Gasthaus Zur Linde in Elgin expected to lose 3 a.m. license
The Gasthaus Zur Linde bar in downtown Elgin is entering a fight for survival, as it is about to lose its 3 a.m. liquor license and faces sanctions from the city.
The bar at 15 N. Grove Ave. — which has a lawsuit against the city seeking to stop the redevelopment of the adjacent Tower Building — also has refused to cooperate with city and police officials, Elgin Corporation Counsel Bill Cogley said.
The city's liquor control commission, which comprises the entire city council, unanimously decided Wednesday to amend the bar's U-class liquor license to 2 a.m. on weekends and 1 a.m. on weeknights. The commission also decided to change the license requirements so that the bar will have to provide seating for at least 45 people and will have to show that at least 50 percent of its revenues come from food.
The city council is expected to finalize the changes at its Aug. 26 meeting.
The Gasthaus is the only bar in Elgin with a U license, whose new requirements would mirror those of liquor licenses held by restaurants that serve alcohol, Cogley said.
Gasthaus receipts for 2014 and 2013 show that more than 90 percent of sales come from alcohol, city officials have said. The bar's attorney, Charles Muscarello, refused to provide receipts for the first six months of the year but said they don't deviate from that pattern, Cogley said.
Muscarello declined to answer questions after the meeting. His father, Marco Muscarello, owns the Gasthaus.
During the meeting, Charles Muscarello unsuccessfully tried to ask a question to commissioners as they were getting ready to vote. “You were invited here to listen to the discussion,” Mayor David Kaptain later told him. “I see some bigger issues facing you down the road.”
Cogley said he will be working on presenting a formal liquor complaint against the Gasthaus after police responded to multiple fights and disturbances after 2 a.m. in or outside the bar.
“It's clear we have a late night problem here, and the licensee has been unable or unwilling to maintain order on the premises, as all licensees are required to do,” he said.
An establishment with 10 or more disturbances in a 12-month period is considered a nuisance, but the severity of incidents can also be taken into account, Cogley said. The Gasthaus' count is at least eight.
Most recently, a battery took place inside the bar July 26 and a fight that started inside spilled outside July 31, Cogley said. One of the people in the July 31 fight was involved in a shooting in a residential neighborhood later that night, he said.
“It seems like things are escalating, not de-escalating,” Councilman Rich Dunne said.
In the past, the Gasthaus provided security video footage whenever requested by Elgin police, but the bar refused to cooperate with the two latest investigations, Cogley said. Police obtained the footage via search warrants.
Based on the upcoming liquor complaint, the commission will decide whether to fine, suspend or altogether revoke the bar's license. The process will take a few months, Cogley said.
Councilwoman Tish Powell said she wishes action could be taken faster. “That leaves a whole lot of time for other shenanigans to happen,” she said.
Muscarello also had asked the commission to reconsider its decision in May to turn down an exterior liquor sales permit for the bar. The commission turned the request down.
A hearing on the city's motion to dismiss the Gasthaus' lawsuit is set for Oct. 7.