Two bars shutting down at Court Avenue complex as Des Moines reconsiders alcohol permit

Two bars at Court Center, a multi-floor entertainment space at 216 Court Ave. in downtown Des Moines, will close this month ahead of a public meeting to review the conditional use permit allowing the building's tenants to serve alcoholic beverages.

Beer Can Alley and The Exchange, both located on the third floor of the building, announced on Facebook Monday that they are planning to shut down Nov. 26. Beer Can Alley, a country-themed bar, and The Exchange, a tech-themed nightclub, have been in the building for over a decade.

"It has been a long wild ride in this building and we cannot thank our patrons and staff, both past and present, enough!" said the Facebook posting signed by "ownership."

The posting did not make clear whether the bars may reopen elsewhere. Jeff Hassman, a member of the building's ownership group, did not respond to a request for comment.

The closures come ahead of a city zoning board meeting in December to review the conditional use permit for the entire building, which hosts several bars and restaurants in addition to Beer Can Alley and The Exchange. The hearing was set after the Des Moines Register reported police records showed that over the past five years, 60 calls to police reporting assaults originated from 216 Court Ave. This year through Sept. 9, 16 of the 40 assault reports that prompted police responses in the Historic Court Avenue Entertainment District came from businesses at Court Center LLC. Two of those assaults involved the use or display of a weapon.

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The complex also generated two of the district's three calls for intimidation with a weapon in 2022. In addition, Shag's, a nightclub located on the building's second floor, is facing a 14-day liquor license suspension and a fine after at least one person exposed themselves and performed a sexual act at the bar in September.

A conditional use permit is required for businesses to obtain liquor licenses and operate as a bar, said SuAnn Donovan, the city's deputy neighborhood services director. The city issued Court Center's conditional use permit in 2007 for the entire building, rather than for each individual tenant, meaning that if the permit for the building is revoked, none of the businesses would be authorized to sell alcohol, Donovan said.

She said that when the permit was issued, proposals for the building described an entertainment space and music venue in which having more flexibility about which areas in the building that could serve alcohol made sense. Now it hosts a variety of bars and restaurants.

Donovan said the city usually does not grant one conditional use permit for a variety of tenants, especially in recent years. It was done "at a point in time where staff at that point didn't have a lot of experience with what the outcomes could be for an entire building to have a conditional use," she said.

What a permit review might mean for the remaining businesses at 216 Court Ave.

The building's current agreement states that the permit can be "subject to amendment or revocation if the operation of the business becomes a nuisance." Other violations that could prompt action include excessive noise control and the sale of liquor via a drive-through window.

Donovan said the terms of the agreement are far less strict than those the city now recommends for conditional use permits, which include forbidding loitering and requiring monitoring of the sale of alcohol for use both on and off the premises.

Despite the lack of strict operating guidelines, Donovan said the city has reviewed information that it believes warrants reconsideration of the permit.

Donovan, who initiated the request with the zoning board, said the review could result in the entire building's use permit being revoked, or it could mean each tenant would receive a separate conditional use permit, as is now common for multi-use entertainment spaces. She also said the zoning board has the power to impose stricter operating conditions in line with current city policies.

"This hearing before the board actually can affect everybody in there adversely, or change their operations, instead of us being able to do it one operator at a time," she said.

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Owners hope to avoid hearing with business revamp

The zoning board originally planned to review Court Center's conditional use permit Wednesday, but the board pushed the review back to Dec. 21 after the building's owners requested more time to propose redevelopment plans.

"We continued the hearing to try to work out some details about what would happen in that building," Donovan said.

Justin Allen, a lawyer for the building's owners, said his clients were pleased that the city agreed to the postponement.

"We are happy that the city did that because it is an indication that we are working together to come up with a resolution for everybody," Allen said. "We hope to come to some sort of resolution before that December date and avoid the hearing all together."

While the building's owners work to gain support from key stakeholders, the remaining business owners at Court Center are left in limbo.

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Larry Smithson, the owner of The District Bar & Grill on the first floor, said he does not plan to close down his restaurant even though the permit review could negatively affect his business.

"The city needs to remember there are some really good owners in this building," he said. "I hope the city takes all that into consideration, that we're just a bunch of hard-working people here trying to make a living and trying to make Court Avenue better," he said.

This article has been edited to correct Jeff Hassman's role in the Center Court ownership.

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at @francescablock3.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 2 Court Avenue bars close amid alcohol permit controversy