BizBeat: Live music venue opening at Avenue HQ

In this March 20, 2016, file photo, business partners Holly Stitt and Quentin Rice pose for a photograph inside Avenue HQ in Jefferson City at 623 E. Capitol Ave.
In this March 20, 2016, file photo, business partners Holly Stitt and Quentin Rice pose for a photograph inside Avenue HQ in Jefferson City at 623 E. Capitol Ave.

Theater. Comedy. Special events.

And now music.

The opportunities for artistic entertainment in the historic buildings at 619 and 623 E. Capitol Ave. keep growing, as The Bridge plans to open its live music venue at Avenue HQ later this fall.

"Our goal is to kind of be a hub for art in Jefferson City," said Quinten Rice, who owns Avenue HQ with Holly Stitt. "We're trying to rent out portions of the building to artistic and creative endeavors that will help out the art community in Jeff City."

The Bridge, which opened on East Walnut Street in Columbia in late 2010, is relocating to add live music to Avenue HQ's repertoire.

Owner Wes Wingate said Jefferson City's "renaissance east-side revival" is a big reason The Bridge decided to make the move.

"My lease was up at my place in Columbia, and downtown Columbia has kind of taken a change for the worse in my opinion, so it was just good timing," Wingate said. "I never wanted to cater to drunk college kids. I didn't want to own a bar in a college town. I wanted to have a music venue where someone could hear quality music at a quality level. That's definitely what I want to bring to Jeff City."

The Bridge will have a capacity of approximately 450, occupying a 5,000-square-foot space on Avenue HQ's lower level, beneath Scene One Theatre, which relocated from East High Street to Avenue HQ this summer.

A hub for local bands as well as nationally touring musicians playing rock, country, jazz, blues and more, The Bridge offers a full bar serving Columbia-brewed Logboat beer exclusively on tap, more than 100 bottled beers, and an "expansive bourbon, scotch and tequila selection," Wingate said.

Eventually the music venue will also operate a restaurant, starting simple with appetizers and snacks and working up to full lunch and dinner menus.

Avenue HQ itself, with its own 3,000-square-foot main hall, has begun to host entertainment events like performances by national circuit comedians. The entertainment venue comprises 30,000 square feet in total, with Rice and Stitt planning to lease other portions of the complex for complementary artistic endeavors in the future.

The Bridge could eventually fill more space at Avenue HQ with an expansion of its partner business - Columbia Music Academy, which will remain in its current Columbia location.

"When I started, it was two businesses kind of symbiotic to each other," Wingate said, noting music students from the academy would perform recitals at The Bridge and, for some, "graduate" to performing live there. "That was kind of how the name 'The Bridge' came - the bridge between learning an instrument, mastering an instrument and performing."

While he's looking forward to separating the businesses now, he thinks Avenue HQ could be the right place to expand the academy a few years down the road.

"There's going to be a lot of activity over there," Rice said. "We're really trying to get people out to socialize and enjoy entertainment in that area."

The Bridge will join another live music venue about a half-mile away - The Mission at 915 E. High St.

Wingate thinks the two, along with restaurants and other attractions in the area, likely will complement each other rather than compete, adding to the overall growth of Jefferson City's east-side entertainment district.

"It helps develop a scene. It helps develop nightlife culture and being excited about going out," Wingate said.

A full renovation of the music venue's space began in April. Wingate estimates The Bridge should be up and running by the end of October.

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