Rena Martin took a break from her second night of dancing at LevelZ, West Melbourne’s newest nightclub, but she was ready for more. “The music is good so far,” the 26-year-old Melbourne woman said. “Honestly, once (the club) gets a following, it will do well.”
That’s what JHT Entertainment hoped for when it started building LevelZ, a roughly 17,000-square-foot upscale nightclub that hosted its grand opening June 19 and 20. With little advertising, soft openings last weekend drew 250 to 350 people. West Melbourne resident Gary Tolman, a partner in JHT, remembers a time when Brevard County had many nightclubs — not just bars that offered some dancing. But during the years, venues like Brassy’s and Encore Lounge closed.
“I knew that if I could open any business that it would be a nice nightclub,” said Tolman, whose partners are Darin Hamilton and Sam Jolley. “Why open another sports bar or restaurant or ice cream shop when there’s already a gazillion of those here?” With room for 821 people, LevelZ is at least one of the largest nightclubs in Brevard, if not the largest. It could accommodate all of Melbourne Village’s 724 residents, with room to spare. And it’s almost double the 425 occupancy of Off the Traxx, a sports bar that opened last summer in a what was once a downtown Melbourne grocery store.
Tolman wanted LevelZ to be large enough to host national music acts and comedians. LevelZ management is working to bring in Tex-Mex rock group Los Lonely Boys, 1970s rhythm and blues band Earth, Wind & Fire and rockers ZZ Top for summer shows.
The owners have backgrounds in construction and plumbing, and they built the club themselves, turning a shell of commercial space in the Hudson Furniture plaza into the multilevel dance floor. The club has three bars — two downstairs and a third on a balcony level. The two floors are connected with a switchback ramp large enough for patrons to stay and watch performers on the center stage. The lower level features a center dance floor surrounded by tables and leather booths. Upstairs has leather couches in corner areas that can be reserved for birthdays or other celebrations.
Beverly McLean of Indian Harbour Beach danced the cha-cha to a live band Wednesday night, as another small group nearby danced freestyle. The weeknight crowd during the “soft opening” was light, but she said she loved the music and the club’s location. “I’ll give it another try, sure,” she said.
Contact Cervenka at 321-242-3632 or scervenka@floridatoday.com.
