around them.
While I won’t say MPD or the City shouldn’t invest in Water St., how can we be sure this wasn’t a convenient excuse to close an otherwise struggling business. Way easier to blame ‘the other’ than just admit “the restaurant industry is under significant pressure” and this place just didn’t manage it well (from afar in Chicago).