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Former Galesburg Elks Club Building to Become Music Club

One of the new co-owners of the former Elks Club building in downtown Galesburg envisions turning it into a hub for music in the city.

Neal Minella of Kewanee and John Trobe of Chicago purchased the building last month for an undisclosed amount. Minella is apart of the seven-member bluegrass band Frank F. Sidney’s Western Bandit Volunteers.

Minella said he would like to convert the building into a place for concerts with studios for rehearsals and recordings. He said the venue could bring in more musical acts to Galesburg.

“Davenport, Burlington, Peoria, they all have great places. But the city of Galesburg just doesn’t have a big enough place right now to sustain the bigger acts coming in, or that want to come in and that people want to see,” Minella said.

Minella said it's possible the top floor of the club could have a non-music use. “We’d like to do some apartments up there, but we kind of want to see how much racket we’re going to make down here with the sound system,” Minella said.

Minella is working with the Knox County Partnership for Economic Development. President Ken Springer said they are in the process of working with the city on regulations and bringing the building up to code.

The plan is to complete the renovations and open the building as the “Brass Elk” by the summer.