Committee votes to cut Old Port bar licenses
Fate of at least four bars in full Council’s hands
By Chris Busby
The Portland City Council’s Public Safety Committee voted Jan. 12 to reduce the number of liquor licenses available for bars in the Old Port from 27 to 24. When the full council takes up the issue at its Jan. 18 meeting, its vote will determine the fate of several potential drinking establishments — including a new nightclub at the corner of Fore and Exchange streets, and two “upscale” establishments on Wharf Street that would replace two gritty dance clubs.
There are currently 22 bars in the area that need the special license to sell wine, beer or liquor. Only bars that generate over half their revenue from alcohol sales need an Old Port Overlay License.
Committee Chairman Will Gorham, whose council district includes the Old Port, introduced the proposed reduction. Gorham wants to cut the number of licenses to 22, effectively ensuring there will be no more bars in the area. He said he is concerned about the number of fights and other disturbances in the district, as well as the need to maintain a large police presence there at night.
Gorham was outvoted 2-1 by committee members Cheryl Leeman and Dr. Donna Carr, who prefer a less drastic reduction. Leeman said she was uncomfortable lowering the number to 22 because that would doom several businesses planned for the area, particularly the two slated for Wharf Street.
Old Port landlord Ed Baumann and his son, developer Steve Baumann, own both Wharf Street properties. One, at 37 Wharf St., was the home of Headliners until last month, when the dance club closed following an unsuccessful fight with the city over its liquor and entertainment licenses. The other is the current location of The Industry, which has had its own struggles with city officials and police over rowdiness.
Steve Baumann said a classy new bar, to be called Bar 37, is planned for half of the former Headliners space. (The other half would be a restaurant, he said, and as such would presumably not need an Overlay License, based on the percentage of food sales. No further details about this restaurant have emerged.)
Bar 37 will be “a high-end bar, attracting a different kind of clientele” than its predecessor, Baumann told the committee. The bar’s owners, whom Baumann did not name, do not yet have a liquor license application before the council.
Across the street, Brian Hanson, owner of The Industry, is applying for an Overlay License so his business can complete its transformation from a dance club to a pub-style restaurant called Right Proper Charlie’s. (The Industry did not previously need the special license because revenue from cover charges and other sources surpassed alcohol sales, they reported.)
In a Jan. 11 letter to city officials, Richard Berne, an attorney representing The Industry, said Right Proper Charlie’s would attract “an older and more upscale clientele [and] better mesh with newly established businesses in the Wharf Street area.”
A third bar, to be called Chaotic, is planned for the underground space at the corner of Fore and Exchange streets last occupied by Players.
In documents submitted as part of their liquor and entertainment license applications, Chaotic owners Michele Olsen and Emily Robbins describe their business as a dance club featuring DJs and live bands. The space would also host dart and billiard league events, and offer “pizza, mozzarella sticks, fries [and] wings.” Patrons would have to be over 21.
The council will consider the applications of both Chaotic and Right Proper Charlie’s at its Jan. 18 meeting – assuming it also votes to keep at least 24 Overlay Licenses at the same meeting. It’s unclear how much support any reduction has among the full nine-member council.
In a memo to councilors, city attorney Gary Wood said the building on lower Danforth Street last occupied by Sisters could also need an Overlay License if plans to reopen the space as a music venue come together. The building’s new owners are re-evaluating their plans in light of structural issues, but have already sparked opposition from neighbors and some councilors who oppose such an establishment opening at that location.
When the Overlay ordinance was first enacted, it allowed for 28 bars. That was reduced to 27 several years ago, and since then, several bars have closed.
Gorham, who co-owned and operated an Old Port bar and dance club in the 1970s, has also been a proponent of banning after-hours entertainment in the Old Port. Consideration of that proposal has been postponed until February.
The Industry is the sole club offering after-hours dancing in the district. After 1 a.m. on weekends, the dance club has been open to patrons under 21, and Gorham has cited the presence of teens on the street late at night as a prime reason he’s pushing to ban this activity.
In his Jan. 11 letter, Industry attorney Berne points out that if Hanson is not given an Overlay License to operate as Right Proper Charlie’s, he will “have no alternative but to continue to operate as The Industry.” Hanson has owned the nightclub for 13 years, and began major renovations to its interior last year.
If the council moves to ban after-hours entertainment, Berne wrote that Hanson would “pursue all legal remedies” to keep offering the dance nights. “This will likely result in protracted, costly litigation, which would benefit no one.” The switch to a pub, which would close at 1 a.m., is a “win-win situation for all parties,” Berne wrote.
Several people addressed the committee on the Overlay issue. Kate Perkins, of the substance-abuse-prevention group Communities Mobilizing for Change in Alcohol, spoke in favor of limiting the licenses. Justin Alfond, organizer of the Portland League of Pissed Off Voters, spoke against any reduction, as did Old Port landlord Joe Soley and others.
“I don’t think it’s the number of licenses” causing problems in the Old Port, Soley said. “It’s the management” of problem bars. Soley — who’s tangled with city officials and tenants of his Old Port properties in years past — sold a host of those properties to Ed Baumann several years ago, but still owns the building where Chaotic would operate.
“There’s been an evolution in the Old Port,” Steve Baumann told the committee. Baumann, a real estate broker for C.B. Richard Ellis/The Boulos Company, said market forces are improving the district, but some potential owners of high-end bars or restaurants are “nervous” about the need to secure an Overlay License based on the ratio of alcohol-to-food sales.
Gorham, who also works in real estate, showed no sympathy for those in that situation. Responding to Leeman’s concern that limiting the licenses could nix plans for bars in Baumann buildings, Gorham said, “It’s bad business practice to assume you’ll get a license and buy the property first.”
