AUSTIN (April 15, 2012)—James White, the owner of The Broken Spoke, a popular Austin music venue, said the honky tonk will not be harmed by development.

Transwestern is planning to build a pair of four-story buildings with more than 350 apartments atop ground-floor retailers on the north and south sides of the Spoke.

White, who owns the nearly 50-year-old dance hall, said he owns the building that houses the Spoke and has signed a 20-year-lease for the land on which it sits.

"I can stay as long as I want,” he said.

The Austin American-Statesman reports that some of the bar's longtime customers worry that the new neighbors will change the character of the establishment, but White says that won't happen,

The Broken Spoke has hosted many performers including Willie
Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker.