Havana's, Proposed for Former Rok Bar Site, gets Cool Council Reception

A pitch for a new restaurant in the historic post office building on Main Street got a lukewarm reception from the Town Council on Monday thanks to a bitter taste left from the former Rok Bar & Grill, which caused headaches for residents and police who responded to noise complaints there repeatedly over the past year.

The new proposed restaurant, Havana's, would feature Cuban food with a Latin flair, drinks and entertainment.

At the same time, John Davis, who would co-own the restaurant, said he plans on buying the historic building from the Marra family and will spend $1.5 million to renovate and upgrade the structure to include double-pane windows, sound-mitigating curtains and undo years of historically-inappropriate painting and modifications to the building long before a single drink is poured or foot hits the dance floor.

"I look at that building and it's the crown jewel of Main Street," Davis told the council. "It should be brought back to what it should be — a one time decent looking building that has gone through disrepair in recent years."

Davis was before the council in the hopes of getting licenses for liquor service and entertainment, which he said is essential for any business there to survive. Without entertainment, he said, the restaurant would not be viable.

But council members said they had deep reservations about entertainment there after the bad experience with Rok Bar & Grill, which promised to be good neighbors during their application process and claimed they'd be family friendly.

Instead, said Councilor Michael Isaacs, what ended up happening is the town got a nightclub, he said, which was "nothing like what was presented to the Town Council."

"Our questions stem from the fact that we got burned by that application," Isaacs said.

Town Manager Thomas E. Coyle III said he appreciates the fact that someone wants to make an investment in the building and run a successful business, but "it's going to take one noise complaint and unfortunately, it goes down the tubes."

Coyle noted that sound travels, especially on the waterfront, and past experience shows that even with the best intentions, a DJ can get carried away. 

As a result, Coyle said he recommends that any approval would have parameters that the applicant work with the police chief and the police department to prevent problems from happening.

Councilor Mark Watkins Gee said he is worried about the "creeping encroachment of noise" from the waterfront up into East Greenwich and though he agreed that the work proposed on the building sounded great, he would fight live entertainment "tooth and nail" to prevent a recurrence of what happened with the Rok Bar.

"I want to stop the spread of loud music producing establishments from encroaching on people who live on Main Street," Gee said, noting he thought it was the wrong place for the business.

Lawyer Stephen M. Litwin, who represents the applicants, cautioned the council for punishing them based on the actions of a prior occupant. He said they understand that a liquor license "is considered a privilege, not something you take and misuse," and promised to meet with neighbors and make sure their concerns are addressed.

"I have no problem with a six month review — we come back and if it's not as represented, take the entertainment license," Litman said.

Litman also said it would be unfair for the council to impose an extra-stringent decibel limit on the restaurant. The town's ordinance limits noise to 65 decibels and a lower limit of about 40 decibels came up during the conversation.

Residents at the meeting appeared cautiously willing to give the business a chance, but they made it clear they were weary of a repeat of the bad experience they've had over the past year.

"I'm not here to squash someones hope," said Bryan Lindley, who lives nearby. "I don't think [the new owners] should be held accountable for what the previous tenants did, but we don't want to spend another year calling the owners of the place with no resolution."

Resident Ron Byleckie said there's little for him to gain with an entertainment enterprise in his back yard and he said "the last thing he wants to do is call police to get them out to do sound checks" once again.

Byleckie noted that the recently-modified noise ordinance, which the council voted on Monday to include a provision to give police more ability to measure subsonic frequencies, is yet to be proven, which means "we're all going to be guinea pigs," he said.

"What does it mean if the meters say it's OK and the windows are vibrating in our house?" he asked.

Davis promised to work with the neighbors and said the crowd they hope to attract is older, more mature. 

"The demographic in the town is 40-and-a-half years old and that's the crowd we're catering to," Davis said. "Not 21-year-olds. We're trying to get the husband and wife coming in with the kids with the babysitter on the weekend."

Davis referenced another restaurant he operates, Eleven Forty Nine, and said Havana's would offer a similar experience in that the emphasis is on foodservice first, entertainment next.

But Councilor Bradford Bishop said he's been to Eleven Forty Nine when a DJ was playing and he couldn't hear himself think.

"We are very gun shy about this restaurant, especially at this location," Bishop said.

Ultimately, the council voted 4-1 to continue the matter to May 12. In the meantime, Davis said he'd meet with neighbors in the hopes of assuaging concerns before the next hearing.

Gee voted in the negative.