So much for that planned New Year's Eve grand re-opening at Club Dada.
The anticipated new Year's Eve party scheduled to take place at the newly renovated historic Deep Ellum venue featuring Telegraph Canyon, Air Review and Smile Smile has been officially moved to Sons of Hermann Hall.
"Well, we just didn't make it," Club Dada co-owner Josh Florence says with a heavy sigh.
They were, for what it's worth, quite close -- just a Certificate of Occupancy away.
Yesterday afternoon, after months of Dada dealing with "red tape" from the city, fire marshals stopped by the venue for a scheduled fire inspection -- the last hurdle before Certificate of Occupancy documents are issued. The venue didn't pass; some unattended-to wire in the venue's ceiling prevented it. But Florence says that the marshals promised to return soon if the venue promised to take care of the issue.
Which brings us to this morning: After having fixed the wiring issue, Dada again welcomed the fire marshal for an inspection. And, this time, the venue did pass.
Problem is, today's a furlough day in the office at City Hall where Certificate of Occupancy documents are issued. Meaning? Even with a green light from the fire department, Dada will have to wait until Monday, at the earliest, to receive the proper permits so it can legally open its doors.
"It's not like this furlough day snuck up on us," Florence says. "We knew it was coming. We just didn't make it on time. I'm very disappointed. We're all very disappointed. We worked around the clocked -- lots of people worked around the clock -- but we just didn't make it."
Had yesterday's fire inspection gone well, Florence says the venue would be open for tomorrow night's show. Instead, on addition to moving tomorrow night's New Year's Eve show to Sons of
Hermann Hall, the venue has postponed its scheduled Saturday night
showcase with Lalagray, Sundress and Comrade to a later date. Other announced shows are still expected to take place as scheduled.
"It would've been rushed," he says of potentially opening on New Year's Eve. "We still would've had people trying to learn the computer systems on the fly and things like that, but we could have pulled it off."
Now Florence says he and his partners will patiently await their Certificate of Occupancy, which could come as soon as Monday, and continue finishing up the venue's renovation. Dada's new grand opening date, Florence says, should be expected in the next few weeks.
Says Florence: "We're just taking some deep breaths right now."
