Fitzgerald’s property in the Heights has new owner

PHOTOS: Fitzgerald's new real estate deal Fans wait in line for the Nick Jonas show at Fitzgerald's on White Oak in 2014. The site has been sold to an investor, making the onetime owner a renter now. >>Here are recent photos of the locally famous venue. less PHOTOS: Fitzgerald's new real estate deal Fans wait in line for the Nick Jonas show at Fitzgerald's on White Oak in 2014. The site has been sold to an investor, making the onetime owner a renter now. ... more Photo: Dave Rossman, Freelance / For The Houston Chronicle Photo: Dave Rossman, Freelance / For The Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 63 Caption Close Fitzgerald’s property in the Heights has new owner 1 / 63 Back to Gallery

The owner of Fitzgerald’s, the live music venue housed in an century-old wooden building in the Heights, has sold the property to a real estate investor who has been buying sites in the area to redevelop.

The longtime owner of the property and venue, Sara Fitzgerald, said Monday that she is still running the club at 2706 White Oak but is now a renter. She did not say how long she was planning to stay or what the future holds for Fitzgerald’s.

“I haven’t left yet, I just don’t own the dirt,” she said. “I’m just staying till they figure out what to do.”

The two-story club has hosted local, regional and national acts on its two stages since it opened in 1977.

The new owner of the property, an entity affiliated with a Chicago-based parking company, owns multiple sites along White Oak just west of Studemont. They include buildings on the north side of the street that house the Barnaby’s, Tacos A Go Go and Christian’s Tailgate restaurants. A parking garage is slated for the area as well.

The investor behind the entity, Jesse Levine of Easy Park, is also planning a retail development on the south side of White Oak and a project on Washington Avenue called Railway Heights.

Levine could not be reached Monday.

In 2015, another Easy Park affiliate purchased the Broadway Square Apartments, a 2,470-unit complex built near Hobby Airport by the late Harold Farb. At the time, Levine said that “in the very long term” a section of the property closest to the airport could be redeveloped.

The change in ownership of the Fitzgerald’s property from its longtime owner to Easy Park entity called Heights Studemont Purchase Company LLC was recorded in a deed filed last month in the Harris County clerk’s office. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The property also includes three lots on 6½ St. that back up to the nightclub. The entire parcel totals 36,750 square feet and has a market value of nearly $3 million, according to the Harris County Appraisal District.

This busy stretch of White Oak is one of the few walkable commercial areas in Houston, said Zach Wolf of Braun Enterprises, which last year bought the former Jimmy’s Ice House property across from Fitzgerald’s.

The ice house was updated and Braun leased the space to another bar called Bobcat Teddy’s.

“We knew there would be demand because of the location,” Wolf said. “ … There’s tons of interest in this area.”

nancy.sarnoff@chron.com

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J.R. Gonzales contributed.