Late-night Lexington is about to get an “upscale, classy lounge.” Here’s a sneak peek
A new downtown hot spot will be opening soon on Main Street. But it isn’t a nightclub or a bar.
“This is a lounge,” said DeBryant Beatty, owner of Stings Lounge at 123 West Main. “I like to stay away from that word ‘club.’ ... Because it’s more than just a bar. It’s an upscale, classy lounge.”
With live music and VIP areas, hot DJs for dancing and cold drinks for sipping.
Also, don’t expect to drop in for drinks there before dinner. This place will be strictly late night. Stings will be open Thursday 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Friday and Saturday 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
And it will have the ambiance to suit, with crystal lights over black leather sofas in private niches, dramatic lighting behind ironwork along the bar and a VIP balcony that overlooks the entire space with a second bar. Both levels have back rooms for additional private group seating as well.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Beatty said. When he used to host events in the old Trust bar, he always loved the place. “I never knew I’d own it. ... This is my baby now.”
Beatty will open his Stings Lounge with two nights of live music from Funk Seminary on March 6 and from Honey Child on March 7.
The name of the lounge stems from a childhood nickname, Sting. As a kid Beatty was fascinated by bees and inevitably was stung. So his dad called him Sting.
Beatty said he plans to have live music of all varieties, with bands in front of the Stings Lounge logo painted on the wall by his artistic 15-year-old daughter, Chanaeya Beatty. The evenings will open with live music and end with DJs, he said.
He’s excited because the location offers many possibilities. “We’re right in the middle of downtown,” he said.
The music venue is across from the new Residence Inn and Marriott at City Center, where there will be the new Jonathan Lundy restaurant ItalX coming soon. And it is down the block from the 21c Museum Hotel, around the corner from the renovated historic courthouse with Zim’s Cafe and The Thirsty Fox and around the block from the hot Short Street dining district.
The new lounge is in an historic building that was built in 1925 as the Phoenix Bank.
The two-story building’s terra cotta facade was uncovered and restored in 2011 before the Trust lounge opened that year.
The interior retains much of the elaborate crown molding original to the bank. The skylights in the ceiling will be lit up again as well.
Beatty also is booking the space as an event venue. “You could fit about 300 people in here comfortably,” he said.
He’s already booked some wedding receptions. Food will be catered in because Stings Lounge doesn’t have a kitchen.
But Beatty thinks there’s a niche for something exciting, grand and after-hours in Lexington.
“We’re going to be doing all kinds of amazing things in this building,” Beatty said. “I’m so excited to have it.”
Stings Lounge
Where: 123 West Main St.
Hours: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday; 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Friday, Saturday
Contact: 608-3905; stingslounge.com
