Plans for a downtown Muskegon nightclub are showing new signs of life.

Peter C. Johnson of North Muskegon, co-owner of several G & L chili dog restaurants in the area, and well-known local restaurateur Hobart Thrasher announced plans for their Kunga Club in the former Brunswick Lanes at 441 W. Western Avenue nearly a year ago.

"Kunga" is slang for a conga drum, and after months of silence the drum has started beating again.

On Tuesday, Johnson was back before the Muskegon City Commission. After hearing of the latest plans, the commission voted to:

· Transfer a Class C-SDM liquor license from the former Bill Knapp's restaurant on East Sherman Boulevard, plus a new dance-entertainment permit and an extra bar permit.

· Grant an obsolete property certificate, which would freeze property taxes at their current level for the next 12 years.

PCJ Enterprises LLC proposes to invest $800,000 in the building, work that would include new electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems as well as new floors, walls, ceilings and a new front facade.

According to its application to the city, construction would begin next January and be completed around the first of June. Johnson told commissioners, however, that construction could start earlier than that.

The club would occupy about half of the building's 9,100 square feet; the other half would be available for some other commercial or retail use.

A restaurant to be called Red Sage was to have occupied that space. Harris Hospitality balked at the high cost of reconstruction and instead opened Pints & Quarts Pub and Grill in the Park Row Village in Roosevelt Park last December.

Johnson said he expected that the tax break afforded by the obsolete property designation would help in landing a tenant for the other half of the building.

Before plans for the Brunswick building stalled, the commission had granted a special downtown development on-premise liquor license for the Johnson/Thrasher nightclub in late 2002. That license was never approved by the state, however.

Johnson told commissioners the latest plan will see a combined restaurant and nightclub business.

He said the club/restaurant would have 25-30 employees, and the other business likely would add 10-15 more for a total of 40.

© 2004 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission