by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Nearly two years from concept to execution, Eclate jazz club on Bay Street could be open within two weeks.
“It’s really exciting,” said owner Vince O’Roark. “We’ve been working at this for a long, long time, starting with finding the right property. Now, everything’s lining up like we’ve planned and we can’t wait to open.”
O’Roark, said construction inside the club — Eclate has a capacity of nearly 200 — is nearly complete and the kitchen and bar equipment should be installed next week.
“We’ll start with a soft opening while we work out the kinks in November,” he said, adding the club will only be open in the evenings, Monday through Saturday, for the first month.
O’Roark, who plans to stay behind the scenes, said the club will be staffed mostly by family and close friends.
“We’ll start with an evening program that lasts from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.,” he said. “After a while, we’ll be open at 11 a.m. for lunch.”
Eclate’s lunch menu will consist mainly of paninis and New York deli sandwiches. “Small plates” will be available in the evenings.
“My wife won’t let me call them appetizers,” said O’Roark. “And we’ll also be serving beer and several hundred bottles of wine.”
O’Roark said the specialty at Eclate will be the live entertainment, a nightly staple.
“We haven’t decided on any acts yet, but we’re going to concentrate on local talent,” he said. “We’re also planning on having an open mic night on Tuesday and on Wednesday we’ll hopefully, welcome music students from UNF and FCCJ.”
O’Roark said the response from the downtown community has been “encouraging.”
“People walk by all the time and ask when we’ll be open,” he said. “I’ve even had other businesses tell me that their customers want to know.”
As the first business to move into downtown’s to-be-established entertainment district, O’Roark said “someone has to be first, but it was really a blessing that we fell into the right place at the right time.”
O’Roark wanted to open a jazz club downtown before he ever heard of plans for the Bay Street Town Center.
“When my wife and I moved into Berkman Plaza, when we were one of the first 20 families, we knew that if we wanted to invest in downtown we had to go ahead and do it. Since then we’ve seen more and more people starting to live here and open businesses here. Now it’s not so scary anymore.”