Century Room at Hotel Congress
In their first meeting of 2022, the Rio Nuevo Board welcomed new board member Mike Levin, and unanimously approved entertaining an additional investment in the Hotel Congress. The Board also held the election of their executive officers.
This investment into the Hotel Congress would be used to help complete a state-of-the-art jazz bar called “The Century Room”, that will feature local & national musical acts, ancestral small batch mezcal, craft cocktails, and regional beer & wine. Musicians are already booked to perform starting in February when the club is planned to open. “It’s already being considered the premiere jazz club in the southwest United States, and we’re not even open,” said Richard Oseran, owner at Hotel Congress.
Formerly the Copper Hall banquet facility, this new jazz club has undergone $150,000 in sound abatement including windowpanes and shuttering to ensure the acoustics will be of the highest quality. “We’re now on the radar with New Orleans and Telluride for jazz,” said Chairman McCusker.
In addition to an exciting new jazz club, Hotel Congress, with the support of Rio Nuevo, has been able to update their patio by adding a shaded area and misters to comfortably reach a 700-person capacity. With these upgrades, the Hotel Congress is hosting more than 900 events per year and bringing economic investment into downtown.