Downtown Cincinnati may be losing another landmark. The nationally known Blue Wisp Jazz Club has been given a date of March 1 to vacate the basement of 19 Garfield Place, where it has operated since 1989.

        “They have a tentative date for me to move, but they said they would work with me. I already have March booked,” owner Marjean Wisby said last week. She hopes she'll be able to stay in the 2,400-square-foot club until June.

        She has rented the location on a monthly basis since her 10-year lease expired in 1999. The move is being prompted by the expansion of the Foundation Savings & Loan, which occupies the ground floor of the building and will take over the basement when the Blue Wisp leaves.

        “She was one of our first tenants,” said Sam Logan, the managing partner of the building's owner, Presidential Plaza. It was he who brought Ms. Wisby and her club to Garfield Place, after it was forced to move from its original O'Bryonville location because of a restaurant expansion. The Blue Wisp started life as a neighborhood bar in O'Bryonville in 1973, opened by Ms. Wisby's late husband, Paul.

        The Blue Wisp has offered national, regional and local jazz on a nightly basis at its downtown location. It's become a destination for local and visiting jazz fans and musicians, particularly on Wednesdays, when the Blue Wisp Big Band performs.

        Like other downtown businesses, the Blue Wisp has seen crowds dwindle since the April riots. “Nobody came in after April 11,” Ms. Wisby recalled. “I didn't have to order beer or liquor for eight weeks.”

        Mr. Logan said his company's “intent is to try to work with the Blue Wisp while they look for a new location. We have a full building, and we have pressures on tenants. But we love Marjean.”

        Ms. Wisby hopes to keep the Blue Wisp downtown, where it has been a draw for people staying in nearby hotels. “We really want to stay down here,” she says. “But the big problem is finding a place with enough parking.” She said she would consider moving to Northern Kentucky if the right opportunity arose.

        That would be a real loss to the city, according to David Ginsburg, executive vice president of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., an advocacy group funded by local business. He said DCI is working with Ms. Wisby to find a new location.

        “The Blue Wisp really is an icon of downtown Cincinnati,” Mr. Ginsburg said. “We envision downtown being a 24-hour city where there's always something to do, and the Blue Wisp fits right into that.”

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