Downtown Las Vegas nightclub approved after quarrel, arrest at earlier meeting

A proposed downtown Las Vegas nightclub that sparked a quarrel, firing and arrest at a planning commission meeting last month won unanimous approval from the City Council on Wednesday following a review of the commission’s vote to support the project.

The vote clears the way for the Bauhaus club to open at the site of the former Azul Tequila and Place on 7th at 115 N. 7th St. A special use permit that limits its hours of operation must be reviewed six months and one year after it opens.

What should have been a relatively routine hearing at the commission’s March 11 meeting took a turn when a quarrel broke out between the head of the project and a land-use consultant hired to represent project applicant Sidrazz Investments LLC. Nathan Taylor, president of Taylor Consultant Group, told police that project head Bilal Razzaq threatened him at the meeting by telling him “I’m going to kick your ass.”

Video from the meeting captured part the incident, which stemmed from a disagreement about who was speaking on behalf of the club. Razzaq walked toward Taylor and pointed, as if signaling for him to leave. He later fired him.

Razzaq denied making a threat, and an investigating officer “determined that there was no crime committed but a verbal dispute,” according to a police report, but Razzaq found himself in custody after officers ran a check on him and discovered a felony arrest warrant issued in February out of Nolan County, Texas, on allegations of “engaging in organized criminal activity.”

Razzaq posted $5,000 bail at the Clark County Detention Center and later reported to Texas authorities, according to records. Additional information on that case was not immediately available.

Sidrazz Investments confirmed Wednesday that Razzaq was no longer involved with the nightclub. The LLC’s manager, Rafiq Merchant, is now heading the project.

Reached by phone, Razzaq deferred comment to his attorney, who did not return messages seeking comment.

“I’m done with Las Vegas, and I’m done with Nevada,” Razzaq said.

Agreement with neighboring properties

The disagreement between Taylor and Razzaq erupted after the consultant pushed for the approval of the nightclub with no conditions only to discover that real estate attorney Steven Mack had reached a deal between Sidrazz Investments and El Cortez hotel-casino and the Downtown Project setting conditions on the permit. The two businesses had expressed concerns that noise that from the club could affect their adjacent properties.

Taylor alleged that El Cortez executives had been “quite intimidating” in a meeting weeks earlier. Joe Woody with the hotel disputed the claim at the commission meeting.

“We were not intimidating,” he said, adding that the hotel had invested significant funds for expansion plans and that excessive noise could affect the plans.

Downtown Project and El Cortez ultimately endorsed the nightclub with the agreed-upon conditions.

The club operators said Bauhaus will close at 4 a.m. during school nights instead of 8 a.m., and that an outdoor patio will be closed between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., depending on the day.

“Generally we are supportive of this venture now,” Woody told the City Council Wednesday. “We just want a process where we can seek corrective action,” he said about evaluating the noise levels.

Mack and Merchant said that significant investments were made to mitigate the amount of noise heard outdoors.

“Definitely, we will be working with the neighbors and once everything is done, we would like for someone to come and listen to the music and see how loud it is,” Merchant said. “We can say as much as we want to, but once you hear it, you will see.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.