The Ready Room

A new 8,000 square foot music venue will be rocking The Grove soon. The Ready Room will be run by Firebird talent buyer Mike Cracchiolo. The project is set to include adjacent retail and office space as well. The general contractor is Sitelines, Inc. and SPACE Architects has designed the build-out. The project's five separate spaces, collectively addressed as 4191 Manchester Avenue, have been long vacant and are some of the least aesthetically appealing commercial fronts in the burgeoning neighborhood. The project may surpass the previous ugly duckling champion SPACE, which knows a thing or two about turning a homely building into something great. The Firebird will continue at its 2706 Olive location where over the past five years Mike has built a unique venue attracting national acts such as The Melvins, Panic! At The Disco and Mission of Burma as well as hosting local events. That location is an understated former bank built in 1966. The unremarkable buildings on Manchester perfectly suit Mike's view of how a venue should work. "The point is not for the venue to be the focus," he told nextSTL. "Like a good umpire or bass player, if they're doing their job, you don't notice them." The Ready Room is being built to suit and will accommodate approximately 800 for events.