The Sphere Entertainment Complex, which hosted the Student Association's DJ Series until a spate of violent shootings this year, will be under new ownership by the end of May, according to the new owners.
Artie Kwitchoff, former manager of the Goo Goo Dolls, is in the final stages of purchasing the downtown venue.
With financial help from a small group of partners, Kwitchoff said he plans to turn the Sphere into a concert club that will feature live music.
Renovations are planned for the summer months and a grand re-opening, complete with a new name, is set for September.
"It's going to be less of a restaurant in the front, and more of an adult bar," Kwitchoff said. "The back is still going to be the showroom. It's definitely going to have a different atmosphere."
According to The Buffalo News, current Sphere owners Joseph Guagliardo and Michael Slyder bought the building as the Pfeiffer Theatre from UB in 2002 and transformed it into the current restaurant and dance club. Kwitchoff said he would be the fourth owner of the complex in the past 50 years.
Kwitchoff said he wants to take the club's atmosphere back to its roots. In the 1940s and 1950s, the present-day Sphere was known as the Town Casino, a cabaret club that booked celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Nat King Cole, he said.
"This building is a legendary building in Buffalo, and I want to return to the original idea of live entertainment," Kwitchoff said.
Recently, controversy was raised about the Sphere after several shootings and fights occurred outside the club after events.
In November, a man standing in front of the club was shot, and on New Year's Eve, during a Wild 101.1 event, six people were wounded in a drive-by shooting involving two gunmen. And in late January, UB student Ahmad Zakar was stabbed during a fight.
Current club owners said the issue played a part in their decision to sell the venue. Kwitchoff, however, said he was looking into the real estate even before any of the violence, and he is not worried about future violence or the bad reputation the Sphere has acquired.
"The violence was just a speed bump," he said. "There won't be events that will bring the kind of trouble that event (Wild 101.1) brought. I won't make those mistakes. I've been doing this for too long."
Kwitchoff has a great deal of experience in the music world as an independent promoter and as head of the Clear Channel Communications office in Buffalo, booking acts at the Sphere, HSBC Arena and Darien Lake. His assistant from this company, Donny Kutzbach will help book talent and see their vision for the concert club through.
Kwitchoff is also co-owner of his own entertainment company, Funtime Presents, which serves the area between Buffalo and Albany.
Chris Aliotta, a junior finance major, said he's attended past events at the Sphere and he is not concerned about safety issues.
"There is a police station right next door," he said.
Corey Switzer, a junior American studies major, said despite the violence, she's willing to attend events at the Sphere.
"There's the potential for violence anywhere," Switzer said. "If they brought in bands that interest me, I wouldn't care."
Michael Bluman, a junior communications and marketing major, said he is excited about what the new venue could add to Buffalo's theater district.
"I'm not a big fan of dance clubs," Bluman said. "I'd rather go to a small-venue concert hall any day. It brings much more excitement. It brings the music closer to the fans and the fans closer to the music."
