Temple Club, Lansing’s newest nightclub, opened its doors for the first time Thursday night. Welcome to the area.

This nightclub’s look alone almost guarantees high-quality entertainment. Set in an old church, Temple Club, 500 E. Grand River Ave., still contains much of the old woodwork and furniture. The candles and candelabras throughout the club suggest a classy, intimate club scene - something the Lansing area needs more of.

But Temple Club came close to a near-deadly denial of its liquor license because the building is within 90 feet of a church. State law allows any church within 500 feet of a business applying for a liquor license to veto the application. Fortunately, however, the state Liquor Control Commission approved the license anyway, since the church moved in after the club was under construction and had applied for its license.

Despite the congregation’s apparent concerns, we think it will find the club to be a good neighbor.

More importantly, though, is that the addition this club to the capital city should help the rebirth of Old Town. Adding the new club to the neighborhood that already includes Spiral Video and Dance Bar, 1247 Center St., will perk up the night scene and the economy of the area.

It also adds a high-class dance club geared toward a straight crowd to the area. Temple Club’s opening offers extra variety for our community.

Of course it would be nice to have a such a club closer to the student population on campus and in East Lansing, but Old Town has become a nice place too few students get to see.

Developments like this one help to introduce students to the variety of things Lansing has to offer - and that’s good for all of us.