Local Developer Tim Hill Promises Big Changes in the Old City

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Change is afoot in the Old City. Local developer Tim Hill recently confirmed that he has purchased the NV Nightclub building at 125 E. Jackson Ave. from longtime downtown nightclub maven Duane Carleo.

The big two-story building has hosted a number of venues over the years, with its most recent incarnations, including NV, taking the form of mass-market, D.J.-driven dance clubs aimed at the early-20s crowd. Though he couldn’t reveal all the details of his plans, Hill promised a serious tonal shift for the space, and by extension, for the Old City as a whole.

“The plan is for a restaurant/special events [establishment],” Hill says. “There’s nothing concrete yet, but we’re in discussion with a restaurant that has a special events component.

“We’re not opposed to some element of entertainment in the venue, but we’d like to see it as more of a restaurant type of theme than a bar/nightclub. … It may be time for the Old City to grow up a little.”

For starters, though, Hill says the building needs significant renovation.

“We bought it with the intention of improving it,” he says. “It’s been something of a victim of deferred maintenance.”

Hill says he’d also like to make better use of the facility’s extensive patio. Hill describes his vision of “some type of water feature” for the patio area: “Maybe even a pool, for terrace dining. We’re still in the development stages.”

In the meantime, downtown developer David Dewhirst of Dewhirst Properties has purchased the parking lot beside the NV building from paid-parking company LAZ. Dewhirst said his purchase is coincidental to Hill’s—though the two men have worked together in the past, notably on renovating the old JC Penney building on Gay Street.

Dewhirst says his plans for the lot are still very much up in the air.

“If I had a good answer about what I wanted to do, I’d give it to you,” he says. “Mainly, we’re looking to develop the space so it’s not a surface parking lot. I’m just not a parking lot kind of guy.”

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