NPU-M Votes to Support Change of Ownership Request for Downtown Nightclub

A Courtland Street restaurant neighbors say hasn't followed city ordinances and ignored input from residents sought and won support from Neighborhood Panning Unit-M Monday night.

Harlem Nights Ultra Lounge's owner, Chauncey Strong, won the support for the change of ownership on the liquor license, despite the objections of the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Neighbors said they believe Strong did not file the correct application and they noticed construction work being done on the property in October and November without proper permitting.

"There's nothing wrong with fixing a place up, but you need a permit before you start construction," Jeff Lam, president of the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association, said Monday night at NPU-M's meeting.

NPUs are citizen advisory councils that make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on zoning, land use, and other planning issues. NPU-M, one of 25 in Atlanta, includes the Old Fourth Ward, Sweet Auburn, Downtown and Castleberry Hill neighborhoods.

When the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association received Strong's liquor license application request in January, Lam said he failed to show up at the group's meeting to discuss it.

"Mr. Strong the applicant, did not appear and no reason was given. It's our neighborhood policy that all applicants appear, this helps keep businesses accountable and gives a chance for businesses to promote themselves to the neighborhood," Lam said. "I don't think that any of us here would vote for something in which the applicant didn't show up to the neighborhood meetings."

One of the main contentions Downtown residents have with Strong's liquor license application is that it lists the business as being primarily a restaurant. They believe it should apply as a nightclub.

Lam, citing the Harlem Nights' online advertisements and YouTube videos, said they suggest the business is more of a nightclub than a restaurant.

He said his association isn't necessarily opposed to a nightclub operating there, but if that's what it is, Strong's application should have reflected that.

But M. Hakim Hilliard, the attorney representing Marco Coleman, who has a long-term lease on the building, said Strong wants the same license to operate a business similar to what operated there before.

"This is a change of ownership," Hilliard said, explaining 60 percent of its revenue will come from food sales and the remaining 40 percent from alcoholic beverage purchases. "He's asking for the identical licences that the last two operators possessed."

Harlem Night's hours are 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

He added Strong's restaurant meets the city's requirements to be licenced as a restaurant: It has to have at least 40 seats, be open no less than six days a week and serve at least one meal for each of those days.

"He was operating for a couple months under a temporary license that has now expired," Hilliard said, explaining the current application is for an annual license. "He's not been cited for any violations of the code.

As for some of the events Lam referenced on advertisements and YouTube, Strong said he leased out the space some nights to pay his rent.

"I had people come in to rent the building," Strong said. "I just got the building and I have to pay Marco consistently every month with the bills. I just rent the building out for that night  just so I can create income to take care of the bills.

Before Harlem Nights, site was the Uptown Restaurant and Lounge, which had been featured several times in the Real Housewives of Atlanta reality television show. While Coleman has a long-term lease on the building, the actual owner of the property is the Georgia Department of Labor.