Anchorage

Ghosts of downtown Anchorage's past haunt new business venture

In June, the struggling downtown Anchorage nightclub Platinum Jaxx vacated its two-story building on the corner of West Sixth Avenue and I Street. The building has sat empty since.

A joint lounge and restaurant operation, the LED Ultra Lounge and the Tri-Grill Restaurant, is now poised to move in. Owner and longtime Anchorage businessman Robert Alexander says he envisions creating a nighttime environment akin to Humpy's Bar and Grill, with live music, dancing, drinks and full lunch and dinner menus.

But, for now, the status of plans to serve alcohol in the venue is in limbo. Nearby building managers and members of the downtown business community, scarred by problems with Platinum Jaxx and other downtown nightlife operators, are speaking out against the transfer of the building's liquor license to Alexander's businesses.

In a rare move, Assembly Chair Patrick Flynn, who represents downtown Anchorage, gained Assembly approval for a Dec. 2 public hearing on the transfer of the liquor license. He said he's received a "higher than usual" volume of calls, emails and letters about the prospect of venue that would combine alcohol, music and nightlife.

"I'm not going to prejudge the outcome, but I do think it's fair to give the downtown business community and residents the opportunity to give thoughts," Flynn said.

Meanwhile, Alexander, who has a significant business stake in the matter, said this week he hadn't realized there were concerns and was caught off-guard by the Assembly's action. He has already committed to a five-year lease and has started paying rent, even though the building is empty. He said this week it would stay empty if he ultimately were unable to obtain a liquor license.

A military veteran who moved to Anchorage in 1985, Alexander has owned and operated local businesses for two decades, which currently include Fusions Bar and Grill, Bingo South and the Tri-Grill Restaurant in South Anchorage. In March, Alexander and his wife, Serena, bought the Big Timber Motel on Fifth Avenue with plans for a large-scale remodel.

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In a phone interview Wednesday, Alexander said he feels he is being unfairly punished by the stigma surrounding Platinum Jaxx and other downtown nightlife venues.

"I've been in business in this town for 20 years, and I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before," Alexander said. "I think it's unfair. Even people that are concerned were not concerned enough to call me to find out what I was doing."

He also strongly disputed characterizations of his business as a "nightclub."

"It's not a nightclub. We'll do some nightlife on the weekends," Alexander said, adding that the venue would be open daily for both lunch and dinner. On the side of LED Ultra Lounge, there will be dining tables in the same space as the dance floor, he said.

"There'll be a band once or twice a week, and, just food and music. But always food," he said. "It'll be no different than Humpy's."

A history of frustrated neighbors

Flynn, however, said he was "leery" of the plans.

"As you may have read," Flynn said in an interview Tuesday, "we have had a hard time downtown with a trio of establishments," referring specifically to Platinum Jaxx and two other clubs that offered alcohol and dancing, the Anchor Pub and Club and Rumrunner's.

All three have closed within the last two years. Each one, Flynn said, entered the neighborhood with promises to be a good operator -- and ended up either breaking or falling short of those promises.

In late 2012, Rumrunners, at Fourth Avenue and E Street, shut down in the face of criminal charges that a bouncer severely beat a handcuffed customer. Less than a year later, the Anchor, a bar and dance club that also saw bursts of trouble, closed to make way for an expanded Legislative Information Office.

The most prominent violent episode associated with Platinum Jaxx was a shooting death that occurred outside the club in October 2012. During a fight that broke out after a Halloween party, a 27-year-old Russian kickboxer, Said Beshirov, was shot and killed. Suspected shooter Korakanh Phornsavanh is awaiting trial.

That incident was out of the ordinary, but people who work, live and manage property nearby said in letters to Flynn that Platinum Jaxx was, in general, a bad neighbor. Tamra J. Rupe, the building manager for RSD Properties, which owns a professional office building adjacent to the property, described illegally parked cars, broken glass over the yard and lot, graffiti, and patrons vomiting, urinating and defecating on and around her building.

"We are constantly cleaning up after their customers," Rupe added.

The owner of a building directly across the street, Bridget Sanders, wrote in a letter that she would have to spend a few minutes most Sundays or Mondays cleaning up beer bottles and cigarettes from around the yard. She said the incidents involving gunfire made the "once desirable downtown location" feel unsafe.

Matt Fink, a commercial real estate agent with Re/Max who has helped with the building lease and the transfer of the liquor license, said the process of leasing the building began in July. He said neither he nor Alexander heard any complaints or concerns about the liquor license until Tuesday's Assembly meeting, and the last-minute setting of a public hearing was "unheard of."

"They've had six months to bring it up. Why did they wait until the very last minute?" Fink said, adding that it would be more understandable if the Assembly was seeking to put new conditions on a license renewal for a problematic operator.

Flynn stressed that he did not seek to delay approving the liquor license transfer and schedule a public hearing lightly. A part-owner in the popular Snow City Cafe, Flynn is all too familiar with the liquor license component in business decisions.

But he said he is haunted by downtown's venues of the past.

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"I can't tell you how painful it was to deal with the Rumrunner situation," Flynn said. "I don't want to put that upon myself again."

On Dec. 2, after the public hearing, the Assembly will decide whether to formally protest the liquor license transfer. But the timing is odd. The Alcohol and Beverage Control Board is expected to take up Alexander's license transfer at its meeting a day earlier, on Dec. 1.

The board will not grant a liquor license to Alexander without the municipality's approval, said Cynthia Franklin, the agency's director. But Franklin said the board could choose to delegate authority to her to issue the license after gaining that approval.

Devin Kelly

Devin Kelly was an ADN staff reporter.

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