A few days before the calendar switched from 2017 to 2018, we got a hot tip about a new business coming to Washington Avenue. The tipster directed our attention to a two-story building at 1719 Washington Ave. with a day care on the first floor. For a stretch of time, there was a mixed martial arts gym on the 2nd floor. The MMA gym moved to the 1900 block of Washington a couple years back, and as far as we know, their old space has been sitting vacant ever since. But not for long.
On January 15th,the cleverly named Bury the Hatchet will be opening in the former MMA space. As the name suggests, this is an axe-throwing business. They already have a location in Cherry Hill, and looking at the copious photos on their Facebook page, it appears the business has been a major hit. Achieving success in the ‘burbs and considering the enthusiasm around Urban Axes, a similar concept in Fishtown, it seems that Bury the Hatchet is making a sound decision to open a location in town. As this is very much a fun by appointment business, we don’t think that the lack of foot traffic on Washington Avenue or the 2nd floor location will hamper their path to popularity.
If you’re interested in some axe tossing, you can already book a session on the company’s website in advance of their grand opening. The cost is $40 per person for a 2 hour session, with a minimum group size of 4 people during the week and 8 people on the weekend. With 11 axe-throwing alleys in the space, there’s plenty of space to spread out and release your aggression one axe at a time. Plus, we believe you can bring beers.
Next door, you might recall a few weeks ago, we told you about some long awaited demolition activity at the corner of 18th & Washington. As you can see in the photo above, that demolition is now finished. We still don’t see any new building permits for this property so we’re still assuming it will be a mixed-use building with retail on the first floor and 15 apartments upstairs. Probably a safe bet that the eventual retail tenant won’t be an axe-throwing spot.
Remember, earlier, we told you that the MMA gym (which also included crossfit) moved to the 1900 block of Washington Avenue a couple years ago? Now would probably be a good time to mention that said gym has since moved to another location, and a new crossfit gym has opened in its place. We poked our head in the door of the new OpenBox Athletics last week, and it looks pretty great inside. If you live in the area and have a new years resolution to manage, it might be worthwhile for you to check it out as well.