Henry Rollins shows to open new downtown Asbury Park venue

It’s showtime in downtown Asbury Park.

Music icon Henry Rollins will open the new $3 million House of Independents entertainment venue, at 550 Cookman Ave., with spoken-word shows on Dec. 11 and 12.

The multi-use space will feature theater, dance, film, comedy, cabaret, music and late-night fare, according to operators.

“We’re hoping this brings a lot of people into town,” said House of Independents founder and owner Morgan Sackman of city developer Sackman Enterprises. “We feel we have the kind of programming that will keep people interested and keep people coming back.”

Upcoming shows and events, the dates for which have not been released yet, include New York City’s avant-garde puppet theater Lone Wolf Tribe; Philadelphia’s award-winning Junk Dance troupe; comedy headliners from the Stress Factory in New Brunswick; the Asbury Fresh farmers market on weekends; Sex Toy Bingo and other “oddities” from the closed-until-next year Asbury Lanes (produced by Lanes ‘ manager Jenn Hampton); “A Christmas Carol”; and Light of Day concerts spanning Jan. 14 to 16.

The venue also will collaborate with the Lakehouse Music Academy and Recording Studio.

The two-story performance space has seating for 275 and an overall capacity for 500 in a standing-room only set up as the bleachers can be rolled back into a wall facing the stage.

There will be a downstairs lounge, a balcony bar and a restaurant adjacent to the balcony bar. The space is set off by exposed brick walls, black steel pipes and railings, and a hexagon steel mesh. The balcony bar ceiling is pressed tin. Venue seats will have cup holders.

The House of Independents can accommodate weddings, banquets and other traditionally seated parties of up to 208 guests.

“We got involved in a business like this because we want to support the other tenants around us and also give our tenants better cultural access in town so they don’t have to go outside for that,” Sackman said.

Sackman Enterprises is also renovating the nearby Savoy Theatre on Mattison Avenue, but there’s no timetable of a reopening there, Sackman said.

“It’s a good attempt to bring people into town and I think it would be good thing, instead of just having it for a limited type of audience, to have it for everybody,” said Deal resident and city DJ Jim Curran. “It has to be open to everybody — there are certain segments of the population in this city who might feel cut off.”

The vision is to have the House of Independents be a community hub with top-line entertainment, Sackman said.

“We’re going to have a high level of entertainment,” Sackman said. “Even if someone isn’t into a type of show, they can come in here and know it’s going to be the best of its kind.”

A marquee will be going up shortly. Tickets for the Rollins show are $40. Visit the Facebook page for more information.

Chris Jordan: cjordan@app.com