Antz Yent Wettig "had one last chip in the game" to keep his dream of opening Bar of Soap laundrocade − a combination of laundromat and arcade − alive, and it was selling his childhood home in St. Matthews.
He's calling the anticipated opening of the nearly 5,000-square-foot space a huge comeback.
"It was pretty emotional there for a little while, but once my whole family sat down and realized the vision, everybody got behind me," he said.
Wettig and brother Jon Clark are also the co-owners of bar and music venue Zanzabar, but Bar of Soap, a laundromat with arcade games, has been on their minds for a while. In fact, they considered putting it inside the bar, but Antz Wettig said "neither one of us wanted to smell laundry detergent and garlic at the same time."
Zanzabar, at 2100 S. Preston St., hosts some of Wettig's collection of games, and the bar owner said he has been "collecting and collecting, collecting" for years — and has around 300. Bar of Soap will feature mostly classic, coin-operated arcade games and pinball machines.
Plans to break ground at the Preston Street lot are slated* to start in the next few weeks,* but the brothers started work on the project several years ago.
In 2017, Wettig trademarked the name "Bar of Soap" — which will be located just on the other side of Lynn Street from the bar — and was has been working to rezone the property. He was set to close on a loan for the space in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic froze business operations for the laundrocade. Wettig had just a few days to decide what to do, even after the team had started minor construction on the plot.
"We had to take every last time any of us had and fill that hole up with rocks and let the permits expire, and so it's just been a vacant lot since," he said.
Challenges from COVID forced Wettig and his team, including developer Graeme Smith, to step back and wait.
"Flash forward to now, my brother and I decided to really get behind this project again," Wettig said.
The pandemic forced Bar of Soap's team to reimagine how to develop the space, and Smith said that included adjusting to a jump in the cost of materials.
The result was an overhaul of the engineering plans, swapping a steel structure with blocks. That move gave the team space to add areas for mural art, Smith said, though the layout remains mostly unchanged from initial planning.
Ideas for the art could change, Wettig said, but the team wants to add at least two murals, but one will feature the company's mascot, an otter using a washboard, likely spearheaded by the brothers' cousin and local artist David Schuster.
Wettig may have high stakes in getting Bar of Soap off the ground, but he said the process has been worth it.
"It was a good move. I don't regret it," he said.