A new sound coming to downtown Meriden....

Jazz club Essence Lounge will replace Club Impulz
by Adam Wittenberg, Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN — The signs are up, and it’s only a matter of weeks before the sounds of jazz will be heard downtown. Floresia and Greg Allen are slated to open Essence Lounge later this month at 16 N. Colony St., the former home of Club Im­pulz, which had its final night Saturday. The lounge will feature a mix of jazz and blues, and will cater to an adult crowd. “The city deserves to have a place where we can go and sit,” Floresia Allen said Monday. “Hopefully, we can turn things around and make it work.”

Allen, who owns Allen’s Asbestos LLC, had hoped to open Essence above her 23 N. Colony St. office. She obtained zoning and liquor permits and planned to open in early 2006, but soon found the renovation work too expensive. Allen knew Linda and Lucio Ruzzier, who owned Club Impulz, and eventually they agreed to work together on Essence. “We decided to put it across the street instead,” Allen said. “I got a bigger area at a better price.” Inside the building that has housed a va­riety of clubs over the last decade, a pic­ture collage still hung Monday with the words “Club Impulz Memories,” but it won’t be there when Essence is unveiled with its new look. “We’re trying to brighten the place up,” said Greg Allen, who was replacing lights and ceiling fans. “We want everybody to come out and have a good time.” New rugs, tables and renovations to al­low natural light are in the Allen’s plans, but vestiges such as the dance floor will re­main. “We’re going to incorporate a Latin Jazz night,” Floresia Allen said, “and we’re go­ing to have stepping, so we need a dance floor.”

The lounge doesn’t plan any teen nights like Impulz and its predecessors had, but Allen said the venue would invite youth to showcase their artistic talents. Local poets and artists also will have chances to use the space. That could coincide with art produced at nearby Gallery 53, and eventually with artist housing planned by developer Ross Gulino on West Main Street. At least two other live music venues are planned for downtown. Developer Paul Ed­wards is working on a restaurant at 13-17 Colony St. with a banquet and events facil­ity next door at 9-11 Colony St. featuring a piano bar and ballroom/cabaret style en­tertainment. That venue could open this spring. And last month, the former owners of Club 290 in Plainville applied to open a lounge downstairs at the former Cabin Restaurant on North Colony Street, with an upstairs night­club.

The Zoning Board of Ap­peals next month will consider the special exception applica­tion, which is required for all nightclubs. The Allens said they don’t fear competition, but hope the venues feed off one another to bring more people to down­town. Chip Geriak, member servic­es representative of the Greater Meriden Chamber of Com­merce, welcomed news of the lounge. “Floresia’s had a longtime dream to have a jazz club downtown,” said Geriak, whose offices are across the street from Essence. “It’ll give anoth­er option for people to go to downtown.