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Home > Leadership > City Comptroller > News Articles > Club Gets Permits For One Sunset Site

Club Gets Permits For One Sunset Site

By:  Brian Meyer
News Staff Reporter

The sun is rising on a new nightclub in a Delaware Avenue building once home to the ill-fated One Sunset.

Blush Ultra Lounge has obtained all the required city licenses to open at 1389 Delaware Ave., Buffalo’s permits director confirmed Friday.

Documents filed with the city list Jacqueline Brantley as the nightclub’s owner. Brantley did not return calls to discuss her plans or to say whether Blush is officially open.

Blush will offer live music and dancing, according to government records. It also apparently intends to apply for an outdoor patio license, but this will require separate approval from the city.

Brantley informed officials that she intends to be at the business during all hours of operation.

Blush has not received any city subsidies, mayoral spokesman Peter K. Cutler said. One Sunset, an establishment operated by former basketball star Leonard Stokes, received $160,000 in grants and loans from the city and county before it went belly-up in December 2008.

The various applications do not specify whether Blush will be a private club or will be opened to the general public, city regulators said.

Some city officials said they had heard the business will operate as a private jazz club.

Delaware Council Member Michael J. LoCurto, who represents the neighborhood where the building is located, said he had received only one inquiry from a neighboring business about Brantley’s plans.

LoCurto said Blush gave no early indications of provoking controversy.

“If it was opening in a different location other than [the former One Sunset], I don’t think there would be much interest,” he said. “We’ll certainly keep an eye on it to make sure they run a good business. If they do that, then there will be no problems.”

The city issued Blush a certificate of compliance in mid-August, said Patrick Sole Jr., Buffalo’s director of permits and inspections. The certificate means that crews have visited the premises and found no violations.

“It meets all applicable building and fire codes,” Sole said.

Documents indicate that the new tenant recently had some electrical work done in the vacant restaurant.

One Sunset made headlines after city auditors faulted development agencies operated by the city and county for pumping public dollars into a business that Buffalo Comptroller Andrew A. SanFilippo said was “doomed for failure right from the start.”

Stokes was a rookie restaurateur, and some have voiced suspicions that his friendship with Mayor Byron W. Brown helped him snare public subsidies.