Old Port Fight: Posh hotel suing “dive bar”
Both properties owned by Eric Cianchette
By Chris Busby
The posh Portland Regency Hotel has filed suit in Cumberland County Superior Court against The Alehouse, a rock club across the street, seeking damages and legal redress for “the nuisance created by the excessively loud entertainment” there, according to court documents filed by the hotel.
Alehouse owner Russ Riseman said his bar has received only a handful of complaints from hotel management, and has taken extensive measures to mitigate any problems.
Both the Portland Regency and the building where The Alehouse leases space are owned by Cape Elizabeth real estate mogul Eric Cianchette. Five years ago, shortly after The Alehouse opened, Cianchette’s ELC Inc., the bar’s landlord, sued Riseman over similar noise issues. The Alehouse prevailed in court after the judge determined the noise allegations were not credible, said Riseman.
Neither Cianchette nor the attorney representing Portland Regency Inc., Dave Perkins of the local firm Perkins Olson, returned calls seeking comment. It’s unclear how much the hotel is seeking in damages, or what the “injunctive relief” it is seeking might entail. The Regency is also seeking reimbursement for attorney fees and costs. The suit was filed in early November, and is still in its early stages.
Riseman said a lengthy lawsuit, and certainly a loss in court for his business, could doom the establishment. “They’re a very wealthy company, and I’m not,” he said. “The litigation itself can threaten to bring down the place.”
The Portland Police Department documented a total of seven noise and general disturbance complaints lodged by the hotel against the bar between October of 2003 and September of 2004, but recommended renewal of the club’s liquor and entertainment licenses that year.
“The ongoing issue the hotel has with the volume of the entertainment and patrons outside the establishment is a concern,” wrote Lt. Janine Roberts in her 2004 report. But she added, “to the police department’s knowledge, [Riseman] continues to try to work with the hotel to minimize this issue.”
During the next liquor license review period, from October of 2004 to last September, police did not document any noise or disturbance complaints concerning The Alehouse. The same was true of the period between September of 2002 and September 2003.
Riseman said music coming through the bar’s front door apparently disturbed a guest at the hotel last summer, but he said he was not made aware of that incident until October, when an extra $100 charge appeared on his rent bill from ELC Inc. Riseman said he paid the charge to reimburse the hotel for the guest’s inconvenience, and contacted hotel management to apologize and discuss the issue.
When another complaint was lodged in late October of last year, Riseman contacted the city’s inspection division to have decibel readings taken and discuss further sound-dampening measures. He said the sound of cars passing between the hotel and the bar on Market Street exceeds city decibel limits, but that he nevertheless took steps within 24 hours of this latest complaint to further address the issue.
Those steps include the installation of nearly $2,000 worth of soundproofing insulation and equipment. Sound engineers at the club must take decibel readings outside the club and in front of the hotel’s Milk Street entrance every hour, and must check in nightly with hotel management to “ensure there are no problems of any type,” Riseman wrote in court documents. In addition, the bar has been directing guests to a second entrance in back of the club on some nights, Riseman said.
“The Alehouse has taken considerable steps to eliminate any issue with respect to excessive noise” coming from the establishment, said Dan Skolnik, the Portland attorney representing the bar. Skolnik said The Alehouse is “very confident this situation will be resolved to the parties’ satisfaction.”
The Alehouse hosts live music most nights of the week, primarily rock and heavy metal acts. Stuff, a national men’s magazine, named The Alehouse one of the country’s best “dive bars” in a past issue, a distinction the club has trumpeted in its advertisements.
In the formal complaint filed with the court, Perkins notes this distinction and makes a point of consistently referring to The Alehouse as “the dive bar.” He asserts that music from the bar has interrupted the sleep of hotel guests and “interfered with their use and enjoyment of hotel facilities,” prompting management to reimburse guests for their stay or make other arrangements.
The hotel also has a bar on its premises, The Armory Lounge, which is open until midnight or later most evenings.
Cianchette, the cousin of former Republican gubernatorial candidate Peter Cianchette, made news when he co-founded Tax Cap Yes! and became a vocal proponent of the controversial statewide property tax-cap measure that voters rejected in a 2004 referendum.
