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Monday, March 18
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

New nightclub to open in Bloomington

Hive , set to open February 2015, will be Bloomington’s newest addition to the late-night bar and club scene.

Though the nightclub will join the likes of Kilroy’s, the Bluebird Nightclub and other hot spots, its founder, Ron Patton, said it will be a unique ?experience.

Patton, an IU junior, said the Hive will set itself apart from the traditional bar scene by being a trendier nightclub venue on the weekend and a restaurant during the week and weekend days.

With the lack of a clubbing scene in Bloomington and an open venue, Patton said he felt like students needed somewhere where they could go to dance and see live ?performances.

Planning for the new club began in January of this year.

Patton and his business partners developed multiple business plans for the club.

“People are going to drink or do whatever they want to do at the bars and all that good stuff, but people want to dance, and they want to, you know, get dressed up and do things or be really casual and see bigger performances,” Patton said.

Equipped with a large dance floor, Patton said the Hive’s venue, located at 419 N. Walnut St., will be able to accommodate more people and larger musical performances than other venues in Bloomington.

The dance floor at the new location will be the largest of any club in Southern Indiana.

“It’s fairly large. It’s easily the largest, most efficient dance floor in Bloomington. I’m going to bring in bigger artist, better artist,” Patton said.

Aiming to have three to four shows a month, Patton said he hopes to use Twitter to find out who students want to see.

“I hope that every single show is a different genre so that we have different crowds because we have over 40,000 students going here, and not everyone likes rap, and not everyone likes rock and all that stuff,” Patton said.

Along with big-name performers, Patton said the Hive’s team also hopes to bring in local bands, have 18-plus nights and karaoke.

By day, the Hive will transform into an upscale bar and grill, serving gourmet food.

The menu will include classic college and American style foods like wings, pizza and burgers.

Entree prices will likely range from $9 to $13.

Patton and his partners Jordan Reusser, Kevin Tepool and Chris Irak are using crowd-sourcing to fund part of the Hive’s opening.

Patton hopes students will invest in the Hive and feel like they own a part of the nightclub.

“I’m an IU student. This place is for IU students, and as far as I’m concerned, it should be owned by IU students,” Patton said.

Information about the Hive’s opening can be found on its website ? beetownhive.com or its Twitter @BeeTownHive .

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