When Shane Molotik and Rae Gentry revived the Mercury Music Lounge off Detroit in Lakewood, in 2024, they brought about $100,000 in upgrades to its sound and lighting systems, a new bathroom, merch room and renovated green room.
But one aspect of Mercury’s spacious music hall, with a back room large enough to fit 500 concertgoers, was always a thorn in their side: a perpetually leaky roof and ceiling.
“Oh, we were facing issues with it from day one,” Gentry told Scene in a phone call.
Musicians would tell them, “We don’t want to come back here because our gear is getting rained on,’” she said. “We had School of Rock say they’d book more if only the ceiling was fixed.”
Since August, Gentry and Molotik, who had co-run the club, decided to close Mercury amidst an order to vacate issued by the City of Lakewood. Last weekend, following legal questions and untold repair costs, the two decided to close Mercury indefinitely.
“It’s kind of a shame,” Molotik said. “Because local venues and independent venues are some of the most important things around. And they’re kind of dying.”
Molotik and Gentry put their heads together in the fall of 2024 when they decided to reopen one of Lakewood’s most notable venues. Besides The Roxy, which opened up in the Mahall’s complex in 2023, the city’s west side was starving for stages large enough where national acts could play.
The investment worked for a stretch. Hard rock and heavy metal acts often sold out shows. Among them Powerman 5000, Lords of Acid, Fu Manchu, Bad Nerves, Throne and the Ex-Faces, a Mushroomhead supergroup reunion in 2025.
With Mercury closed, Molotik worries the aforementioned groups may pick Columbus in the future without that right-sized stage to play at in Northeast Ohio.
“Either they’re gonna play in front of a [larger] room that’s half full,” he said, “or they’re just going to skip the market altogether.”
The closure leaves The Winchester, Molotik’s main venue; No Class; Mahall’s; and The Foundry, which Gentry runs; as the remaining venues in Lakewood.
Despite a struggling post-pandemic world for smaller, independent venues, the Greater Cleveland Music Census actually found in a survey that the city needs more venues on the larger scale—those with at least 500 seats. The Roxy, on the east side of Lakewood, caps off at 800.
Bluewater Property Group, the owners of Mercury’s building since November 2021, did not respond to a list of questions concerning the need for repairs.
A mortgage agreement signed on November 18, 2024, said that Bluewater “shall maintain the Property in tenantable condition and promptly perform all repairs, replacements, and maintenance necessary to preserve its value.”
Gentry and Molotik started a GoFundMe page recently to help retain a lawyer and help their employees, who they said, “who have been hit especially hard by all of this.”
Both said they have no current plans to attract another operator for Mercury or relocate it elsewhere, but rather put the freed-up energy in their own venues.
“I think we’re both proud of it,” Molotik said. “But I don’t think we want to jump into anything else anytime soon.”
Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
