The popular Carbondale nightclub Levels is set to reopen its doors for regular business for the first time since its owner abruptly announced the closure in early November.

Levels is scheduled to host a celebratory opening on Friday — the first time it has been open since a special party on New Year’s Eve. The business will then continue to operate from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, newly hired manager Nikki Taylor said.

“I’m just trying to resurrect this place,” said Taylor, who moved to Carbondale in 2005 with her daughter and worked as a bartender at Levels until 2007.

The bar, located at 750 E. Grand Ave., has operated as a nightclub since 1985 before it was purchased in 2005 by building owner Greg Knoob, whose son Austin Knoob now owns Levels. In October, Knoob told the Daily Egyptian he discontinued the business because of a chronic illness compounded by an excessive work schedule, but said he hoped to reopen once his health improved.

In an October interview, Knoob said Levels could remain closed for as long as a year. That changed when Taylor left a corporate job to take a chance on managing the club.

“She’s a ball of energy,” Greg said of Taylor, who worked for him years ago when she was bartending. “I hope they do well.”

As she prepares to take on the new job, Taylor said she wants to improve the quality of the bar’s food and have more promotions catered to SIU students.

“I’ve seen the potential this place has,” said Taylor, who is also known for a video she posted in June 2015 dancing with her daughter to Silento’s “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).”

The video was viewed more than 20 million times on Facebook.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYPDz_xNsLM

“The possibilities are endless here,” Taylor said of Levels.

Staff writer Tyra Wooten can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @twootenDE.

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