Planning Commission backs nightclub permit for LGBTQ+ bar Papi’s, despite loss of ABC license

Richmond’s Planning Commission is recommending that the City Council issue a nightclub permit to Papi’s, a Shockoe Slip bar that has gained a devoted following among the local LGBTQ+ community, even though the establishment lost its state license to sell alcohol this July and can’t get it back until summer 2026. 

The conditional use permit is being opposed by the Shockoe Partnership, a neighborhood group, which on Tuesday argued the city shouldn’t give a permit to a business that isn’t following local or state rules and can’t legally be considered a nightclub until it gets its ABC license back.

“No one is stopping them from opening. The question is can they open as a nightclub?” said Mark Shuford, an attorney for the Shockoe Partnership. “It’s a hypothetical at this point. And I don’t think it’s the business of this commission to award hypothetical CUPs.” 

But Planning Commission member Rebecca Rowe said when it comes to hypotheticals, “that’s all we do,” granting permits and rezonings for projects that may or may not come to fruition.

The case drew an impassioned crowd of patrons, former workers and drag performers to City Hall Tuesday to argue in favor of granting the permit to Papi’s, a restaurant and bar at 1407 East Cary St. that has been closed since January for permit and occupancy issues. 

Many described Papi’s as a uniquely welcoming space for LGBTQ+ people and a safe haven that contrasted with the violence associated with the nightlife scene in the adjacent Shockoe Bottom. 

“You have 18th Street, which is actually blocked off at both intersections by police presence. You can’t even get in and out,” said D.Q. Williams, who has hosted events at Papi’s. “When you question the safety of Papi’s, there is no police presence.” 

“Other establishments in that same area have had repeated incidents, bar fights, police calls, chaos, and somehow they still remain open,” said Keisha Shelton. “Papi’s has never been that kind of place.” 

Several became tearful as they told the Planning Commission what the space had meant to them, particularly during a time when they said the LGBTQ+ community is facing rising hostility. 

“Places like this matter. They’re the difference between life and death,” said Logan Hall. “Feeling surrounded and having community matters in a way that I don’t think is being fully understood right now, especially given the current political climate.” 

Papi’s owner Adrienne Londono echoed that view, telling the commission that “this isn’t really the atmosphere to be turning away this group of people.” 

Closures

Members of the Shockoe Partnership, however, pointed to a string of city code and state ABC law violations that have been recorded at Papi’s, which they contend should prevent the business from getting permission to operate as a nightclub — a zoning designation that in Richmond allows establishments that offer alcohol, music and dancing to operate after midnight until 2 a.m. 

“We can’t stand in support of operators who are not operating within the rules,” said Shockoe Partnership President Spencer Grice. That, he continued, would give “leeway to other bad actors to do worse.” 

Richmond code enforcers first shut down Papi’s on Dec. 14 for overcrowding, more than a dozen health and safety concerns and the operation of the building as a nightclub without holding a nightclub permit. A list of 13 unsafe conditions noted by a city inspector included the use of flexible cords and surge protectors as permanent wiring, nonfunctioning fire alarms and an electrical system “in disrepair,” as well as more minor issues like a missing drain grate.  

According to city records, Papi’s was allowed to reopen as a restaurant on Jan. 17 “with no nightclub activities,” meaning it could offer alcohol, music and dancing until midnight but not after that point. 

In the early hours of Jan. 26, city inspectors shut the business down a second time for again conducting nightclub activities after midnight and overcrowding. Another violation list noted problems such as defective exit signs and fire doors that were improperly wedged open.

Londono, who with her husband runs several other Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip businesses including La Bodega and Margarita’s Cantina, said she hadn’t known she was required to get a nightclub permit for Papi’s.

“I guess I could have done my research a little better,” she said.

Londono also said she hadn’t been aware of the roughly 6,000 square foot building’s original occupancy limit of 57 people and wouldn’t have rented the space had she known about it. 

“Even at the time, the people there didn’t understand,” she told the Planning Commission, adding that the building had been used as a nightclub for many years before Papi’s opened in 2022. 

She later applied for a higher occupancy of 214 people, which the city granted on May 8.

ABC issues 

A bigger hurdle for Papi’s will be its ABC license, which the state revoked this July. Londono won’t be eligible to reapply for a license until July 2026. 

Among the most serious of the state’s charges were that Papi’s had not met Virginia’s mandated food-beverage ratio, which requires that at least 45% of a restaurant’s annual gross sales come from food and nonalcoholic beverages. 

The ratio — which is the reason why no “pure” bars exist in Virginia — is a common source of violations for restaurant owners, who widely decry the restriction as clunky and outdated. 

It isn’t uncommon for the ABC Board to impose less severe penalties on restaurants that run afoul of the ratio. But in the Papi’s case, it chose not to because the establishment had fallen so far below the requirements for two years running, with 81.2% of its sales coming from mixed beverages in its first year of operation and 83.9% in its second. 

Papi’s has “made no efforts or concrete plans to achieve a compliant food-beverage ratio even after receiving notice of the instant charges,” wrote administrative law judge Madeline Page in an April decision that was later upheld by the ABC Board. “Additionally, on at least two separate occasions in the current license year, Papis had no tables or chairs out for customers to have a meal, suggesting that Papis sometimes operates as a bar rather than a legitimate restaurant, which is unlawful and indicates Papis does not take seriously its food-beverage ratio problem.” 

The decision also noted that the December inspection found about $9,000 worth of alcohol sales over the past month had been marked incorrectly as food in the restaurant’s system. 

Londono acknowledged to the Planning Commission that Papi’s has had difficulty selling food and said she was willing to go back to a larger menu to try to fix the problem. 

“I tried to pivot,” she told them. “I wasn’t skirting the law or trying to pull one over. I’m not this horrible criminal.” 

While several members of the commission appeared concerned by the ABC issues, Planning Director Kevin Vonck said he saw that license as a “moot point” when it came to considering the conditional use permit. 

The decision was more about land use, he told the body, a question of “is this a good spot to have a nightclub in the city?” 

Still, he acknowledged that “at the end of the day, our job is health, safety and welfare, and it’s to limit negative externalities of that particular use.”

“If you think that the relationship between the proportions of food and alcohol relates to externalities, then that’s fair game,” he said. 

While the Planning Commission ultimately voted in favor of a permit for Papi’s, it voted to make the permit valid for only 18 months after the business receives its new certificate of occupancy. At that point, Papi’s will have to have the permit reviewed again. 

The case will now go to the City Council for a final decision. 

Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org