The Northern Liberties building housing The Fire is up for sale
In the latest case of a long-running Philly music venue landing in the real estate listings, Northern Liberties haunt The Fire is being listed for sale. The asking price: $950,000.
As reported by Naked Philly on Wednesday and confirmed in the real estate listing, the sale includes “a liquor license and all equipment.” (Naked Philly reports that the liquor license itself is valued at around $200,000.) Reached for comment via email, however, promoter Derek Dorsey stresses that it is the building itself that is for sale, not The Fire itself.
“It is business as usual throughout this year into the next year,” Dorsey says, noting a calendar of shows that stretches through February 3. “Then Northern Liberties Music Festival is already being planned.”
The venue, which has been in operation at 412 West Girard Avenue since 1988, proudly considers itself the place where the Philadelphia music scene cuts its teeth. Before Dr. Dog broke, they were regulars at the venue’s open mic series. When Amos Lee was being courted by labels in the early 00s, he staged a show at The Fire to catch looks from A&Rs. The Fire also has a strong commitment to the Philly hip-hop community, and MCs from Schooly D and Joie Kathos to Reef the Lost Cauze often take its stage.
The listing talks up The Fire’s music heritage, mentioning an “auditorium” (a bit of an overstatement, in our estimation) that “has hosted hosted hundreds of musicians, including John Legend, Santigold, Amos Lee, Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and many other renowned performers.” It also mentions the recording studio, set up to make live multi-track recordings directly from the stage. Many Philadelphia artists have released “Live At the Fire” albums, either on CD or to their Bandcamp pages.
At the same time as pushing the idea of “continu[ing The Fire’s] present mission presenting live music in a fun and friendly atmosphere,” the curiously-worded listing seems to acknowledge the changing tide in Northern Liberties and Fishtown, saying that “with some investment, the space could be upgraded or re purposed for a different type of hospitality establishment,” suggesting a sports bar as one possibility.
The Fire is the latest long-standing Philly venue to go up for sale in the past year — Fishtown party house The Barbary has also wound up in the real estate listings, as well as the building housing Old City folk club Tin Angel and the building housing Kung Fu Necktie. At all three of those rooms, live music has continued as usual. The Barbary has concerts on the books through January 21st, Tin Angel is booked out to February 3rd and Kung Fu Necktie’s calendar stretches to March 21.
Late this summer, The Fire underwent a renovation and rebranding, positioning itself as “The New Fire” through a series of launch concerts. The lineup at those shows and through the fall is consistent with artists The Fire has booked in the past, and the look and feel of the interior remains the same, albeit somewhat cleaned up from its previously rough-round-the-edges vibe.
The Fire | photo via kurfiss.com