CHELSEA, MI — Actor Jeff Daniels’ new music venue and restaurant, a short distance from his Purple Rose Theatre, will be a cozy spot for musicians of all genres, managers say.
And Chelsea is ready for a new “immersive” nighttime venue, according to Aaron Vermeulen, business partner and principal at architecture firm O|X Studio, based in Ann Arbor.
JD’s Stage Bistro, 117 ½ S. Main St., is under construction and will open next April, Vermeulen, 56, said.
The spot will accommodate a 130-person music space, 100-person restaurant, 60-person newsroom and 30-person vinyl room.
The 42-by-22-foot newsroom pays homage to the TV series of the same name, in which Jeff Daniels plays the lead role. It could host rehearsal dinners, office parties and community events, Vermeulen said.
Read more: Jeff Daniels is partner in new music venue and restaurant under construction in Chelsea
Amanda Daniels, talent buyer and venue manager for the forthcoming spot, said talks to open JD’s Stage Bistro began in fall 2023, when Vermeulen and his partner, Roy Farmer, met with Jeff Daniels to discuss a new music and restaurant idea.
“We wanted this project to be more personal, more meaningful to us than just another restaurant with his name on it,” Amanda, 34, said. “We wanted to combine everything that was important to us, like the arts, family, community and good food.”
Amanda, who is Jeff Daniels’ daughter-in-law, and Vermeulen said they envisioned a music venue away from a larger city, and hope the spot would build on Chelsea’s existing music scene.
“Jeff didn’t want just a licensing agreement, he wanted something that he would be proud of and his family would be proud of and Chelsea would be proud of,” Vermeulen, of Dexter Township, said.
Vermeulen said this project is different from others he has worked on because it’s “local people trying to do amazing things.”
Amanda, who is also a musician, said Chelsea is her home and she wanted to build a space “that we would want to play in and we would want to be in regularly.”
The South Main Street building has been around since 1860, according to Vermeulen, and Chelsea Bakery sits above it.
The basement, where the venue and restaurant will be, previously was a storage space for a small brewery.
It is to feature a brick-vaulted ceiling, wine cellar, wood-fired oven pizza bar, martini door and 1920s chandelier, among other bar rooms and features.
To Amanda, sound quality and a comfortable environment is a priority for musicians who will perform there.
“For these artists who are tired and they want to play somewhere where they really feel welcome and taken care of, they want a good sound, they want a good audience and those are the things we want to give to musicians as well as the community,” Amanda said. “This is our home.”
She said the focus of the venue will be on original music because “we want our audience to really listen to these musicians.”
Amanda said the restaurant menu will highlight local flavors from Michigan and the Midwest. It will also incorporate a few of Jeff Daniels’ great-grandmother’s old recipes.
Vermeulen said the drinks menu will feature several vintage-style cocktails.
The bistro sits just about a tenth of a mile west of Daniels’ Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park St.
Daniels, who grew up in Chelsea, founded it in 1991.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mlive.com ’
