Mix Ultra Lounge departure creates opportunity in 1000 Broadway block

With the largest downtown nightclub within weeks of moving to a north Columbus location, the opening in the 1000 block of Broadway will create opportunity, said businessman Buddy Nelms.

Mix Ultra Lounge has been in the 1040 Broadway location for about four years and will be moving to Main Street Village in November. Nelms has owned the building Mix occupies for about five years and has begun planning to fill the space.

(Click here: DJ Roonie G to launch food, entertainment complex in north Columbus)

“We have got to get this right,” Nelms said of what he puts into the nearly 28,000 square feet of space spread over three floors and a basement.

There are a couple of reasons for that, Nelms said.

First, he owns the adjoining buildings and has multiple business interests in those locations, including The Loft restaurant and bar and Ride On Bikes. The other reason Nelms plans to move with purpose is because what is put there needs to fit with the evolution of downtown.

The first floor of the 1040 building has been a bar/dance club for about 15 years. First it was Oxygen then Mix, which opened about six years ago before moving across Broadway into the larger location.

“The market says put lofts in the top two floors, but I am just not a residential guy,” Nelms said on Thursday. “That’s not what I do. One of the ideas is to use the top floors for art studio space. Maybe an architect or something creative along those lines.”

The more than 6,000 square feet of space on the first floor has Nelms thinking in a different light. The space, which as a bar was just utilized three or four nights a week and only maximized in the night hours of Friday and Saturday, Nelms said.

“It needs to be used in a different way,” he said. “The nightlife down here is changing. Maybe there is retail, something like a music store in the mix.”

There is another idea that intrigues Nelms.

“We are thinking about a market, using some of the businesses that are here for Uptown Market Days on Saturdays,” Nelms said. “Think about it like Market Days all week.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Mix Ultra Lounge departure creates opportunity in 1000 Broadway block."