NORTHAMPTON — Chanel Lobdell, a graduate student at UMass Amherst, says she visits downtown Northampton once a month. On a particular sunny day in May, Lobdell was walking down the city’s Main Street with her family, who were visiting from Orlando for her graduation.

For this student of urban planning, Lobdell says she enjoys what the city’s downtown has to offer — with one notable exception.

“I like shopping at the local boutiques, and there’s plenty of good restaurants,” Lobdell said. “But it’s sad there’s no live music scene. It should be coming back.”

A persistent obstacle to Northampton making a full recovery from the economic impact of the pandemic has been the dearth of nightlife around the city, sustained by the closure of several entertainment venues owned by local real estate magnate Eric Suher. Five such venues under Suher’s ownership have been a constant state of shutdown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a large hole in a city known as an arts and cultural hub.

Suher has faced criticism for continuing to keep venues such as Pearl Street and Iron Horse closed, with the Northampton Licensing Commission originally stripping him of a liquor license and putting several other licenses under review before reaching a deal with Suher in which he agreed to either sell or reopen his establishments by Sept. 29.

In addition, the agreement requires any third party or Suher to have a certain level of activity at each venue in order for the licensing deal to be met. The locations of the Basement and Iron Horse must be open four nights a week and the Green Room six nights a week, and Pearl Street and Calvin Theater must have four to six shows a month.

While those venues have been closed, others in Florence and neighboring communities — the Drake in Amherst, the Marigold in Easthampton and Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity in Florence — have filled the gap and offered people other places to go.

Although Suher has a history of not following through on promises regarding reopening venues, city officials are hopeful that the terms of the agreement will incentivize Suher to finally sell some of his property.

“Mayor Sciarra is about to be, I think, hopefully, the first person in history to get Eric Suher to sell a building,” said Alan Wolf, the mayor’s chief of staff. “And hopefully he likes the way that feels, like ‘I have a spot that was doing nothing for me, and now I have money.’ And hopefully that begins to break some ice.”

Meanwhile, though Northampton officials have considered an ordinance similar to one adopted in Easthampton that would require property owners with empty storefronts to register with the city’s building commission and pay a fee to support a database of spaces available to rent in the city, there are no immediate plans for such a proposal.

“I don’t know if Northampton could do it, but I also feel like for the properties that tend to be chronically vacant, I don’t know if a tax will have any impact,” Amy Cahillane, executive director of the Downtown Northampton Association.

Other new Northampton businesses are looking to fill the void for the city’s current lack of nightlife. The coming Mexcalito Taco Bar plans to have its bar open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, as it does at its current location in Amherst. Main Street’s Gombo will have its bar open until midnight during the same days, with plans to bring in live jazz music to add to its New Orleans-inspired atmosphere.

“We’re planning where, after hours, the restaurant closes, bar only, and a four-piece New Orleans band every Friday night,” Gombo owner John Piskor said. “That’s just something completely different than anything else going on.”

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