New Restaurant Moves Into Historic Sokol Gymnasium in Downtown Cedar Rapids

A new Downtown Cedar Rapids restaurant gave customers a sneak preview over the weekend! The District CR is preparing to open its doors in the very near future!

The District CR is located at 415 3rd Street SE in Downtown Cedar Rapids, the former home of Backpocket Brewing Pilot Pub and Taboo Nightclub and Lounge. The building is known as the Sokol Gymnasium and has a long history in Cedar Rapids. It was originally built in 1908, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. The building had to undergo some serious repairs and renovations after being damaged during the Flood of 2008, but it's still standing strong today.

The District CR's Facebook page says, "welcome to The District, where two women with a passion for hospitality and service have come together to create a culinary haven in Cedar Rapids, Iowa." In early June, the restaurant began showing off some menu items on social media, like wedge salad, bananas foster, Cajun ribeye, and spinach and arugula salad. Then, just a couple of days ago (June 29th), they debuted a "very limited" menu and welcomed customers in to help train the staff. The menu included bruschetta, Cajun shrimp jalapeno poppers, Shug's Signature Slammin' Shrimp Salad, flatbreads, and Shug's Southern Bread Pudding. So far, everything looks great!

The District CR isn't officially open for regular hours yet, but a recent post from the restaurant thanked customers that stopped by to help train the staff on Saturday and said to "stay tuned for this upcoming week's plan." You can get the latest updates from the District CR on Facebook HERE.