Lumber Jack's Axe House to expand, move into shuttered Off The Traxx in downtown Melbourne
Off The Traxx has been axed: The abruptly shuttered sports bar in downtown Melbourne will be converted into a larger Lumber Jack's Axe House, which will move in from the Railroad Emporium next door.
Lumber Jack's Axe House opened in December 2020 inside the New Haven Avenue arcade, where it shares space with Pub Americana and Downtown Biergarten.
Previously, co-owners Terry and Tami O'Grady opened Brevard County's first "urban axe throwing" venue in July 2019 at The Backyard on U.S. 1 in Palm Shores.
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“We've done well downtown with Lumber Jack’s. But we are very limited in our space, and we're very limited in our revenue lines. We don't have food there — we would like to mirror The Backyard with our food," Terry O'Grady said.
“In The Backyard, we have food and beverage. We do company and corporate events. We have the entertainment activities. And we have the beer-wine-cider-seltzer. We want to mirror that downtown," he said.
"We can't really do that in our current location because we have no kitchen. We're limited on space, and our visibility is very impeded," he said.
On Oct. 20, the Melbourne Planning and Zoning Board will make recommendations on two conditional use permits for Lumber Jack's Axe House's future home at 918 E. New Haven Ave. One permit will allow indoor recreation, while the other will allow consumption of beer and wine, Planning Manager Cheryl Dean said.
The Melbourne City Council will later cast decisive votes. In a Tuesday Facebook post, Mayor Paul Alfrey said he supports the concept.
Alfrey also referenced the March 6 shooting death of a Palm Bay man inside Off The Traxx, saying "the well-being and safety of our residents and patrons in downtown Melbourne are a major concern."
Alain Noel, 34, was killed that night, and a 29-year-old woman who was bartending was also shot in the left shin, an arrest affidavit said. At the time of the 1:10 a.m. gunfire, Off The Traxx was reported to be near capacity at about 350 patrons, a Melbourne police news release said.
Melbourne resident Elvin Clark was later charged with second-degree murder, aggravated battery while discharging a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a felon. A docket sounding in his case is scheduled for Oct. 26 at the Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Justice Center in Viera.
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O'Grady signed a lease to take over the Off The Traxx building on Tuesday, and he hopes the larger Lumber Jack's Axe House is operational by Dec. 1. He provided more details on the entertainment venue:
Aaron Rosenow, who founded the former Wanderlust Café in Cocoa Village, will work as kitchen manager and chef.
The pizza window will remain open.
Crews will install a dozen axe-throwing lanes.
A 16-foot inflatable dart board will serve as a target for tennis balls, soccer balls and golf balls.
“We're going to super-focus on ‘sports bar.’ So we will have sports trivia. We will have sports trivia nights for high schools and any youth sports that want to do a sports trivia night, where they charge and they keep the door (proceeds) for a fundraiser," O'Grady said.
“We're going to have competitions and contests for every sport all year long," he said.
Off The Traxx opened in November 2008 inside the former Kempfer's Grocery Store, debuting as one of Brevard County's prominent nightspots. The sports bar abruptly closed in mid-September.
At Off The Traxx, windows facing the New Haven Avenue sidewalk still display the venue's September music schedule and misspelled paper signs reading "We Are Temporarily Closed For Remodelling." As late as Sept. 12, the venue's now-deactivated Facebook page told patrons the restaurant-bar was reopening on Monday nights.
Back in June, Noel's estate sued Clark and Off The Traxx, citing the bar's "woefully inadequate security" and seeking more than $30,000 in damages. The lawsuit remains ongoing in Brevard County Circuit Court.
Then in late July, the Melbourne Code Enforcement Board fined Off The Traxx $5,000 for failing to provide a required, trained five-person security team the night of the fatal shooting — "an irreparable or irreversible violation" of the establishment's conditional use permit, agenda documents show.
O'Grady said Lumber Jack's Axe House should close by midnight, save during major sports events. He proposes to decrease building occupancy to a maximum 160 patrons, including up to 100 in the bar-restaurant and 60 in the axe-throwing area, according to a narrative outline submitted to Melbourne City Hall.
"No late crowd, no DJs — music really wouldn’t be a good mix with the noise from axes and sports games," the outline said.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Lumber Jack's Axe House taking over Off The Traxx in downtown Melbourne
