Making history in a historic spot, the new Sugarshack Downtown takes the stage this week in Bonita Springs.
Following a series of private invitation-only events, the live music venue with a full-service restaurant and bars launches to the general public Jan. 31 across Old 41 Road from the city’s Riverside Park bandshell. A grand opening celebration is planned in early February.
Established 11 years ago, Sugarshack Music Channel on Facebook has more than a half million subscribers for its international acoustic music series, Sugarshack Sessions, shot live in Bonita. The creative team behind the legendary video platforms builds on its phenomenal success with a new state-of-the-art experience in an ultra-cool setting with musicians live on stage. The vibrant entertainment destination includes a full-service restaurant with more than 260 seats, two full bars and a retail shop for Sugarshack merchandise at 27421 Old 41 Road.
Sugarshack Downtown will feature lunch and dinner daily with live music at least five days a week in a music-centric venue with a world-class sound system. This week’s musical lineup includes Sprout, the band of Sugarshack founder Eddie Kopp. Sugarshack Sessions are recorded on the backyard deck of Kopp’s home — the Sugarshack — in Bonita.
Sugarshack Sessions will continue as and where it started, but recordings of live acts at the new downtown venue will complement the channel and allow the brand to share its unique experience with a larger live audience.
“We’re not going to stop doing anything. We’re just going to keep doing more and growing our opportunity to share music with the global audience that we have,” said Dave Alpert, one of the partners in the business. “Most bands that do Sessions will play here; not every band that plays here will do a Sessions, though.”
The new venue also features family-friendly event space available to lease for private parties. While the longtime Sugarshack Sessions has been a private venue with admission, the new Sugarshack Downtown will be open to the public most nights with less than 20 days a year expected to be ticketed events.
“Our goal is to have this open to the public, so if you want to come in and hang with your friends, we’re not going to create a challenge at the door. We want to make it open to the public. That’s the intention five nights a week, Wednesday through Sunday,” Alpert said. “There will be nights when we switch to a venue mode. That’s not going to happen very frequently.”
In addition to the performance stage, indoor bar and kitchen, the property includes five outdoor pavilions of varying sizes. Some of the covered areas are available to reserve for private parties or event spaces. Positioned between the landmark home of the Bonita Springs Historical Society and the city’s huge historic banyan tree across from Riverside Park, Sugarshack Downtown worked in concert with its surroundings to incorporate the mature oak trees on its property into its plans in collaboration with Bonita-based developer and partner Moran Kennedy Real Estate.
“First and foremost, we needed to fit everything in here, so we reserved all of the important bits of nature and history, but we also want to make sure that the patrons felt protected from the weather and felt they had their own intimate spaces,” partner Kyle Moran said. “But we think that when this space achieves its highest operating productivity, not only on a typical night when you feel you have your own space, but you’re part of something bigger, and there’s a lot of opportunity and flexibility for the team to have various events.”
Consideration also was given to the influence of Sugarshack Sessions’ visual trademark setting of a lush, tropical backdrop.
“We really wanted to bring that here, too, with all the beautiful native vegetation, these great trees,” Moran said. “When it’s night out here and you’re under these cafe lights and the place is buzzing and you’ve got great live music and the effects they have with the smoke machine, you’re in the heart of the community but you’re really transported to someplace special.”
The new space also is punctuated by nearly 100 acoustic guitars donated by friends and community members. Guitars, ukeleles and mandolins hang on posts and walls throughout the venue. Many of the instruments are signed or decorated by their previous owners.
The building that serves as the entrance into the new local business used to be an old automobile transmission repair shop. Although the roof has been reinforced and modernized on the outside, the original rusting tin roof is still visible inside to provide a rustic atmosphere.
“For people who are really familiar with this area, the DNA of the building is still very much here,” Moran said.
The garage’s overhead door opening in back was converted into an indoor-outdoor bar with bar top made to resemble the neck of a guitar. Sugarshack Downtown also features a larger open-air bar on the other side of the stage.
The venue will be able to accommodate a few hundred patrons daily from 11 a.m. to midnight, said partner and General Manager Gary Rudd, who previously managed Celebration Park off Bayshore Drive in East Naples.
The full-service kitchen, led by Chef Gus Chavez, formerly of Three60 Market in Naples, will feature healthy preparations without seed oils and preservatives. While the simple scratch menu will include burgers, wings and pizzas, it also features fresh fish, pasta and grinders with house-made bread.
“We put care and compassion into everything we do, so this is just an extension of that,” Alpert said.
In the geographic center of Bonita Springs, Sugarshack Downtown has been the talk of the town during the past year. Its tremendous buzz and energy predict its immediate success.
“We’re going to be crushed,” Moran said. “You can’t believe the community response. They shoot something out on social media asking for job applicants — 11,000 inquires.”
Sugarshack Downtown will employ a core team of more than 70 people — at least 48 full-time and 24 part-time employees, Alpert said. The business expands on Bonita’s dynamic growth and the increased awareness that is making Old 41 a local destination and community connection.
“With this unbelievably successful music channel shot in this backyard in Bonita Springs, they’ve done more for Bonita Springs than anyone other than Rand McNally,” Moran said. “The success of Sugarshack is about connecting this worldwide music-loving community.”