04/22/2015
Many things have brought me to the decision to close the Inferno.
I have been in this building working for over 20 years. Moving back here from Denver, CO to help my parents out I only planned on staying for a year and then moving on. 20 years later I'm still here.
Well, that went fast.
I have a small background in local politics starting out with the Town of Burke. I was appointed to several commissions ultimately ending up with an appointment to the Town Board. This was followed by 3 subsequent elected terms to the Board where I was privy to annexation information throughout the Township.
The club resides in a small triangle that was originally the very Southwest corner of the Town of Burke. Although over the past 70 years Madison had swallowed up and Annexed Town land around this triangle the owners of Parcels within this triangle had always voted down any annexations. Fast forward and you have a small island section of a township where the governance of Alcohol sales was not set by the Township but rather open to the rule of State law. In essence the liquor store at my back door (Vic Pierce Liquor) has been in a unique location for typical Madison area after hours beer sales. Word was the City of Madison wanted to Annex the area and inevitably Vic Pierce would have to abide by their ordinance ending beer sales at 9pm.
Having worked with the Administration for the Village of Maple Bluff via my appointments through the Town of Burke I thought petitioning to Annex to them would allow Vic Pierce to keep their business profitable as well as keep me within a small Village with small Government. I drafted a petition and I believe all owners but one within this triangle signed on for Maple Bluff annexation. I was never able to get ahold of that one land owner. I have always thought this particular property was in a great location for redevelopment. As much as I've always wanted to have a venue within the downtown area of the city I always believed I should hold onto the property for the right time when interest in redevelopment arose.
Over the past 15 years there have been many proposals and offers on the property. They all have fallen through until now. This deal itself has taken a long time to wrap up and has had it's setbacks and extensions. For most of the duration I believed "ah, this deal will fall through as well". It's all still very surreal for me and in the end it all came to a close very quickly. It's been a mad dash to prepare closing statements legally for staff, tenants, accountants and my lawyer but also to put this statement together for Patrons, Promoters and Performers.
It's time to move on to the next thing. This building was built in 1939 and has had it's share of previous owners take from it and not give back. It's original structure was built fairly well for the time period, it's additions not so well. Properties were built up around it causing water problems for this property. Numerous hours of work have been stuck into the property but it still needs a lot more. Time to move on.
The Village of Maple Bluff will not allow me to appeal to an 18+ crowd.
We lost that competitive edge to every other venue in the city.
Unfortunately our art shows have missed out on Artists in that 18-20 year old group. I've had to pass on numerous national touring shows because they've required the ability to have 18+ to boost ticket sales.
Hell I'm pretty sure that some 18-20 year olds would even like to just come out and dance.
And that's ok. The residents of the Village have the right to not allow me to do that. Although I wish they had given me the chance. So, it's time to move on.
20 years in the same place. Time to move on
I have some future ideas rolling around in my head. Can't make any promises but maybe I'll see you in another project down the road.
I'm excited to travel down that road.
So please if you can make it out for one last hurrah. We had 283 people on opening night over 18 years ago. Hopefully the next couple weeks we can still top that!
-Apollo Marquez, INFERNO Nightclub
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