The Cambridge music venue known as the Middle East is a Massachusetts institution and a crucial hub on the indie rock touring circuit, but its days might be numbered. The Sater family, the venue’s longtime owners, have reportedly filed plans to demolish the nightclub and its associated venues. In their place, the Saters would like to build a six-story hotel with two stages for live music.

Brothers Joseph and Nabil Sater founded the Middle East as a Lebanese restaurant in 1969. In 1987, promoter Billy Ruane convinced the Sater brothers to start booking live music at the Middle East. The experiment worked, and the Middle East became a full-time music venue. Over the years, it expanded. The club now has three stages — Upstairs, Downstairs, and a corner café. The Sater brothers also operate Sonia, the music venue next door, which was formerly known as TT The Bear’s. Under the proposed plan, Sonia and the restaurant ZuZu, as well as an adjacent convenience store, would all be demolished.

Cambridge Day reports that the Sater family has filed an application to use the space occupied by those businesses to build a hotel with about 100 guest rooms. The proposed hotel would also include two stages, on the ground and second floors, as well as a sixth-floor restaurant and retail space on the ground floor. A blueprint for the hotel has the second-floor stage labeled as “Middle East Music Venue.”

The Saters bought the property in 2014. At one point, they wanted to build condos over the Middle East, but that plan fell through. They also listed the Middle East for sale in 2020, but no buyers emerged, and the listing has since been taken down.