A long-neglected but high profile space on Springfield’s Main Street commercial strip has taken on a new life. On June 24, 2019, Strings Sports Brewery opened in the former service station at the southwest corner of 9th and Main Streets. Scott Adeeb and his family have transformed the formerly abandoned building into a family friendly restaurant and craft brewery with a heavy focus on sports. In addition to having a beer or grabbing a bite, guests can watch sports, shoot freethrows at regulation-sized basketball hoops, and play darts or giant Connect 4.
The building was constructed in 1938 as a service station. It later became a Firestone tire store and in 2003 was adapted into a restaurant and performance venue named Henrietta’s, after Henrietta Dozier, Jacksonville’s first female architect. It then became another restaurant, called simply 9th and Main, before the building was foreclosed on by the city in 2008. It sat deteriorating until the city finally sought bids for redevelopment in 2016. Adeeb, who made the only proposal, took over the building in 2017 and spent the next two years renovating the dilapidated space into Strings.
Strings is the latest entry into the booming dining scene popping up on Main Street, which as seen many new restaurants and bars open up in the last few years. It joins fellow craft breweries Hyperion Brewing Company and Main and Six, all located within three blocks of each other. Check out the next page for a look inside Springfield’s newest hotspot.