New places may feel a dime a dozen in our chameleon city, but two specific approaches at Cherrywood Center and Downtown Austin Space Activation are giving preexisting buildings a new lease on life \u2013 pun intended. By making the most of what\u2019s in front of them and helping others to do the same, leaders in both spaces hope to build genuine connection between buildings and the people who gather in them.<\/p>\n
Longtime Community Space Expands Into DIY Venue<\/p>\n
Chase Weinacht took over as Cherrywood Center<\/a>\u2019s campus manager and booking coordinator last March and began slowly transforming the building\u2019s two reverberant rooms as DIY stages for local bands. The musician was already well-acquainted with the hall\u2019s many multipurpose rooms, having spent years working at Spilled Milk Social Club, an afterschool program hosted in the center. In September 2025, his band, Feeling Small, led the charge, hosting a free, all-ages, Monday night series, New Songs in the Old Hall, inviting friends and collaborators to join.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that alternative spaces are a more interesting space to see a show and perform a show,\u201d Weinacht says. \u201cThere\u2019s something about having to deal with a puzzle as a band or as a show-thrower or an audience member that is just more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n The multi-story ranch-style building at 1605 E. 38th 1\/2, built in 1949, has long been owned by the United Methodist Church. Throughout the years, the space\u2019s managers have adapted to the needs of the neighborhood\u2019s residents, becoming home to several small businesses in addition to long-running recovery meetings and two non-denominational congregations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s already been an event space for a while, so it feels more stable,\u201d says alexalone<\/a> songwriter Alex Peterson, whose December show with Virginia Creeper<\/a> was the first I got to see in the newly established venue space. Spread out in front of the chapel\u2019s spacious sanctuary, Peterson gathered a rare eightpiece lineup for the occasion, leaning into the room\u2019s echoing acoustics \u2013 befitting of the project\u2019s tonally precise, dissonance-loving rock sound. In between sets, friends and fans passed around cookies and convivial conversations at the back of the congregation space and in the hall\u2019s antechambers, becoming yet another community at home in the storied community space.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce shows started happening, more people started being aware that it existed in the first place,\u201d Peterson says, illustrating Weinacht\u2019s hope that new visitors catching a show will imagine performing there themselves \u2013 or hosting their dance lessons, their graduation party, or their neighborhood meet-up in its well-loved, wood-trimmed halls.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen there\u2019s so much change constantly around us, it\u2019s refreshing to go into a space that\u2019s been here longer than all of the condos and re-infuse some energy into it from folks of a younger generation,\u201d says Weinacht. \u201cThere\u2019s something about holding on to a thing and making it sustainable that is a challenge in our constant-turnover city.\u201d<\/p>\n Lab Fifty6 Helps Downtown Hopefuls Ideate\u00a0<\/p>\n A couple of miles closer to Lady Bird Lake, Downtown Austin Alliance\u2019s DASA just cut the ribbon on their latest activation in a vacant office space. Lab Fifty6, a co-working space whose front lobby doubles as a small-scale performance venue and art gallery, will hang out at 506 Congress until May, making use of a short-term lease to bring entrepreneurs and creatives to the area and help them imagine Downtown as a part of their future.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we talk about what this place means, I think we are really trying to express an idea of what human community can mean when it\u2019s a collective effort to think about the idea of what a revitalized Downtown can be,\u201d says Lab Fifty6<\/a> co-founder Steve Hatchett. The professional gathering place offers conference rooms and individual co-working memberships for work-from-home folks craving community and for would-be business owners to meaningfully connect with the city center.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome things you have to touch and you have to build that personal relationship with, and you can\u2019t do that if you\u2019re not in the district and you don\u2019t feel the vibe and energy Downtown,\u201d says Jenell Moffett, DAA\u2019s senior vice president of economic development, marketing, and strategic communications. She, and the team at Lab Fifty6 and DAA, hope that creating spaces for folks to work from Downtown \u2013 before buying into a second location, a new storefront, or an office space \u2013 will help them determine how they can fit into the district\u2019s distinct structure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unlike locating in any other place in the city,\u201d says Moffett, pointing out the fluctuating operating hours and increased foot traffic activated by the multi-use blocks. Wherever it travels, Lab Fifty6\u2019s thoughtfully rooted concept aims to bring varied creators together in the complicated heart of our city.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost like Downtown is mentoring the business,\u201d laughs Moffett.<\/p>\n Chris Teague plays live at Lab Fifty6 on Saturday, Feb. 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n