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As The State House prepares to close, future remains uncertain
NEW HAVEN — The owners of The State House downtown music venue gave it all they could for five years — including the 19 months they closed during the heart of COVID — bringing international World Beat and local rock, soul, punk, blues and R&B shows to the city.
But now, as they’re about to close the current venue at State and Chapel streets for good at the end of May, with what still are indistinct future plans, they’re just looking to have as much fun as they can for the community that has grown around The State House.
The last show, the final edition of “The Jam,” is scheduled for May 28.
As they prepare to close the doors to make way for a four-story, 44-unit apartment building in the parking lot directly in front of their front door, part of a total of 76 new apartments that landlord Beacon Communities is approved to build, owners Carlos Wells and Slate Ballard haven’t ruled out reopening somewhere else.
So far, they haven’t found a spot.
They also haven’t ruled out presenting shows in cooperation with some other venue.
“We’re just exploring our options at this point, I think is the best way to put it,” said Ballard. “There’s nothing concrete. We’re using our network to talk to folks” while “continuing to remain open to see if something emerges that might allow us to do a piece of what The State House has done.”
Whatever shape that takes, “it’s not going to look the same,” he said.
“We’re looking for ways to pivot — talking about teaming up” with others, Wells said this week inside the 310 State St. venue. “So far, it hasn’t happened.”
“It’s tough. It’s tough to see it go,” said Ballard. “It’s an emotional thing to watch something that Carlos and I put years and years into creating” close. “We were planning it for over five years before we opened.
“The hard thing is, there’s not a lot of places to go,” Ballard said. “It’s not easy to find a spot to move a music venue to. … If anyone knows a spot, or if anybody has a spot, reach out.”
The State House’s lease with Beacon, which both Wells and Ballard praised as a landlord, ran out in December. They’ve gone month-to-month since then but “according to Beacon, their construction is imminent and it’s kind of impossible for us to go on a month-to-month basis,” said Ballard.
Beacon officials couldn’t immediately be contacted.
Rick Omonte, an independent promoter who brought many of the international acts to The State House under the name “Shaki Presents,” now is presenting shows nearby at Cafe Nine, Wells and Ballard said.
The State House was one of the last local music venues to reopen after being forced to shut down during the pandemic, beginning March 13, 2020. The shutdown came just as Wells and Ballard “started to kind of hit our stride,” said Wells.
After a few white-knuckle months trying to negotiate the pandemic with no business coming in, Ballard and Wells got a second chance, aided by a $116,000 federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant from the Small Business Administration. Ballard called it “the only reason we were able to reopen.”
Similar grants helped fuel the reopening of several other venues, including Toad’s Place, College Street Music Hall, the Space Ballroom and Cafe Nine.
Wells said he hopes to walk away from The State House having at least broken even, but that’s to be determined.
Other venue owners and musicians who have played there will be sorry to see The State House go.
“It’s a tricky business and hopefully they’ll be able to move somewhere,” said Brian Phelps, owner of Toad’s Place, who helped Ballard and Wells prepare The State House’s SVOG application. “Hopefully, there’ll be some place around that they can move into.
“There’s a niche for it,” Phelps said.
Steve Rodgers, aka Steven Peter Rodgers, who held two album release shows at The State House, ran an open mic there for six months in 2019 and has added perspective as former longtime owner of The Space, The Outer Space and the Ballroom in Hamden, said he’ll miss the place.
“In my opinion, it is a loss because it was a place that took chances, especially on some of the younger bands that really can’t go other places,” Rodgers said. “I think it also filled the void of some of the touring acts.”
Ballard said he’s sorry to have to close but resigned to it.
“I feel like … everything comes to an end,” he said. “This is the end for this iteration of The State House and I feel like it’s a bummer that it’s happening at a time when we’ve been doing better and better shows and having a better rhythm with the communities.
“It’s unfortunate that those communities are going to be impacted by this, as well,” Ballard said. “And at the same time, I guess it’s time. We want to exit it in a way that is true to who we are.
“I think that people in New Haven need to understand that this real estate boom, this residential boom, is in one way impacting the cultural scene,” Ballard said. “We’ve got cultural amenities that are attracting people who desire to live downtown … and at the same time these developments are pushing these cultural amenities out.”
Despite the difficulties, Wells said he’s glad they took the risks to get The State House off the ground.
“We got to present music and arts and culture to the community,” and do it in in a way in which “we were as inclusive as we could be,” he said. “That’s been everything.”
