May 8—EAU CLAIRE — A trio of downtown Eau Claire businesses are in jeopardy of losing their liquor licenses.

On Tuesday the City Council is scheduled to vote on renewing licenses for pizza restaurant The Plus, entertainment venue The Metro and wine bar The Rev, but the city attorney's office is recommending those be denied.

"First, the businesses have been closed for extended periods of time beyond the 90 days permitted by city ordinance and failed to provide accurate plans for reopening, obligating the City Council to consider the licenses for non-renewal," Assistant City Attorney Jenessa Stromberger wrote in a memo.

She added that the businesses show no intention to reopen in a manner that fits the Combination Class B licenses they currently hold.

The Metro, 201 E. Lake St., has been closed since a February 2020 kitchen fire. Both The Plus and The Rev, 206 and 208 S. Barstow St., closed in March 2020 when COVID-19 began and only the latter has reopened so far with limited hours.

Benny Haas, the businessman who runs the three establishments and is on their liquor licenses, contends The Rev has been open enough to keep its license and the other two establishments are being renovated toward reopening.

"Our plans have been and always were to open," he said in a phone interview with the Leader-Telegram. "The goal is to have a better Plus and a better Metro too."

Haas said he's already paid $4,200 the renew the various licenses, including for serving alcohol, that his businesses need to operate.

They have struggled with delays of getting materials and scheduling contractors, Haas said, noting that's been common with building projects during the past two years.

Added to that is difficulty Haas encountered between his insurer and the remediation company it hired to fix up The Metro after the fire. After his lawyer intervened because of the slow progress of the project there, Haas said he was finally allowed just last month to personally oversee the work and get it moving again.

With the city considering to take away the liquor licenses, Haas said he feels like they're being punished for not having pockets deep enough to pay more money to contractors to get all the work done fast.

Stromberger's memo notes the city has given latitude on the 90-day limit of not serving alcohol to businesses undergoing renovations.

For example, The Alibi Lounge was damaged severely by a May 2021 fire and just reopened last month while being able to retain its liquor license. The Alibi Lounge kept the city appraised of its progress toward reopening, but Stromberger said that contrasts information Haas has given on resuming normal business, which the assistant city attorney called "often cursory or inaccurate."

One instance she gave is The Rev's current posted hours operation — 10 a.m. to noon on Mondays only. Last week a city employee went to the wine bar during those hours to verify it was open, but the front door was locked and the lights were out, according to Stromberger's memo.

Haas told the newspaper he and his wife were out of town that day, but have otherwise been opening the wine bar during those hours as well as for private events and during the downtown jazz festival last month.

While he acknowledged those aren't many hours for running a wine bar, it is what he's able to do for now and he said it's enough to meet the requirement to hold onto the alcohol license.

Because The Rev and The Plus — located next-door to each other on South Barstow Street — share the same license, Haas said the wine bar's business should do until the pizzeria reopens.

"It's the same license, the same business," he said. "As long as you're doing something it should be fine."

But Stromberger's memo stated some of the ways The Rev and The Plus used the Combination Class B liquor license don't fit what its mainly intended for and even broke the law on a few occasions.

Carry-out and delivery

The businesses have been doing off-premise sales of alcohol during the past two years, but Stromberger said that does not fit the purpose for the limited supply of liquor licenses the city can issue to bars and restaurants.

"The city issues licenses that are better suited to this purpose and can be granted in unlimited numbers," Stromberger wrote of off-premise sales.

And the city noted that for four events at other businesses where The Rev supplied wine, it was not done through a face-to-face sale, violating a rule for the Class B license. Haas' wife, Kate, had dropped off bottles of wine to the events and invoiced the businesses, instead of the required payment made at the establishment with the Class B license.

Haas said he'd talked about the business supplying for events during one of his communications with city staff late last year. Shortly thereafter, an agent from the state Department of Revenue's Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement Unit summoned Benny and Kate Haas to talk at a government office building in Eau Claire.

A report from that agent provided to the City Council stated the Haas' had 12 violations tied to the four events, including Kate Haas not having her license to sell alcohol during those dates.

Benny Haas called it "a nerve-wracking two-hour meeting," but that it ended without getting a fine, but instead a "warning of guidance."

The agent's report does state that the violations could directly effect the liquor license for the business, but that would be up to the Eau Claire City Council to decide.

Should the council deny liquor licenses for Haas for 2022-23, he is able to appeal the decision for further review, according to Stromberger's memo.

Renovation juggling act

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Haas began renovating the inside of The Plus.

"Originally during that first year of COVID there was a lot of work in that sense," he said.

The restaurant still needs some plumbing and electrical work before it could reopen. The Plus would also need to hire and train new employees, which Haas said he's hoping to do in summer.

"Basically we're recreating our business," he said.

But observations a health inspector's visit to The Plus last month were among details that Stromberger cited that the restaurant isn't progressing toward reopening.

The inspector's report noted pallets of bulk packages of crackers, tortilla chips and other dry food goods were being stored in the restaurant's dining room. When the inspector asked Haas about them, he replied that he gets the large quantities of goods from distributors, separates them into smaller quantities and sells them online to other businesses.

Haas explained that's what the restaurant did to survive the financial blow during the pandemic and he's continuing to do that now.

"That was our pivot during COVID," he said.

When the restaurant would reopen, Haas said he'd move that food distribution operation to a different part of the building away from the dining area and bar.

Last week the city's Community Development Department sent a letter to inform Haas that he needed to get a permit to use the building for warehouse purposes. As of Friday, Haas said he'd not yet seen that letter.

Another hurdle toward reopening The Plus noted in the inspection report is that the restaurant is also being used to store tables, chairs and other items after the 2020 fire at The Metro. Haas said clearing those out depends on work happening at The Metro.

"I'd love to move that stuff out, but I can't do it into a building that doesn't have flooring yet," he said.

End of pandemic leniency

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in spring 2020, the city did relax its enforcement on how long bars and restaurants could be dormant and keep their alcohol licenses.

Even after safer-at-home orders eased during 2020 and establishments could reopen, some opted to wait.

The city regularly checked in with businesses slow to reopen, periodically inquiring about their plans, and nearly all have since resumed serving.

"All businesses that were closed at license renewal time in spring 2021 have long since reopened, with the noted exception of The Metro and The Plus/The Rev," Stromberger wrote.

As new businesses with plans to serve alcohol have approached the city following the initial shock of the pandemic, the scarcity of Combination Class B alcohol licenses has been mentioned at multiple meetings.

Currently all of the city's allotted regular licenses are spoken for. Four reserve licenses are available, but they carry a significantly-higher up-front cost.

Should he lose his liquor licenses, Benny Haas said it would be harder to run a restaurant without the ability to serve alcohol.

And he's worried that could mean the end of his establishments that have also served as venues for live entertainment including stand-up comedians, open mic nights and musical acts.

"You're going to leave a big hole not only downtown, but in the music and arts community," he said.