On Thursday, June 6, seven days after the start of what would become a nearly week-long water crisis in Atlanta, Steamhouse Lounge reopened at the corner of 11th and West Peachtree streets in Midtown. But for neighboring Eleventh Street Pub, reopening will take quite a bit longer and will include drying out, assessing and repairing widespread water damage throughout the bar.
On May 31, nearly 12 hours after a large water main break in Vine City crippled much of the water supply for downtown Atlanta and several neighborhoods to the east, a second water main break would cause major disruptions throughout much of Midtown. Restaurants and businesses closed around town, venues canceled concerts and shows, and Grady Memorial and Emory Midtown diverted patients to other area hospitals. A historic boil water advisory went into effect for most of Atlanta south of Buckhead.
The crisis, along with the city’s bungling of communicating information to residents, reminded many of the chaos around the handling of Snowpolcaypse in 2014 – an ice storm and snow event that paralyzed Atlanta for days.
How it all began in Midtown
The water woes began in Midtown around 9 p.m. on Friday, May 31, when Eleventh Street Pub patrons noticed water bubbling up from the pavement beside the bar on 11th Street. Two hours later, water gushed from the deteriorating asphalt, sometimes spraying as high as 18 feet in the air.
Water surged from the century-old, 36-inch corroded water main beside Eleventh Street Pub for close to 72 hours, flinging chunks of broken asphalt at the windows on the 11th Street side of the building. The windows eventually broke, allowing water to flow into the bar for 20 hours before the city sent a water mitigation team to construct special framing to properly secure heavy-duty plywood to the broken-out windows.
Atlanta Watershed Management crews worked around the clock to locate the shut-off valve to the water main beside the bar, later discovering it directly underneath the 11th Street geyser. Crews installed three separate shut-off valves around the 11th Street break and ordered essential parts needed to repair and replace the water main from Alabama and Gwinnett County. The water stopped flowing from the 11th Street break late on Monday afternoon, with repairs completed and water service restored two days later.
“There is water damage to everything. That’s every floor and every wall soaked by water for about 20 hours,” Eleventh Street Pub owner Michael Taylor told Rough Draft. “We have a little sump pump for the floor drain in the subterranean kitchen that handles 67 gallons of water a minute, but it couldn’t keep up with hundreds of gallons of water a minute coming in like that.”
Repairing the damage
The city continues to assess the damage to Eleventh Street Pub caused by the broken water main. Taylor, who said Mayor Andre Dickens has personally visited the bar a handful of times since last Saturday, praised Atlanta Watershed Management and its crew for keeping him and his staff of 14 employees updated throughout the ordeal.
So far, Taylor said, they’ve already ripped out much of the main dining room and will soon start on the kitchen below the bar. He specially ordered windows to replace those broken by the geyser, which should arrive in the next two weeks.
Related link: Rough Draft Atlanta’s coverage of the city’s water crisis
“We’ve been assured by the city that they will help us out. For the sake of my staff, I need this taken care of as quickly and safely as possible with the help of the city and insurance, because they need to get back to work,” said Taylor. “We’re a small place and every dollar counts, and staff counts on every single customer who comes through that front door. Every day we’re down, it hurts us.”
It didn’t surprise Taylor that the water main that caused so much damage to Eleventh Street Pub was over 100 years old. Last year, he shut down the bar for several days to replace water pipes in the century-old building at the corner of West Peachtree and 11th. But unlike the planned closure of the bar in 2023, this closure came out of nowhere and reminded him of the days of struggling to keep Eleventh Street Pub operational during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between insurance, help from the city, and grant money from the proposed $5 million recovery fund for Atlanta businesses impacted by the recent water crisis, Taylor said the bar could reopen within a month. But he stressed that the city’s aging infrastructure is a ticking time bomb and needs immediate attention and replacement. According to Atlanta Watershed Management, the city established its water system in 1875, built to sustain a population of 22,000 people.
Water eats away at everything, and the last thing Taylor said he wants to do are cosmetic repairs only to find the bar has mold growing inside the walls or damage to the structural integrity of the building. He will know more once the city, building engineers, and insurance company complete their assessments in the coming days.
“There’s a lot of unanswered questions still on how much damage we have and on how all of this happened. We’re in a holding pattern until some of those questions are answered and we can reopen safely,” said Taylor. “But when we do reopen, people can help us out by coming back and supporting us. We’re looking forward to getting back to business, taking care of people, and watching people have a good time here again.”
