Lee County live entertainment venue sold

Cape Coral’s only live entertainment venue with multiple performance spaces is changing hands, but its new owner says the show will still go on. 

Joel and Carol Notes have sold Cape Cabaret to longtime Cape Coral resident and entertainment entrepreneur Amy Ginsburg, according to a release. Ginsburg will take ownership Sept. 1.

The sale price and other financial terms were not disclosed.

Cape Cabaret will remain open throughout the transition, with existing reservations, tickets and scheduled performances unaffected, the release says. The venue’s employees will also remain in place.

Ginsburg plans to preserve Cape Cabaret’s current programming while gradually adding more tribute productions, nationally touring performers, cultural events and partnerships with community organizations.

“This will continue to be the same Cape Cabaret everyone knows and loves,” Ginsburg says in the release.

At 4725 Vincennes Blvd., Cape Cabaret presents live entertainment five nights a week, including tribute and variety bands, comedy shows and themed dance parties. The venue also operates a full-service restaurant and liquor bars and hosts private events for as many as 400 guests.

The Notes purchased the former Italian American Club building in 2015 and spent nearly two years renovating it before opening Cape Cabaret. The couple, who have lived in Southwest Florida since 2000, previously owned other businesses and commercial properties in Cape Coral and Fort Myers, including the Sandy Parrot and The Buddha.

“Cape Cabaret was one of our passions in life,” Joel Notes says in the release. “We had the opportunity to bring live entertainment to Cape Coral for 10 years, and it worked out just beautifully.”

The couple decided to sell as they prepared for what Notes describes as the next stage of their lives. Discussions with Ginsburg unfolded over several weeks and focused on retaining the venue’s employees and performers while preserving its role in the community, according to the release.

Ginsburg brings experience in both the business and nonprofit sides of the arts. She founded Cut the Chord Entertainment, a talent management and booking agency that represents touring performers and connects them with orchestras, performing arts centers and other presenters around the country.

She is also president of the Cape Arts Network, the city’s arts alliance, and has lived in Cape Coral for more than four decades.

Ginsburg says owning an entertainment business had long been a goal. Rather than overhaul the venue immediately, she intends to build on the formula established by its founders.

“Joel and Carol have perfected the recipe for success at Cape Cabaret,” she says in the release. “Other than a pinch or dash of unique entertainment flavor, I have every intention of following their recipe.”