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Pioneer
Press Article
The article below
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Wanted: Clubs
to light up the nightlife
Downtown needs some new blood and a good spit-shine for the '08 GOP confab,
business owners say.
BY LAURA YUEN
Pioneer Press
Article Launched: 04/15/2007 12:01:00 AM CDT
The Early November unloads their gear outside of Station 4 in St. Paul. (SCOTT
TAKUSHI, Pioneer Press)
Wait - don't cross that river! The city of St. Paul wants you to shake your
groove thing right here. With encouragement from city officials, various
entrepreneurs are sniffing around downtown St. Paul, aiming to open a rock-music
venue, four nightclubs, a pair of comedy clubs and an upscale cabaret.
"I'm out there, hustling," said Joe Spencer, arts and culture policy associate
for Mayor Chris Coleman. "I think we're going to see a lot of things happen this
year, but I've also learned not to hold my breath."
Spencer has been trying to entice nightlife operators to think of downtown St.
Paul as a place to rock out. The city's efforts come as St. Paul tries to jazz
itself up in advance of the 2008 Republican National Convention, anchored at
Xcel Energy Center.
The city's effort to woo club owners to buy the vacant Palace Theatre and turn
it into a live-music joint similar to First Avenue in Minneapolis has generated
a number of interested bidders.
One sign of a growing nightlife scene is a cabaret planned to open in June,
possibly featuring burlesque and other acts. The GLBT-friendly Camp will move
into the Rossmor Building space vacated by Trikkx, a gay nightclub that closed
in January. It's the brainchild of Bill Collins, lead producer of the Lowry
building's "We Gotta Bingo!" show.
"There is a growing minority of entrepreneurial-minded business people and
creative types are grasping onto St. Paul and are fighting for it to emerge more
as a destination,"
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Collins said. "I'm sort of taking a gamble that the energy will catch on and
more people will discover it."
But there are still a lot of holes. The storefront of the Lowry Building remains
boarded up, despite promises of new entertainment venues there for years. Trendy
eatery LoTo, which civic boosters once believed would jump-start Lowertown,
hasn't sustained the crowd it seemed destined to attract. Lowertown jazz club
French Press closed in December.
"For every encouragement, there is
A large crowd gathered to hear the Rocket Summer at Station 4, a rock club in
St. Paul's Lowertown neighborhood. (SCOTT TAKUSHI, Pioneer Press)
a discouragement," said Steve Ledin, who owns the Station 4 music club in
Lowertown.
The push to invigorate nightlife coincides with a lengthy list of chores in
advance of next year's convention. But bringing the bustle back to downtown has
always been a top goal for Coleman, Spencer said.
At the very least, the Sept. 1-4, 2008, convention is giving some developers a
deadline to shoot for.
John Rupp is aiming to transform the once-elegant Lowry Building into an
entertainment complex with three nightclubs - including a rooftop spot for
summer dancing. An open-air restaurant would front a sidewalk patio. The
building's ballroom, he hopes, will return to its heyday and become available
for live shows and private parties.
Rupp also wants to convert the studio apartments in his complex into
extended-stay hotel rooms, in time, he hopes, for some of the 60,000 visitors
expected in town for the GOP event at the Xcel Energy Center.
Completing the financing for the whole project, though, has been a challenge.
Then there is the state of downtown storefronts themselves. Many of the area's
historic structures need a good cleaning, Rupp said.
"A lot of these buildings look like hell," he said. "The problem is that the
building owners don't get money for doing (improvements). But visitors care."
Across downtown, teen-friendly pop and hardcore metal represent the mix of acts
that take the stage at Station 4. Young fans typically line up outside the door
on weekday
Bryce Avary of the Rocket Summer performed at Station 4 in St. Paul. (SCOTT
TAKUSHI, Pioneer Press)
evenings for all-ages shows.
It's nice to be the center of attention on most nights, Ledin said, but he wants
to see more activities. While downtown bars do draw crowds, especially those
near the Xcel and the Ordway, few people consider St. Paul an entertainment hot
spot.
"We work three times harder than the clubs in Minneapolis," he said. "We have to
bring our constituency here. When you have holes in St. Paul, it creates a
vacuum between West Seventh and us."
Just ask the owner of the failed French Press. Kevin O'Neill said he tried to
capture the chi-chi crowd with hors d'oeuvres and jazz, but the gritty emptiness
of Lowertown didn't mesh well with the Crocus Hill set, he said.
"If you go to where the Lowry is to Lowertown, it's like going from Manhattan to
Poughkeepsie," O'Neill said.
At nearby Mears Park Center, an office building that formerly housed the
Metropolitan Council, Minneapolis-based Sherman Group is hoping to lease out the
ground floor to a restaurant-bar.
"While it's quaint, charming and has got pretty good density, it's hard to get
other people to see that and step up to the plate," said Mike Wendorf, the
firm's vice president. "You're asking someone to spend a lot of money on the
deal and take a huge risk by themselves. The first guy there is the one who's
sticking his neck out."
But when one door closes, it seems like a new nightclub opens. Since downtown's
only gay club shut down, Trikkx reportedly has been scouting for new locations.
In addition, Sean Fetterman, the reigning Mr. Gay Minnesota, is moving forward
with a new nightclub and bar on East Fourth Street. Fetterman is recycling the
name of Rumours and Innuendo, the precursor to Trikkx. Innuendo, which could
open in May, will occupy the old French Press, and Rumours would open in June.
"We're excited as hell about them coming to our block," said Ledin, the Station
4 owner. "I welcome the parking issue. The more parking problems, the better."
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
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