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Article
Courtesy of The Herald-Tribune
By
Ian Cummings
Published
March 19, 2014
SARASOTA - Two months ago, downtown club owner Ambrish Piare said he was fed up with neighbors who have gone beyond making noise complaints and tried to get his business closed down by the city.
Now he is striking back. Piare, owner and operator of the nightclub Ivory Lounge, at 1413 Main St., is planning to sue his neighbors to stop what he calls harassment.
Members of a condo association and residents living above the Ivory Lounge in the 50 Central Ave. building received a letter this week from Piare's attorney, advising them to hold on to records, letters and emails that could become evidence in a possible lawsuit.
Piare said the last thing he ever wanted was to sue anyone. But his attempts to work things out civilly with his neighbors have failed and he decided he had no other choice.
“I'm tired of it, I really am,” Piare said. “I think it is time one of the owners, in this case me, stands up and says I'm tired of being accused of things that aren't true.”
The dispute between the Ivory Lounge and its upstairs neighbors in the condos goes back months, with neighbors complaining that noise from the club keeps them up at night. Piare counters that he has gone to great lengths to work with neighbors and police, and has spent large sums of money to address noise concerns.
He says his efforts have been met with stubborn and uncooperative attitudes among the neighbors, who have stepped across a line in their war against his club. |
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Ivory Lounge is located in the first floor of this building at Five Points in the 1400 block of Main Street in downtown Sarasota.
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Piare said he believes owners of other bars and businesses downtown face the same hostility.
Most recently, residents pressured the city to revoke Ivory Lounge's business permit, claiming the club was operating as an “adult business” by staging “drag queen” pillow fighting and Jell-O wrestling events.
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That issue fizzled out when attorneys for Sarasota could find no basis for those claims. But neighbors have continued to say that the loud music and noise from party-goers outside the club is “intolerable,” and that they are not getting the peace of mind they expected when they paid for their condos.
The condo association has taken other steps to quiet the Ivory Lounge and have gone too far, according to a letter from Sarasota attorney Andrea Mogensen. Beyond the effort to have the club's permit revoked, Mogensen claims, the condo residents have tried to get the club's lease in the building terminated and have filed unsubstantiated noise complaints with police.
Mogenesen threatens to sue the condo |
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Ivory Lounge owner and operator Ambrish Piare is planning to sue his complaining neighbors to stop what he calls harassment.
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association and residences for interfering with Piare's business, and for discrimination, slander, defamation and abuse of legal processes. The Five Points Residences Condominium Association and five residents of the 50 Central building received a letter this week naming them in the coming lawsuit.
Since 2012, residents have filed numerous police reports about noise at the club, but Ivory Lounge has been ticketed only once for a noise violation, and was not judged guilty in that case.
Meanwhile, Piare says he has done everything he can think of to accommodate the neighbors.
He paid $25,000 to an architectural acoustic and vibration consultant — the same expert used by the city — to help him solve the problem. He placed volume limitation devices on the club's sound system, moved and disabled speakers, and removed all the glassware from the club to reduce “clinking” sounds. He has employed off-duty police officers for security and met with neighbors. But Piare says nothing has worked.
The residents and an attorney representing the Five Points condo association declined to comment on the situation this week.
Piare said the lawsuit will be filed in the next few weeks. He said he would like to find another solution, but is not hopeful.
“I never wanted this. I still don't want this,” he said. “But I can't live like this, because it will never go away.”
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