Live Music Venue Parish Is Moving… Again

The team behind live music venue Parish announced plans to move from its current location this week. Shows will continue at 501 Brushy through 2025.

In a statement posted to Parish’s website, venue operators Heard Presents explained: “We rent Parish. It’s an amazing facility with a fantastic landlord. The rent is fair for the building and the neighborhood, but it’s too much for a small independent music venue like us to break even.”

“In the face of rising real estate costs and changing consumer behavior, we have to find new ways to support the stages and the amazing teams around them,” the statement continues. “We are grateful to have a creative, talented team that produces beautiful, safe evenings for you. We care about the art, the sound, the light, the fun. But pay and benefits aren’t what they should be.

“The people who give you a great night out deserve proper careers, with a fair wage, so they can raise a family in the community where they work. We could raise prices, but our mission is to support our music community, ALL of it, and that means keeping ticket prices and drink prices accessible. We just can’t do that in our current location.”

As the post notes, “This is the second time Parish has had to move in the past five years.” The venue holds a storied history: Heard Presents Managing Partner Stephen Sternschein – who also owns Empire Control Room & Garage – acquired the original location, at 214 E. Sixth, in 2018, after owner Doug Guller put the club up for sale on eBay. Then, in 2021, Heard sued their landlord for $1 million, accusing property owner Matt Reppert (Whimsical Notions LLC) of changing the locks without warning and requiring the team to pay accelerated rent.

Heard Presents teamed up with omnipresent Central Texas music bookers Resound Presents to open Parish at 501 Brushy, on the Eastside, in 2022, taking over the North Door. The venue housed a smaller, DJ-centric room next door called My Oh My, which Resound co-owner Ian Orth characterized at the time as a “cousin” to Parish. The two companies broke off their partnership in 2024, but Resound has continued to book shows at the venue.

“We plan to find a new home for Parish by the end of the year,” the statement says. When asked by the Chronicle about whether he wanted to return the venue to Sixth Street or stay on the Eastside, Sternschein messaged: “It will be a challenge to stay Downtown with market conditions but it would be the right place for a room with a legacy of showcasing breaking bands – there are a few interesting neighborhoods that might be a good compromise between central and affordable. We will see.”

In their statement, Heard Presents shouted out real estate nonprofit Rally Austin, which loaned the company $2.2 million to buy and expand Empire Control Room & Garage. Sternschein already owned the Control Room, but the loan helped him to acquire the Garage – thus allowing him to view (and renovate) Empire as one property. The deal also secured Heard Presents a right to first refusal clause should a future buyer try to get rid of live music at the property in the next 20 years.

“We’re grateful for this every day, because we don’t have to worry about moving,” Heard wrote in their statement. “It’s a great deal for the city too – this wasn’t a grant, it was a standard interest-rate mortgage that is profitable for the city. Programs like Rally Austin can truly save independent arts venues and the communities they anchor in Austin and around the country.”

Sternschein doesn’t expect a similar deal for Parish. “We are just on the hunt the old fashioned way for the right opportunity,” he said. “I do think we want to own the dirt this time though which takes longer to put together than a lease but #worthit.”