Applause followed the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission's approval of new plans for rebuilding Whiskey Jacques' on Main Street.
At a meeting Monday evening, the commission unanimously voted in favor of nightclub owner Karin Martin's design review application, a move that has construction on schedule to begin in early June.
Martin said she's aiming to open the bar by Dec. 15, just in time for the busy holiday ski season.
"I'm very happy and think this will be such a neat building," Martin said in an interview. "I hope it will be a successful business for the town."
Martin lost her bar and live music venue last September from a fire that started in the neighboring building to the north, which had formerly housed Dirty Little Roddy's bar. The fire was deemed suspicious and a criminal investigation remains unresolved.
For the rebuild, Martin hired prolific Ketchum-based architects Jim Ruscitto and Buffalo Rixon, partners at the firm Ruscitto/Latham/Blanton, to bring a new look to the prominent Main Street location.
Rixon presented the new design to the commission, highlighting the façade of stone, wood, corrugated rusted metal and glass. New for Whiskey's reincarnation will be a second story, with a deck facing Main Street and a back wall with large windows to provide ample views of Bald Mountain.
The interior of the first floor is similar to the old Whiskey Jacques' layout, with bars on either side of the main dance floor and a stage for live music near the front doors.
It was the second set of plans for the building. The first, presented in October by architect Mark Klingerman, had received a lukewarm response from the commission.
"Aesthetically, I'm really pleased with the progress from the first design," said commission Co-Chairwoman Deborah Burns.
While all the commission members stated their enthusiasm for the project, some expressed a number of concerns to Rixon.
Most prominent was the southeastern section of the proposed building's wall, which abuts the neighboring Sawtooth Club. The design drawings showed a blank, light-colored stucco wall built right next to the northern end of the Sawtooth Club, sticking up above the latter's second-story deck.
Commissioner Steve Cook asked Rixon to lower the upper corner of the wall to bring it more in line with the profile of the Sawtooth Club. Rixon said the stucco would also be a darker color to more closely match the other colors used throughout the rest of the building's exterior.
The changes will not require Martin to go back to the commission, and she said excavation on the property should begin at the beginning of June.
Martin said she has not decided on a construction firm for the job, but said eight companies have submitted proposals.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
Whiskey Jacques’ owner Karin Martin, left, and longtime employee Kristin Derrig, right, are all smiles as the Ketchum Planning and Zoning Commission approves the design of the new bar, restaurant and nightclub. Martin said work on the building is scheduled to commence at the beginning of June, with completion slated for mid-December.
Photo by Willy Cook
