The city's newest nightspot will not open inside an old bank building or a vacated retail store or some other abandoned structure.
Instead, it's opening in one of Detroit's most respected institutions, one bursting with more than 6,000 pieces of art.
On Thursday nights, amid a flurry of performance art and live music, the Detroit Institute of Arts turns its Prentis Court into the Marble Lounge.
Five hours after the museum's normal closing time, the museum reopens at 10 p.m. as of the Marble Lounge, whose name was inspired by the Montclair Danby marble used to build the DIA. The lounge will have a closing time of 2 a.m., the same as most local bars and clubs.
The Marble Lounge concept doesn't represent a DIA effort to replicate Plan B Nightclub or the Bleu Room Experience.
It's just a chance to draw a younger, edgier crowd to the museum. The idea was inspired by the museum's 32-hour reopening last fall, when employees such as the DIA's director of marketing, Jim Boyle, saw people packing the museum, even at 3 and 4 in the morning.
"Sometimes this particular age group steps away from fine arts museums for a while until they have kids," says Boyle. "We're trying to make sure we create an environment where they feel welcome, especially with our newly reinstalled building, and get on their list."
The Marble Lounge will be open to people ages 18 and over, and alcohol can be purchased by those 21 and older. Food such as sandwiches and burgers will be sold.
The museum chose to open the Marble Lounge on Thursdays -- the goal is to open it once a month after it opens next in May -- because it would encounter less competition with area nightspots and because the target crowd tends to start enjoying the weekend early.
"For the younger crowd, a lot of people start their weekends on Thursdays, so why not do it with art?" says DIA spokeswoman Pam Marcil.
