At Problem Nightclub, City Holds The Lease

One month after sending SWAT cops into a downtown nightclub, the city is trying a different approach to addressing rowdiness — by invoking its rights as a landlord.

When city cops raided the Elevate lounge at the Alchemy nightclub on Oct. 2, they were stepping onto city property. The city, along with the New Haven Parking Authority, is a lease holder on the property occupied by the nightclub, which occupies a corner space in the parking garage at Crown and College Streets.

The city is now reviewing the terms of the lease to see if Alchemy has violated it in any way.

Meanwhile, John Carta, attorney for the Alchemy nightclub, said it’s the city that might have violated the lease.

By sending in heavily armed cops to a private party, the city may have violated the section of the lease that entitles Alchemy to ​“peaceful use” of the property, Carta said.

Carta further said the city administrators ​“speak with a forked tongue” by condemning rowdy behavior in the club district while the city profits as a landlord.

Rob Smuts, the city’s chief administrative officer, responded that he sees no contradiction in enforcing laws on a property where the city is a signatory on the lease.

The landlord-tenant dispute is the latest wrinkle in ongoing troubles in New Haven’s downtown club district. Those problems began in a hail of bullets in September, when police got into a shootout with club-goers near the corner of Crown and College Streets. That incident, which sent two to the hospital with gunshot wounds, resulted in a crackdown dubbed ​“Project Nightlife.” Mayor John DeStefano spoke out against club owners in downtown New Haven, saying that their negligence has enabled drunken misbehavior.

Cops flooded Crown Street on weekends, leading to complaints of over-aggressive policing, including charges that cops prohibited people from filming police action. Some of those complaints stemmed from the Oct. 2 Project Nightlife police raid on the Elevate Lounge—part of the Alchemy nightclub — where a private Yale party was in progress. Three students were arrested inside the club, two were arrested outside, and numerous others complained of verbally and physically abusive police. Police said they raided the club because it was overcrowded, a charge that attorney Carta disputes.

Until that raid, the landlord-tenant relationship between the club and the city and the parking authority had been unremarkable, according to Carta and Bill Kilpatrick, the director of the parking authority.

The original lease was signed in 1972 by Mayor Bartholomew Guida and then-parking authority head Roy Michaels. The 30-year lease includes two 20-year extension options, the first of which was signed in 2004 by the Long Wharf Realty Corporation, which rents the space to Alchemy.

The rent, originally set at $24,400 per year, has risen to $85,400 per year, or $7 per square foot, according to the lease.

Alchemy has been ​“a typical tenant,” said Kilpatrick. He declined to comment on previous problems the city or parking authority have had with their tenant.

“As a tenant, they are required to abide by all laws,” he said. If Alchemy violates laws, it can be a violation of the lease, he said. The city is investigating to see if any violations have occurred, Kilpatrick said.

The city is reviewing the lease, confirmed Victor Bolden, attorney for the city.

Carta, the attorney for Alchemy, said he is also reviewing the lease.

He said the city is ​“wearing two hats” in its relationship with Alchemy. The city, as the landlord, has a financial relationship with the club. But it’s also ​“the enforcer of peace and tranquility downtown,” Carta said. ​“Those two don’t jibe, maybe.”

“It’s not really Alchemy’s problem. It’s the city’s problem,” he said. ​“They speak with a forked tongue. On the one hand, the city is making money on the club. On the other hand, they’re raiding it. How do you reconcile those two things?”

Alchemy is paying its rent and is entitled to peaceful use of the property, Carta said.

Section 205 of the lease, the ​“Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment,” guarantees the lessee the right to enjoy the property without interference by the lessor. That right is also protected by common law, Carta said. The city could therefore be in violation of the law by sending in cops, Carta said.

“Common law entitles the tenant to peaceful use, so long as it’s not in violation of any of the terms of the lease,” Carta said. ​“We pay our rent. We’re good tenants.”

Carta said the police had no grounds to storm into the club. The bar wasn’t overcrowded, he said. And even if it had been, it wasn’t right ​“to bring in the National Guard, basically, and throw people on the floor … it could have been handled in a different way,” he said.

The police crackdown has had a negative impact on business at Alchemy, Carta said. ​“It scares people away.”

Even though the city is the landlord, ​“There’s no contradiction anywhere to doing inspections to enforce the law,” City Hall’s Smuts responded.. ​“We do that for everyone regardless of any other arrangement.”

Smuts said the parking authority and the city are considering whether Alchemy is the wrong tenant to have. ​“I would say that’s something that’s being discussed.”