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Toronto Star Article (August 25th, 2007)
New Circa nightclub can open, but liquor licence still in doubt
Aug 25, 2007 04:30 AM
Raju Mudhar
Entertainment Reporter
Peter Gatien has won the latest fight in the ongoing saga of his efforts to open Circa, a new mega-club in the heart of the entertainment district, but the battle is far from over.
In an unusual legal manoeuvre, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario had been seeking a stay pending an appeal of the liquor licence that its own board had granted to the entertainment facility last month. Yesterday afternoon, a Divisional Court judge rejected the stay but said there are grounds for the overall appeal of the licence to move forward.
That will allow the club to open, for now, and host a party for the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.
Gatien'splan is now to try to get the massive 55,000-square-foot club open for September 7, which he admits will be an uphill climb.
"We lost two weeks to this, so at the latest we will be open by mid-September, but our goal is to be open for a film festival party," he said.
The journey to get here has involved failed partnerships, a $20 million lawsuit, and a rare eleven-month wait just to get a liquor licence hearing. And even as Gatien and his staff prepare to open, he still has to face the appeal, which is expected to occur in November.
The appeal is based on two factors that the alcohol commission feels its board misinterpreted in granting Gatien's application – past conduct and public interest.
Gatien's notorious past consists of a drug investigation from when he was the club kingpin of New York in the 1990s. After a two-year investigation, he faced a six-week drug trafficking trial in which he was acquitted. He was eventually found guilty of tax evasion that resulted in a six-week jail term and was deported back to Canada in 2003.
In initially granting his liquor licence, the commission decided his past was not an issue and lauded Gatien as "a knowledgeable operator, well known for his business acumen."
The public interest portion of the case stems from many of the problems with Toronto's entertainment district, which have become a very active issue in the city. City Councillor Adam Vaughan feels the area cannot support the addition of another club, and that the province lacks the tools to deal with the growing problems in the area.
"This was never about the specific configuration of Circa. This was always about the growth of the impact of too many nightclubs in this community," he says. "(This decision) puts the issue squarely in front of the politicians at Queen's Park. They have created a licensing regime that doesn't have guidelines or rules around concentration of liquor licences.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/249762
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"Love-Peace-Respect and Always Music" - Victor Calderone
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