UPDATE 12/18: After a drawn out wait and a few false starts, Chrome Lounge will officially open for business tonight at 8pm with music by DJ Cashous.

Though the windows are boarded up and there aren’t droves of stumbling customers ordering Fat Bitches from the Are U Hungry location on West Beaver Ave, the distinct sounds of jack hammers rattle from inside the once popular late night spot and a sign hangs in the window that reads “Coming Soon: Chrome Bar & Hookah Lounge.”

According to their opening announcement, the new downtown business is a “nightlife experience like no other.” But according to Ze — the owner and operator of not only the former Are U Hungry location but the other Fat Sandwich eatery next to Sharkies — @Chrome_Lounge will be a high end Mediterranean-Italian fusion restaurant that boasts an exotic mixed drink menu as well as a shisha-smoking ambiance that is ideal for every-night-of-the-week chillin’.

With the laid-back, sit-down capacity of Inferno, the hipster hookah bar vibe of Chronic Town, and the drink menu that will rival any top-notch downtown establishment, Chrome is catering to a niche crowd in the State College bar scene.

According to Ze, during the daytime there will be no smoking at Chrome to drive focus toward the food menu of  artisan pastas, salads, and subs. However, once nighttime rolls around, Chrome will transform into a full blown hookah lounge with bottled beers and a selection of cocktails that Ze hopes to brand in a similar way that The Saloon has capitalized on Monkey Boys.

“We want [Chrome] to be mainly a lounge, where you come for an atmosphere that you can’t get anywhere else in this area,” said Ze. “It’ll be a more social bar, where hookahs and drink go perfectly with the music and a more high-end environment.”

The construction for Chrome is currently underway, and the owners hope to be open for business by the time fall semester hits Happy Valley.