Theater District

Boston Police report four men were shot outside Venu on Warrenton Street just as the club was getting out for the night. The victims, in their 20s and 30s, were taken to local hospitals and are expected to survive.

Police say officers arrested a woman near the scene on a charge of illegal weapon possession, but that she did not appear to be involved in the shootings.

Both clubs, which have the same owner, have had a series of violent outbreaks over the past couple of years that have led to license suspensions by both the Boston Licensing Board and the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing.

On the heels of today's announcement that Anthony's Pier 4 is slated to become a mixed-use, 21-story, high-rise development that will include retail and residential (apartments) comes news that an empty parking lot near Chinatown and the Theater District is the site of a proposed 29-story apartment building.

The Boston Herald, Banker & Tradesman, and Boston Business Journal coverage.

For a historic view of the "Hinge Block" and previous plans for that area, check out the ArchBoston.com forum.

http://www.archboston.org/community/showthread.php?t=1280&page=6

Image above from me.

The city licensing office has ordered an 11-day suspension of the entertainment license for Venu, following a November melee at the Warrenton Street club that took cops from across the city - and repeated shots of pepper spray - to break up.

The Boston Licensing Board - a separate state agency - could add even more time to the punishment following its own hearing today. Acting board Chairman Michael Connolly noted similar problems at Rumor, which shares the same building and owners with Venu, and said he's worried what would happen if two of the four large clubs in the area have violent outbursts at the same time, because Boston Police might not have the resources to quickly put down a multi-club disturbance.

"Boy, oh, boy, I'm more concerned than I've ever been, and I've been on this board for ten years, that this thing is just going to explode one night," Connolly told club officials. "Structurally, the concern goes well beyond any one establishment. A potential tinderbox exists there. This thing could just blow sky high ... if things get out of hand on any one night."

The Harvard Crimson gets the Cure Lounge's version of events at that post-Game black alumni event from PRmeister George Regan: Basically, there were troublemaking gang bangers trying to get in, and it's the alumni group's fault for not getting party-goers to bring Harvard or Yale IDs.

Regan says the club has good reason to avoid trouble - it got into a lot of it under its old name: Aria.