Now gunning for Fast Traffic Auto Workshop’s garage and adjoining apartment on Austin St.: Next Level, Houston’s second planned but not-yet-open eSports venue. Following the auto shop owner’s retirement, the competitive videogaming hub has plans to stock the place with virtual reality gaming rigs, 40 PC setups, and a dozen or more gaming consoles — all of which will plug in somewhere between a planned competition stage, full bar, and “custom tabletop gaming tables” for lower-tech games.

The photo at top views the corner of the garage from McIlhenny St. It occupies the northeast spot on the Austin St. block where a foursome of bars plans to move in, next to the strip building at 2404 that CORE Church Midtown recently departed:

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So far, Next Level’s owners — who describe themselves as “lifelong gamers with regular day jobs” — have scrounged up $275,000 for the redo, reports the HBJ‘s Cara Smith. A crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo is targeting $65,000 more, although its current yield is down at $610.

The entrance to the garage is on McIlhenny:

Its west wall opens onto a fenced-off lot of about 8 parking spaces . . .

fronting the same northern street.

The rest of the building includes a 2-story apartment:

Its front door neighbors CORE church’s abandoned parking lot on Austin:

The upstairs is mostly empty:

Except for this office . . .

and break room:

• 2402 Austin St. [LoopNet]
• Next Level E-Sports [Indiegogo]
• Esports arena to open in Midtown in Houston [HBJ]
• Previously on Swamplot: Core Church Midtown Flees Its Austin St. Strip Center in Advance of Syn Hospitality’s Bar Quartet; America Gardens, Small Bouquet of Other Upstate Restaurants To Be Planted in Midtown

Photos: LoopNet