Cops close overcrowded club near Addison

DuPage County sheriff’s deputies shut down a club near Addison early Monday for being at more than five times its capacity, authorities said.

Police said officers and fire officials went to Club 53 at Route 53 and Lake Street about 12:30 a.m. and cleared out 258 customers. The club’s authorized capacity is 49, according to a news release.

During the closure, five people were arrested, including two for marijuana possession and two for alcohol-related offenses, police said. One person was arrested on a warrant.

Public Information Officer Frank Giovannelli of the Itasca Fire Protection District, which serves the unincorporated area where Club 53 sits, said a fire prevention director and fire inspector met with the owner, who agreed to empty the venue rather than reduce the crowd to 49.

“The owner was cooperative,” Giovannelli said.

Giovannelli said occupancy capacities are based on square-footage, and fire officials have offered to review the club’s current calculation.

As crowded as it was Monday, he said, it “could not have accommodated a mass exodus” in an emergency.

“Fortunately, there wasn’t a fire,” he said. “If there was, it would have been pretty severe — people would have died.”

Authorities did not identify those arrested. A representative of the club could not be reached for comment.