Southern Charm‘s Austen Kroll and Craig Conover are making progress amid construction on their bar, which now includes an eye-catching feature.
Southern Charm’s Craig Conover and Austen Kroll are making some major progress on their newest business venture together just months after they first announced that they would be opening up a bar in Charleston in partnership with Uptown Hospitality Group.
The longtime friends and Pillows and Beer podcast hosts told Entertainment Tonight in January that they would be opening up a “neighborhood tavern” just off of Charleston’s King Street with “elevated bar fare” and “approachable cocktails.” And they’ve already made some major progress on the space. In February, the business partners began their “demo day” and now construction is well under way. Austen more recently took to Instagram where he showed one of the very big changes to the restaurant.
Austen Kroll Shows the “Huge” Upgrade to the bar, By The Way
In three separate photos, posted to his Instagram Story, Austen showed off the very big upgrades to the business as it gets ready to open. He shared an image from inside of the restaurant, which is still under construction, with lumber and other materials sitting on the floor. “Coming along with a huge skylight just added,” Austen wrote along the bottom of the photo.
Austen then got on the roof of the restaurant where he showed an image of the brand new installation, which will bring plenty of natural light to it. “Aforementioned huge skylight,” Austen added.
Austen also reposted a photo of the outside of the building, which already has its branding up in the window. “BTW [By the Way] is OTW [on the way],” the message on the window reads, next to a photo of their business’ name with a fox walking on top of it (because it’s a “foxy neighborhood tavern” as they previously shared).
“Good things come to those who wait!,” Austen wrote.
When will By The Way open?
In a post to the business’ Instagram account, it was revealed that Craig and Austen’s new restaurant is set to open this summer. As seen in the photos above, construction is still being done to the business, so it could be a while before a grand opening date is announced.
But rest assured, progress is still being made. Before adding the new skylight, earlier this month, it was announced that Chef Marcus Shell would be the Executive Chef for By the Way.
Details on Austen Kroll and Craig Conover’s new restaurant, By The Way
The restaurant, which is located on 45 1/2 Spring Street in downtown Charleston, will feature live music and be the kind of space that both locals (like Craig and Austen) and tourists (including Southern Charm viewers) can enjoy together. “It’s going to be a really intimate space,” Craig told ET in January. “We put a lot of thought into the design to try and make it as warm and inviting as possible.”
Austen described his vision for the restaurant to ET. “What I envision is a place where you can come for a drink before dinner, let’s say, lose track of time, and before you know it, hours have passed and all of a sudden, you’re surrounded by all of your friends,” he said. “It’s going to be a place where you can come and sit for a while.”
