Inside the Struggle to Keep Sealy Flats Alive

The music has gone silent again at the bar that defined the resurgence of San Angelo’s downtown with a vibrant nightlife scene. Sealy Flats, 208 South Oakes, has closed its doors once more this month, 14 months after they closed the first time (See Why The Music Died at Sealy Flats).

The live music venue and restaurant famous on the blues musicians’ touring circuit was re-opened early last year with a new partnership led by San Angelo hospitality industry veteran Kevin Collins. Collins also operates the Bentwood Country Club and several other high-end establishments in the region.

A musician himself, Collins partnered with another local musician, Jeska Bailey, to breathe new life into Sealy Flats. Jeska ran the venue; Collins was as active as he could be, considering the other properties he also managed.

Collins said that they added a new bar, stage and floors and made several other upgrades to the building. The new stage was “floated” to provide musicians with a better experience. "Floating" is a method that involves securing the hollow spaces below the stage’s flooring with insulation to reduce or eliminate echo. “As a musician, I thought that was important,” he explained.

Rod Bridgman, the owner of the property where Sealy Flats sits, and Collins’ group had entered a one-year lease agreement. Collins said that once the year was up, both he and Bridgman reviewed their options and neither could agree upon a path forward that would satisfy each party. But neither is bitter and considers the one-year run a success.

For Collins, he was challenged with creating a solid path of profitability. For Bridgman, it was that he was interested in pursuing travel, or even a move to Florida. Collins said he made an offer to purchase the café, but understandably, Bridgman is seeking a buyer for the entire property.

There are three pieces of property at Sealy Flats. The centerpiece structure is the bed and breakfast in an historic building. Next to the B&B is what Bridgman named “the café” where the restaurant and live music was performed in the “backyard” next to the rear of the B&B. Behind the B&B is a bunkhouse for housing the traveling bands.

Bridgman said Thursday that he is working with four possible suitors, though Collins added that his offer to purchase only the café was and will always be on the table. “I’m just not comfortable running a bed and breakfast,” Collins said.

Collins said that Sealy Flats is a groovy place, and he is certain that eventually the right person will appear who can figure out how to make it work. “In the restaurant business, usually there’s a pioneer who puts their heart and soul into the place and shows that it can work. That’s Rod. Then there’s the next guy who tries to improve the place, adds features and upgrades like we did, but not quite get it there. Finally, there’s the guy who can take all that was done before and finally make it,” he said.

Bridgman said that the last chapter of Sealy Flats isn’t written yet. “I’m not desperate to sell,” he said. But if none of the current suitors work out, Bridgman, whose health has improved significantly since his heart surgery in 2013, said, “we’ll take Sealy Flats back to what it was in the beginning, before the city made me build that fire exit.”

In the late 2000s, the building where the café is today held occasional live music shows where the bands played for tips and the audience brought their own adult beverages. Then Bridgman opened the restaurant, obtained the beer and wine license, and refurbished the building next to the B&B into the café. This made the live music venue a legitimate business in order to pay for city code compliance. Now that everything is built, it will not cost as much to keep the café alive, opening only for occasional live music events, Bridgman said.

In the end, for Bridgman and his wife Dennise, Sealy Flats has been a labor of love whose first purpose was to bring in live music to their backyard for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ll have an announcement soon on the future of Sealy Flats,” Bridgman promised.