ANC to support removal of Wisconsin Ave. median, says Greater Greater Washington

“After a survey that says residents don’t want traffic calming on Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B will support returning the street to six lanes,” reports Greater Greater Washington. The ANC plans to testify in favor of the change at a December 4 public hearing on the matter, the blog states.

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Liquor board transfers JP’s license to Daniel and Mathew

On October 3, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board OK’d a controversial license transfer, approving the application of Jason K. Daniel and Philip M. Mathew to take over the liquor license for JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.), an ABRA spokesman tells us. Last month, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B had requested that the ABC Board make no transfer until they held a public hearing to assess the fitness of the two young men to revive the strip club, which has been closed since a January 2008 fire. No such hearing was held, but the board has already committed to scheduling a public protest hearing before after allowing the new owners to begin operating the club. Building permit applications to construct interior walls, bars, and stages are pending.

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New JP’s owners’ group applies for liquor license transfer

On August 13, two men—Jason K. Daniel and Philip M. Mathew—applied to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration to take over the liquor license for the dormant JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.). On their application, the men listed themselves as the president, secretary, and managing member (Daniel) and vice president and treasurer (Mathew) of Wisconsin Ventures, LLC, the corporation that owns JP’s.

Last year, Local Man of Mystery Brian Petruska identified himself to ABRA as the president, secretary, and manager of Wisconsin Ventures. Now that Daniel holds those titles, where does that leave Petruska—let alone Paul Kadlick and Gokhan “Jake” Akkus, who in May represented themselves to ANC 3B as having bought a 90 percent share of JP’s?

We spoke to Kadlick, and he tried to explain the matryoshka doll of holding companies that now surrounds the strip club. Due to unspecified business and tax considerations, Kadlick says, he and Akkus did not end up purchasing the club directly. Instead, a partnership called The Vice Group purchased 90 percent of the shares in Wisconsin Ventures. The remaining 10 percent of the stock in Wisconsin Ventures was retained by Brian Petruska. Wisconsin Ventures owns a company called BJ Enterprises, which owns the JP’s license.

Kadlick is the authorized spokesperson for The Vice Group, but he insists that he does not hold an ownership stake in that group. Daniel and Mathew, who do hold ownership stakes, are both area nightclub promoters and managers who “are longtime associates of mine,” says Kadlick. They will be responsible for the club’s day-to-day operations, he adds. We asked Kadlick how he stood to gain from JP’s without being an owner, and he told us that the business is part of a larger structure of deals he could not discuss.

Last week, several Glover Park civic leaders sent a letter to ABRA chief Fred Moosally expressing concerns about the transfer application. In the letter, ANC commissioners Jackie Blumenthal and Brian Cohen, Glover Park Citizens’ Association president Sheila Meehan, and attorney Milton Grossman called upon ABRA to transfer the JP’s license only to “people who have demonstrated their qualification to run a legal, above-board operation.” The liquor board seems likely to go ahead with the transfer, though. In response to our inquiry, ABRA spokesman Bill Hager reminded us that, no matter who holds the license, JP’s will have to survive a public protest period before it’s allowed to reopen.

Kadlick plans to attend the September 13 ANC meeting, where he will discuss the club’s security and valet parking arrangements. He says the ANC should be reassured by his knowledge of the neighborhood and its needs. “I’m not embarrassed to tell you I’ve been a patron of JP’s for 20 years,” he says. “It’s an upscale neighborhood, and we’re going to cater to that customer.”

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JP’s seeks permit to build “bars and stages”

From the September 2012 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

Two building permit applications have now been filed for 2412 Wisconsin Ave., the once and likely future home of JP’s Night Club. One permit would allow the construction of interior walls, while the other would permit “new bars and stages” as well as mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and carpentry work. The building’s exterior shell was completed in 2010, more than two years after the strip club’s original home was destroyed in a fire, but it has never been occupied.

Paul Kadlick, who in May represented himself to Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B as part of a group that had recently purchased JP’s, did not return our calls. The club’s liquor license is still in the name of the man who bought the business last year, a shadowy figure named Brian Petruska who provided a nonworking number to ABRA and whose representative, Andrew Kline, does not return our calls. (We don’t know whether JP’s licensee Brian Petruska is the same Brian Petruska who graduated from Georgetown University in 2005 and founded the Petrus Group real estate investment firm, because that guy won’t return our calls either.)

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No contested races for ANC 3B

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics yesterday published the names of candidates running for Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B in the November 6 general election. Each of the ANC’s five single-member districts will have one unopposed candidate.

Sitting commissioners Jackie Blumenthal, Charles Cinque Fulwood, and Brian Cohen are running for re-election in SMDs 2, 3, and 5, respectively. Joe Fiorillo is running to represent SMD 1, as his late wife, Cathy, once did. That district is currently represented by Ben Thielen, who is not running for re-election.

Mary C. Young is running to replace longtime ANC member Howie Kreitzman in SMD 4 (Cathedral Heights). Kreitzman resigned last month because he is moving to New York.

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Stevens leaves ANC to tend to family

From the November 2011 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

West Glover Park Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Mark Stevens stepped down from his position for family reasons, he tells us. “My wife and I will be leaving Glover Park for a while to help care for one of my wife’s family members in Maryland,” Stevens says. “We found it easier to commute to DC for work than to drive back and forth to attend to her family’s needs.” Candidates for the seat were required to submit petitions by October 31, in advance of a special election at December’s ANC meeting.

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Jackie Blumenthal wins ANC seat

Less than a year after she lost the seat to Alan Blevins by four votes, Jackie Blumenthal tonight became the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for ANC3B, SMD 2 in a special election. Blevins recently resigned the seat—which represents Glover Park’s commercial strip and nearby homes—to concentrate on his divinity schooling.

Blumenthal got 47 votes; Florie Knauf came in second with 23, and Matt VanderGoot got 9.

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