Virginia Supreme Court denies Legacy nightclub’s last-ditch effort to reopen

The Supreme Court of Virginia denied Legacy Restaurant and Lounge’s last-ditch effort to reopen while a Norfolk judge considers the nightclub’s appeal of the city’s decision to revoke its operating permit.

Legacy’s owners had asked the court to overturn a prior ruling in Norfolk Circuit Court denying the club’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed it to reopen while its appeal is argued. A three-judge, state Supreme Court panel rejected Legacy’s request on Nov. 2.

The Norfolk City Council revoked the nightclub’s conditional use permit following a quadruple shooting Aug. 5 outside the venue — an action that effectively shut it down. The city argued Legacy violated its permit on the night of the shooting. Legacy called the council’s decision “unlawful” and politically motivated.

Mayor Kenny Alexander said “security and safety prevailed” following the courts’ decision to keep Legacy closed.

“The Norfolk City Council has the obligation to protect its citizens and appreciates the courts favorable rulings and understanding,” Alexander said.

Marcus Calabrese, a spokesman for Legacy, said the establishment’s owners now plan to ask city officials to allow the club to reopen with limited hours.

Legacy has been closed since mid-September, when the city revoked its conditional use permit. The city cited what it called a lack of integrity and professionalism and not having uniformed security on site — as required in their permit — on the night of a shooting in August that injured four people, including a Norfolk sheriff’s deputy.

The closure is part of the city’s crackdown on code enforcement in response to a string of high-profile shootings downtown this year.

Legacy is arguing that it did have uniformed security that night in addition to local law enforcement.

The Norfolk Circuit Court granted Legacy access to its own video surveillance footage from inside the club the night of the shooting at an Oct. 27 court hearing. But the surveillance footage will be kept under seal — and not available to the public — until a criminal investigation is complete.

Legacy’s owners contend the surveillance footage will provide “critically important” context, and evidence of professional, uniformed security on-site, not seen by the council prior to Legacy’s revocation hearing.

“There were discussions held and decisions made without regard to all of the information. We hope that changes,” Calabrese said in a statement on Monday.

Legacy was open for less than a month prior to the Aug. 5 shooting. Its owners, Warren Salvodon and Alex Stokes, said they spent more than $300,000 to open the business, and are facing debt and rent payments they can no longer afford.

Legacy is one of four clubs that shut down since the city announced it would ramp up code enforcement in response to rising crime in the area. The city closed Culture Restaurant & Lounge entirely Sept. 2 by revoking its restaurant zoning certificate, and revoked the conditional use permits of Scotty Quixx on Sept. 27 and California Burrito on Oct. 11.

The incident at Legacy is one of three recent high-profile shootings downtown this year.

An April shooting at MacArthur Center mall left one dead and two injured. A shooting in March outside Chicho’s Backstage left one person injured and three dead, including a Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press reporter.

Daniel Berti, daniel.berti@virginiamedia.com