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$2.3M jazz club on tap for Dayton

Tootsie’s is scheduled to open on West Third by Christmas 2010.

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By Joanne Huist Smith, Staff Writer Updated 12:38 AM Thursday, September 17, 2009

DAYTON — A large, upscale jazz and supper club is expected to open on West Third Street by Christmas 2010.

Gwendolin Dorsey’s decade-long dream of opening Tootsie’s Jazz Club leapt an obstacle Wednesday, Sept. 16, when the Dayton City Commission approved rezoning of 1½ acres to permit construction of the 17,616-square-foot nightclub on the south side of West Third Street, across from the Charles Drew Health Center.

“I’m just tickled,” said Dorsey, who sat with her head lowered and hands folded during the commission rezoning vote. “The struggle is over.”

The club, with 28 employees, will be open only on Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

Demolition of four vacant brownstones and the former Your Place nightclub will begin in about six weeks to make way for the $2.3 million venue, said project architect Jay. T. Gearson, vice president of Dayton-based Ferguson Construction.

Dorsey, a program case manager for the Dayton Urban League for 19½ years, said she nearly gave up on the idea after her husband, Gerald, died in 1997.

“It was our vision together,” she said. “The idea resurfaced when development in Wright-Dunbar began to pick up again. I grew up in the immediate neighborhood. I work in the neighborhood. Now, I want to open a business in the neighborhood.”

The name of the club stems from a nickname Dorsey’s godfather gave her 59 years ago. “I was 8 years old. All I would eat was Tootsie Rolls,” she said.

Dorsey, a public relations manager for the Dallas Cowboys in the mid-1970s, said she has private financing for the project, including two investors and her own funds.

The club would feature a grand ballroom with seating for 300, along with two bars. She has not yet applied for a liquor permit . Dorsey envisions the club for seasoned patrons, age 45 and up.

“This is the kind of place you dress up to go to,” she said. “No jeans allowed. No hip hop.”

The building includes an outdoor veranda facing West Third Street that can only be accessed from the inside.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2362 or josmith@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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