The popular downtown Lexington music venue, “The Dame” has been at the center of controversy swirling around the Webb Companies’ proposal to level the club along with all other buildings on the block to make way for “Centre Pointe,” a proposed 40-story hotel and condominium tower. In a conversation with Business Lexington Editor in Chief Tom Martin, owner Tom Yost of Atlanta addressed the rumor mill and talked about his plans for the future of The Dame.
First, the rumors.
Rumor 1: The Dame was going to close soon, regardless of the outcome of the hotel/condo development plan.
“That’s 100 percent not true. We’re totally committed to continue. We’ve been there for many years now and we like what we’re doing and we know that Lexington’s downtown is a great place to be. Never have we waivered. That’s completely untrue.”
Rumor 2: The Dame is chronically behind on rent.
“That would be confidential information between the landlord and us. Any difficulty in paying and maintaining the operations of the business have been caused by these rumors. I can assure you that our landlord has gotten every penny of his rent and this month we paid our rent early. There is no backlog.”
Rumor 3: The Dame is chronically in violation of codes.
“We are in violation of no city codes. We work closely with the building department and the Fire Department to make sure our building is up to code and we constantly maintain it. We have a healthy relationship with them and we constantly put money back into The Dame to make sure everything is up to code and correct.”
Okay, now let’s all exhale. Yost was also asked about his options in the event the proposed Centre Point project wins final approval.
“We would be willing to relocate to a comparable location. I haven’t gotten any information other than the rumor mill.”
“I don’t know if it’s up to the city or the developer. If we’re going to be displaced from the block along with the other two businesses there, I think all the committees and task forces in the city should require the developers to be responsible for relocating.”
Although local ABC law permits it, The Dame does not admit 18-21 year olds, a significant proportion of the city’s college student population. The policy has impeded the venue’s ability to continually develop an audience for live music. Yost said it’s a touchy subject.
“Obviously we want everyone to enjoy the music. We do have Sunday shows where we lock up all the beer, wine and liquor and have the 18-plus shows. I’ve had long conversations with the ABC and they’ve been real good about trying to figure out ways to do that. Instead of just The Dame alone working with the ABC we really need some of the task forces or the city to come up with some laws and procedures that we can follow instead of us trying to invent them. Our conclusion after talking with the city, the people who monitor these things, was we would put ourselves in a dangerous position if we did that, even though we want to. So we’re looking for a clearer path. When I researched the ABC laws about “all ages” shows there wasn’t one place in the city that had a place for that. The “all ages” venue law is quite complicated and no one really understood it.”
The future:
“The Dame is alive and well and we are very much committed as we have always been, providing great music and entertainment to a loyal fan base and to develop the downtown area of Lexington.”