[
UPDATE: Melvin Mark clarifies that they have no ownership interest in No Vacancy's building and instead manage and lease it for a third party. The records on
Portland Maps indicate that the property's owner is Lauren Louise, LLC.]
No Vacancy Lounge, the downtown Portland nightclub, stated today that they would close indefinitely, following a final event next week on Tuesday, February 19.
The announcement comes as a shock. No Vacancy, which began as a series of successful dance nights and events at different locations around the city, opened the venue in 2017 in the former McCormick & Schmick's space on Southwest 1st Avenue. That space had stood empty since the McCormick & Schmick's restaurant closed in 2009, and co-founders Rick Sheinin and Billy Vinton oversaw a dramatic redesign of the wood-paneled restaurant into a modern 350-person-capacity nightclub that attracted top talent, drew large crowds, and won Willamette Week's Bar of the Year prize in 2018. No Vacancy cites ongoing problems with their landlord and the property management company, the Melvin Mark commercial real estate company, as the reasons for the closure.
Beyond that, the reasons are not entirely clear. No Vacancy, in a statement today, says, "The actions of the Landlord and Melvin Mark in not disclosing a conflicting lease with the other building tenants prior to the signing of the lease by No Vacancy, and their subsequent activities since, have restricted No Vacancy from operating as the cocktail lounge and club for which it was established." They accuse Melvin Mark of "fraudulently induc[ing] us into signing a lease in the hopes of leasing up the building and then selling it."
The club sits on the ground floor of the Henry Failing Building, which was built in either 1886 or 1890 (reports vary), and whose upper floors contain several office spaces. We have reached out to No Vacancy and Melvin Mark to provide more specific details on the disagreement. [UPDATE: Rick Sheinin of No Vacancy tells the Mercury that the buildings' tenants "had two conflicting leases, ours being for a night club and the other preventing any business like ours from existing in the space.... This has been an issue since we opened our doors."]
No Vacancy says the conflict has generated severe legal fees, which in turn has led them to make the decision of closing the business. They intend to relocate any upcoming events after February 19 to different venues around the city.
The full statement from No Vacancy follows:
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