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New Music Joint Coming To Former Church On 43rd Street

By Sam Cholke | October 27, 2016 5:38am | Updated on October 28, 2016 10:58am
 Norman Bolden, owner of Room 43, is expanding his businesses on 43rd Street with plans for a new venue in a former church.
Norman Bolden, owner of Room 43, is expanding his businesses on 43rd Street with plans for a new venue in a former church.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke, inset Facebook

KENWOOD — Norman Bolden is expanding his hold on 43rd Street and will open a new music venue next year.

Bolden said Wednesday that he’s been quietly working for three years on converting a former Baptist church at 932 E. 43rd St. into a music venue.

Bolden’s Room 43 event space and Bolden’s Bistro became anchors for entertainment in North Kenwood after he took in the Hyde Park Jazz Society for its Sunday music series after a falling out with Checkerboard Lounge in 2006.

He said the new venue will go beyond jazz and he wants it to help fulfill the neighborhood’s wish for 43rd Street to regain its reputation as a destination for live music, a title that was already slipping away when the Checkerboard Lounge moved from 43rd Street to Hyde Park in 2003.

The venue will showcase “all aspects of music, it won’t just be jazz,” Bolden said. “We not remaking jazz row.”

Bolden has applied for a liquor license under the name “Haven,” but said Wednesday the name will likely change before he unveils his full plans in December.

He was cagey about the details Wednesday, saying much of his plans were still preliminary.

But he did say that he will expand food service to the new venue.

His liquor license application also shows the venue will be weighted much more toward entertainment and food than alcohol because he has not applied for the tavern license many other clubs and lounges pursue.

Bolden has already gotten building permits to do $100,000 in interior renovations to the former church, according to city records.

He has owned the building since 2012, according to county property records.

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