Customers will soon be able to enjoy an adult beverage with the adult entertainment at Richmond’s Club Rouge.
The Shockoe Bottom nightclub, which has been selling sodas, Red Bull and other nonalcoholic drinks since opening last fall, will receive a conditional license to sell beer and wine based on an agreement reached Friday with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Club owner William A. Pyliaris has been struggling to get an alcohol license since buying the building on South 15th Street that had been home to the Velvet gentlemen’s club.
Velvet closed in May 2010 after its license was revoked by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on charges including drugs and prostitution. Velvet’s owner, Samuel J.T. Moore III, is now serving 6 1/2 years for federal tax evasion and fraud.
Until Friday’s agreement, the department was opposing Club Rouge’s license request.
During an inspection in June, an enforcement agent charged one of the club managers with possession of marijuana after inspecting a car in the club’s parking lot, according to a department report. The charge against Sean A. Barron of Colonial Heights is pending in Richmond General District Court.
The agreement, which avoided a license hearing scheduled for Friday, stipulates that Pyliaris will not allow Barron, who no longer works at Club Rouge, to work at any of his establishments and that Club Rouge will be on probation for one year relating to any issues regarding illegal controlled substances. Pyliaris also owns the Pure Pleasure and Candy Bar adult-entertainment venues, as well as the 3rd Street Diner in Richmond.
Kevin E. Martingayle, an attorney for Pyliaris and his company, Arkesia Inc., said he was prepared to argue that the charge against Barron had no bearing on the club’s license request. However, he said he was happy to reach a compromise, particularly given the department’s troubles with Velvet.
“The owner of this (club) wants to work with ABC and not have an us-versus-them attitude,” he said.
In accepting the agreement, Hearing Officer Michael J. Oglesby made reference to earlier troubles with Velvet.
“I look forward to that not being repeated,” he said.
Officials could not immediately say when the license would be available.
Will Jones
Richmond Times-Dispatch
© September 10, 2011