A Midtown business owner is looking to add a second-floor patio area to her combination restaurant and lounge, but as the plans go to the Planning Commission for review Thursday, some neighbors say it will present a noise problem.

Suleka Sun-Lindley owns Thai Basil and Level Up Lounge at 2431 J St., and with the lounge – which opened in 2007 – not making money, she said she hopes the addition of an open-air balcony will help it become profitable.

“Thai Basil is doing well, but Level Up has been costing us money,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “I’m hoping that adding an area where people can go outside and smoke will make more people want to come.”

The Thai restaurant, which opened in May 2002, is a successful branch of a family business begun by Sun-Lindley, her mother and sister in Roseville in 1996. Sun-Lindley, who moved from Thailand in 1989, was an architect before going into the restaurant business.

After being granted a liquor license in a lottery in 2006, the upstairs portion of the building was turned into Level Up Lounge.

Building an upper deck or patio was the logical solution to two problems, Sun-Lindley said.

“We like to have our outdoor seating at Thai Basil, but the awning leaks in the rain, and I wanted to build a permanent covering over it,” she said. “I thought it would be perfect to make it a deck for Level Up so people could use it to go outside and smoke, instead of going downstairs to the street.”

The design involves extending the front and rear walls of the building 8 feet and putting a floor and new awning in place to allow lower-level seating in all weather as well as upper-level open space.

In all, 300 square feet will be added to the 4,000 square feet the building already occupies, but the capacity of Level Up Lounge – 50 people – will not increase.

Some neighbors, however, are concerned about added noise from the business, which stays open until midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. Thursday through Sunday.

“My worries are that if that went in, then I might not be able to sleep,” said nearby resident Joe Diaz. “The DJs already play loud music, and I hear it. It goes right through my double-pane windows and insulated walls.”

He added that he is concerned people will step outside and have loud conversations on the balcony that will keep him awake, and parking will be more scarce.

Another nearby building owner, Brent Johnson, said he has four residential tenants for whom noise is a problem, though he acknowledged noise as a reality in a mixed-use area such as Midtown.

“It’s mostly just the noise,” he said. “I’m all for local businesses succeeding, but the noise went up when the bar came in, and I think instead of it being an open-air patio, it could be closed to keep in the sound.”

He added that he sees a benefit to the patio as well.

Currently, smokers on the street level toss cigarette butts onto his property, he said, adding that he thinks having an upstairs area where they can smoke will cut down on the problem.

Sun-Lindley held an informal meeting at the lounge Monday night, with staff passing out about 40 fliers inviting neighbors to give input. Modifications were made to the design to completely enclose the rearward wall – which faces homes – after the comments of the four people who came, with two supporting and two opposing. It was originally designed as a half-wall.

Others familiar with the space said the addition will make the lounge more attractive.

“I love the expansion idea just to get people out to have some fresh air,” said local artist John Krempel, who has had about 20 art shows in the lounge.

“During my art shows, people want to get outside and get some fresh air, but they have to go downstairs, and a lot of the time, they just leave,” he said. “It would be such a better experience if you had (the patio) up there.”

Sun-Lindley said she enjoys having art shows in Level Up as a way of staying involved in the community.

“The nearby neighbors are the ones we want to have coming in,” she said. “We want to run a business, but we also want to be good neighbors.”

Fully enclosing the outdoor space, she said, “would kill the ambiance.”

Adding to the building has been a continual process since the restaurant’s opening, with a permanent storage area, new flooring, new paint, revised lighting, courtyard seating and the building of the lounge all being done over the years as money was available.

“We want to put the money we make back into the business,” she said.

Planning the patio cost about $19,000, with a $9,000 non-refundable permit fee added to $10,000 in planning and architectural renderings. If approved, the estimated cost of the addition, as designed, is about $150,000.

“I really want it for a better outdoor dining experience, but it’s also something we want to see at Level Up, since having an outdoor area is so Sacramento,” she said.

The design will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the City Council Chambers at 915 I St.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.