Columbia buildings that house longstanding rock club up for sale. What we know
New Brookland Tavern, the longstanding local rock club depended on as a hub for the local music scene, faces uncertainty once again.
The venue announced Wednesday night that the two buildings it occupies in Columbia’s Five Points neighborhood are for sale, posting pictures of signs posted outside by real estate company Trinity Partners. Online postings confirm that the properties on the 600 block of Harden Street, which also include the space occupied by longstanding barbershop Kings Row, are listed for sale.
Richland County lists the property that houses New Brookland’s main showroom and downstairs bar along with the barbershop as having a market value of more than $1 million. The next-door property, listed at over $400,000, is intended to hold a side stage, but that space is still under renovation.
“Getting ahead of the rumors and the questions to say — no we are not for sale, but the buildings are. The powers that be informed us recently,” New Brookland posted to Instagram. “Hit up the number if you wanna be our landlord. That is all!”
Club owner Carlin Thompson said they were informed about three weeks ago that both buildings were being listed for sale.
“We are going to proceed like nothing has changed until they have an offer and see where it will go from there as far as us being able to continue operating there,” he said.
What happens to New Brookland moving forward remains an open question.
“There’s no plan yet. If we aren’t allowed to stay I’m unsure if we will move,” Thompson said. “The old NBT is for sale, don’t exactly feel like moving and falling into this a third time. We hope to just stay put and grow where we are.”
Jon Sears, one of the owners of the two Harden Street properties, said he hopes New Brookland is able to stay where it is.
“They’ve obviously got a lease, and, you know, whomever buys it will have to honor that, I believe,” Sears said. “I would hope that we could sell the building and then New Brookland stays put. I own a few other businesses in Five Points, and I think they’re good for the neighborhood, and bring a good vibe.”
Thompson said the club’s lease is currently set to run through 2028 with the option for two four-year renewals.
The relatively new club owner took over less than a year after New Brookland’s December 2023 move from State Street in West Columbia, where it had operated as a full-time music venue since at least 1998, to the Five Points neighborhood on the doorstep of the University of South Carolina.
The new uncertainty over New Brookland’s future comes less than a year after the venue temporarily shuttered last summer. Weighed down by tax issues that kept it from renewing alcohol and retail licenses, the venue briefly ceased operation last August before being buoyed back to life by an online fundraising campaign that netted more than $25,000 from the local community.
As of Tuesday evening, the state Department of Revenue listed New Brookland as owing more than $14,000 in tax liens. Thompson said the venue has made payments against those debts that might not yet be listed.
Financial difficulty has continued to plague the venue. Thompson said that the month the venue was closed caused it to lose almost $20,000 from shows that had to be canceled or moved. At that point, the club was also $20,000 behind on its rent and owed $12,000 to a contractor that was still doing work on the space, he said.
“With the current shape of the economy it’s taken a toll on people actively spending money on tickets,” Thompson said. “While their spending has decreased, ticket prices from touring artists have gone up because they are facing higher costs on the road now.”
The venue remains integral to Columbia’s music scene. For the better part of three decades, it has served as an essential home for both smaller touring bands and local acts looking to build an audience and refine their sound.
Tyler Gordon, who has been a part of a litany of prominent Columbia bands including Hilmouse and Charlie Boy, said the club is the most consistent and best-sounding home for local music in the area. He added that its continued hosting of all-ages shows has been crucial to new local acts being able to rise and find an audience.
“There’s just the role that New Brookland has filled for so long,” Gordon said. “It was not always the only place that filled that role, but right now, it kind of is.”
As for why now is the right time to sell the two Harden Street properties, Sears, who has an ownership stake in Five Points businesses including The Gourmet Shop and the bar and restaurant Jake’s, said it in no way reflects a poor outlook on where the neighborhood is headed.
“I think it’s a good time to sell because I think Five Points is really coming up,” he said. “With that the building the city owns across the street from Jake’s, I think that supposed to be a tech company going in there with a bunch of good jobs, and I think there’s been a lot of good development. And I’m hoping that that Richard [Burts] can get the hotel in there down to the [former] Wells Fargo. I think Five Points is on the rise.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2025 at 8:40 AM.
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