PEORIA, Ill. – The owner of Highly Flavored will have to wait another couple weeks before learning whether he can serve alcohol at the restaurant’s proposed new location in downtown Peoria.
Highly Flavored was formerly located at Landmark Recreation Center, but was evicted in May of this year. Owner Jeremy Sargent is seeking to relocate the restaurant to the former Creve Coeur Club location in the Twin Towers, with a liquor license.
The city’s liquor commission approved the awarding of the license, contingent on addressing some concerns, including when the restaurant would close each night. Sargent agreed to an 11:00 P.M. closing time, later than the lease-restricted time of 8:00 P.M.
The commission also wanted Sargent to address concerns with security, including restricting access to the Twin Towers Mall after hours, along with noise and use restrictions.
During discussion at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, 2nd District Councilman Chuck Grayeb says he would have denied approving the license based on the restaurant’s past history at Landmark.
“During that time, there were 119 calls for service, that included fights, weapons, shots fired, etc. It’s of great concern that the huge uptick at Landmark occurred after Highly Flavored was established,” Grayeb said.
At-Large Councilwoman Bernice Gordon-Young argued that the increase in calls could have been for any business at Landmark, saying that all calls there are lumped into one address.
Supporters of Sargent and the business spoke up at the meeting, countering the accusations of police problems at Highly Flavored. Harold Dawson was one of those who spoke, saying while the environment was not “perfect,” Sargent helped make sure it was not “unruly.”
“I’ve witnessed him deescalate situations, I’ve witnessed him be very upstanding in to decisions being made within his establishment while still running a business,” Dawson said.
Others spoke about Highly Flavored receiving a bad reputation for problems at Landmark in general.
Another concern raised at the meeting was Sargent being behind on city taxes and bills to vendors while running Highly Flavored at Landmark.
In a letter last month to the city, Landmark General Manager Jason Lanzotti detailed incidents that led to the restaurant being evicted from the center. Some of the incidents include increased incidents that led to safety concerns and increased security costs, equipment that was broken and not repaired, and running off of regular customers and bowlers at other Landmark establishments.
Comments