Sarasota Livin'

South Beach meets Sarasota

Members-only club brings options to after-hours scene

DANA SANCHEZ

Herald Staff Writer

SARASOTA - Club 2040, a members-only nightclub with a South Beach feel, hopes to target professionals living and working in the area's increasingly cosmopolitan downtown.

Local business leaders and club owners say the club could fill a void and help expand Sarasota's after-hours scene.

With interior construction 50 percent complete, the downtown club will offer a martini fountain bar, large dance floors, loud music and quiet places for talking with full-size beds for seating, according to its owner, Ron Koelling.

Here's what you won't find there: rap, hip-hop and lines, according to the club's Web site, www.2040srq.com .

This club is in Park East at the old American Legion @ 2040 Sixth St ... it most likely will be a very high-end establishment (certainly from their website). What should that tell us about the fate of Park East. Mr Koelling is betting lots of money on people in BMW's visiting Park East at night ... and not to patronize the existing drug dealers ... it is still very much under construction...

In more up-scale news ... there is Gillespie Park Villas just a few blocks away with prices ranging from $580K to $675K if I could afford that I could afford a club membership...