For years, the large warehouse at 1923 Washington Ave. was home to a building supply company which included a tool rental rental place where we once snagged a floor nailer for a home improvement project. And this made sense, as Washington Avenue has been the place to go for building supplies for decades.

In the past

But if you live in the area or read this blog regularly, you know that things are slowly changing on Washington Avenue and the construction companies are starting to phase out. At some point in the last few years, the store closed down at 1923 Washington Ave., and half of the building turned into Crossfit Supercharged, which also includes an MMA gym, with the other half becoming an auto shop. Recently, the auto shop realized that they needed a variance to operate their business because of a 2015 zoning overlay restricting uses on the corridor, and rather than going through the zoning process, they opted to either relocate or close. A furniture store opened in the space about a month ago, but the store is already gone. Now, that space is available for lease.

Gym plus empty space

This space is now empty

The space includes about 5,000 sqft of usable space, and as long as you're not looking to open an auto shop or some other kind of undesirable use like an adult club or a storage facility, you should be able to open most any kind of business here. We'd think that a restaurant would be a great fit here, filling a gap between Cafe Ynez on the 2000 block and the upcoming Chick's on the 1800 block. Also, it would be great fun for a restaurant to be making delicious food immediately next door to a business where the customers are trying to shed the pounds.

For more info on the space, send an email here, as our parent company OCF Realty is listing the space. The price is $6,000/mo, NNN. So if you've always dreamed of opening a business on Washington Avenue across the street from a real estate office, perhaps it would be worth checking it out.