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A major player in the Indianapolis chicken wings scene is moving into a former music venue where Prince, the Strokes and the Avett Brothers performed.
Keystone Sports Review, 5602 N. Keystone Ave., plans to relocate to the former Birdy’s Bar & Grill, 2131 E. 71st St., before July 1. It’s a 15-block move to the north, with the Birdy’s building tucked just west of a Shell gas station at the intersection of 71st Street and Keystone Avenue.
Meanwhile, a Take 5 Oil Change location is planned at the spot being vacated by Keystone Sports Review. Carmel-based Baldwin Capital Partners LLC purchased the property for $927,000 in March, according to property records. The seller was the restaurant’s landlord, KTT Holdings LLC.
Andrew Morrison, a partner at Baldwin, said a new structure for the oil-change business will be built this summer. Baldwin operates more than 20 Indiana locations of Take 5, a subsidiary of North Carolina-based Driven Brands.
Keystone Sports Review, commonly referred to as KSR and known for wings prepared in 15 different flavors, will exit a 2,500-square-foot building for one that’s 4,200 square feet.
Larry Kramer, co-owner of KSR with his brother, Joshua Kramer, said he’s looked for a larger home for the restaurant in recent years. The duo became KSR’s owners in 2000, 10 years after the restaurant opened.
The dining room will have a capacity of 100 people, or 30 more customers than can be seated at the present location.
“We’re going to expand the kitchen,” Kramer said. “The kitchen isn’t big enough for the volume of food we do.”
An upstairs bar at the former Birdy’s won’t open when KSR moves, Kramer said, but the space eventually will be used for special events.
The stage, where music icon Prince played a late-night set in 2002 after one of his concerts at Old National Centre, is being dismantled, Kramer said.
Live music debuted at 2131 E. 71st St. in 1973, when a venue known as U.S. Cavalry opened. Musicians continued to perform at the building that became the Hummingbird in the early 1980s and then Where Friends Meet from 1985 through the 1990s.
Mike Neis and Sue Turnbull, formerly bartenders at Broad Ripple’s Vogue venue, purchased the building in 2000 and brought high-profile acts to the newly named Birdy’s.
Slash, lead guitarist in Guns n’ Roses, brought his Slash’s Snakepit band to Birdy’s in 2001. The Strokes also played there in 2001, and the Avett Brothers made a tour stop in 2006.
Live music events were presented infrequently from 2017 to 2020, and Birdy’s did not reopen following the pandemic lockdown.
KSR signed a 10-year lease with building owner Neis, Kramer said.
Correction: The purchase price of the 5602 N. Keystone Ave. property—$927,000—has been corrected in this story. See all of our corrections here.
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I love KSR cant wait for the new location!
A true win for all. Congrats on the expansion KSR. Congrats Take 5 – the best oil change operator in the state. Keep charging!
Huge KSR fan here. Excited for their growth!!!!
I saw Zac Brown play at Birdy’s. Fun venue and have seen dozens and dozens of shows there. KSR wings were always spot-on. I wish them well in their new location.