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Sotto (pronounced sot-oh) means underground, or hidden, in Italian. Michael Klinkhammer, owner of a brand-new bar with this name just off State Street, hopes to let campus bar-hoppers in on the fun hideaway he has created.

If students are familiar with the former T.C. Katz bar, home of the T.C. Kastle drink, they should picture its average atmosphere and smattering of bros replaced with elegant, floor-to-ceiling colored wall hangings, and contemporary lighting and fixtures, to get a good idea of what Sotto has to offer. The creative forces behind Sotto took the layout the location had rocked since the early ’90s, and gave it new meaning.

“I’m not Italian by any means, I just like the name,” Klinkhammer said, explaining his plight in finding a way to accurately name his first bar. “I had originally been thinking about calling the bar ‘The Underground,’ but I had gotten a lot of feedback from people saying it was too clich?. There’s a lot of bars and clubs throughout the United States that are called that because you’d have to go in and go down the steps basically. A friend of mine had suggested taking the name and going to Google Translate and seeing what other words and names pop up, and that’s the one that I liked the best.”

While lovingly distinct from what T.C. Katz once was, this is not to say that the bar’s previous clientele will be unwelcome. Klinkhammer described the lengths he has gone through to make Sotto a place for every crowd.

“We’re definitely catering to over 21, and because of the location we know we’re going to get the college kids in there,” he said. “We want to be able to get those guys in there and we also want to appeal to up to middle age, early- and mid-30s. … We want to be able to do a type of dance club that will appeal to a wide range of ages. That’s why we figured instead of making it a typical college bar, even though it’s in the on-campus area, we wanted to make it a little more upscale.”

Aside from its chic physique, one target market in particular makes Sotto a standout from the established downtown bar scene. Klinkhammer said it is listed as a gay bar on Facebook, and is altogether gay-friendly – though he said he dislikes this imprecise and somewhat patronizing term, in the same way many environmentalists cringe at the phrase ‘eco-friendly.’ The picture of Sotto he wishes to paint is one dedicated to inclusiveness.

“We are trying to also target the gay community, in that it’s the only bar on campus that markets itself as a gay bar,” he said. “We know the clientele that’s going to come in there is very eclectic and inclusive. We don’t want to say that it’s just a gay bar either; we want to be able to get all groups in there. It’s just another location that’s on-campus so it’s a place that’s easier and closer for college kids to go to also and feel comfortable.”

Klinkhammer believes his prime downtown location for Madison’s newest gay bar will not detract from the prosperity of those already-existing like Plan-B on Williamson Street. He hopes Sotto will be a way to strengthen Madison’s gay bar scene for the community and increase business overall.

“In the long run I don’t want us to be negative competition for them. I want this to be another venue for people to go to,” he said. “I go to all three other places; I visit them and I feel I have a good relationship with all the other owners. … I think all of us should be able to work together, with not only us promoting their bars but at the same time them promoting ours. I don’t want anyone to feel like we’re stepping on their toes.”

Klinkhammer has worked in the Madison bar and restaurant scene since 1996, and always wanted to own his own place. When he was approached by several individuals about the downtown space, he was thrilled to go forward with the opportunity. He said the shroud of mystery surrounding Sotto’s existence thus far – its absence from Google Maps, for example – was due to a purposeful desire not to set a rigid opening date. He and staff were working to get the finishing touches on remodeling, and wanted to open without being pressured by the public’s perceived timeline.

“We’ve only been open a week. The big thing for me is the feedback from everybody that’s come in, even without us doing a lot of advertising, has been really good feedback,” he said. “It’s one of those where if we felt comfortable opening that’s when we were going to open, and then later down the line doing a grand opening – which we have planned for Oct. 8.”

After the grand opening, Sotto will have a V.I.P. area available to rent for private parties. They will also begin brunch buffets every Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Klinkhammer wants the space to be open during the day to host LGBT events, like fundraising for the AIDS Network, as well as other community needs like sorority and fraternity functions or rehearsal dinners.

“We just want people to come in and check it out; hopefully it’s an exciting new place for people to go,” he said. “It’s a new venue where people can barhop and go between the four different places and have fun. It’s a new place we’ve put out there to offer to the community.”