several self-imposed
rules and changes
Club owner presents
several self-imposed
rules and changes
BY JOHN DUNPHY
Staff Writer
SAYREVILLE — In less than a year, Krome nightclub will be history.
According to owner Tom Beninato, the long-standing establishment at Old Spye Road and Route 35 formerly known as Club Bene and once host to some of the biggest names in show business, will be closing its doors in seven to nine months to make way for a proposed senior housing development and marina.
In 2000, the business lost its liquor license, which led to subsequent format changes and the name change. It also led to a different bottom line.
"You can’t do anything [as a club] without liquor," Beninato said, adding that the target demographic has changed as a result. The club used to attract people ages "6 to 100," with children’s theater productions on weekends and musical acts and comedy shows at night, but now mainly hosts rock shows for kids 14 to 18, he said.
In recent years, the club has come under fire from nearby residents and the borough on issues such as parking on residential roads, violence and garbage. This has caused residents to come out to Borough Council meetings to voice their complaints, most recently in July after residents also requested Mayor Kennedy O’Brien’s presence so he could see for himself what a certain Friday night show could bring to the neighborhood.
Beninato said he wants the club to go out on a positive note.
In a letter presented to the borough and read at the council’s meeting on Monday, Beninato laid out a number of new rules and improvements the club plans to implement for its final months.
There will be further enforcement of parking restrictions, more security inside and outside the club, and all mid-week concerts will begin earlier and end earlier, generally prior to 11 p.m. There will also be a "constant effort to control the volume" during performances.
He also said there will be a change in music to "a more centrist format, thus catering to a mainstream teenager." The club will also stop using some or all of its Teen Night promoters.
In the letter, Beninato made mention of how society had abandoned today’s teens.
"My opinion is [today’s teens] are not being educated where their future is full of options," he told Greater Media Newspapers, citing issues with education, peer pressure and the media.
"I think it’s society in general," he said.
Krome will also undergo a name change, due in part to format alterations as well as negative publicity, Beninato said.
Before the club had been renamed Krome, it had been called Club Bene for almost 40 years.
Beninato said a return to that famous moniker was not out of the question.
"We still have the old sign downstairs," he said.
The Borough Council, while acknowledging Beninato’s proposed changes, agreed Monday that it would vote on a resolution at the next regular public meeting to establish permit parking on nearby roads.
"I’ve always believed most of the issues with the clubs have come from [issues] of parking," O’Brien said at the meeting.
If the resolution is approved, the permit parking requirement would become law within seven days.
Beninato said in July he would address the parking issue by triple-parking vehicles in the lot, thus increasing the number of available spaces from 330 to 390. His letter to the council this week notes that "customers who choose not to use our well-lit parking lot will not be granted admission."
At this week’s meeting, Council President Thomas Pollando asked that the cleaning of the parameter of the building, at least 500 feet, be added to the list of changes.
Council members said they would like to see the club hold to the proposals in the letter.
"We’re not looking to close businesses down, but we have to work with clubs on the quality of life of residents," Pollando said.
"I think we’re ready for a change," Beninato noted.
The next regular public meeting of the council will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9 at borough hall.