Re-Visioning of Midtown has strong opposition
July 31, 2009 at 5:01 pm by Scott Henry in NewsAfter a three-year run as Atlanta’s nightclub of choice for ballers, b-boys and high-rollers, Vision served its last Red Bull and vodka on Aug. 5, 2006. The fabled VIP haven for everyone from P. Diddy to Britney Spears to many of the now-jailed principals behind the BMF drug-trafficking empire, the glitzy club effectively shifted operations to the sprawing (and now-shuttered) Compound, on the city’s Westside, then moved the party up to the Velvet Room on the northern Perimeter.
Since then, the only noise on that stretch of Peachtree Street, between 10th and 12th streets, has been the sound of construction equipment.
But the Gidewon brothers — the four press-shy siblings from Eritrea who rule Atlanta’s hip-hop nightlife — plan to change all that.
After months of community speculation, brother Michael has embarked on the application process to reopen Vision in the strip of buildings on Peachtree that once housed the old Cotton Club and Pasta Da Pulcinella locations. From the outside, the windowless buildings appear vacant and dilapidated. But, according to sources, the club interior is enormous and was built out nearly a year ago to the Gidewon’s trademark spare-no-expense standards.
Now that the Gidewons have finally filed for their permits, at least one civic group is determined to see they don’t get them.
“We don’t want the loud music, cruising, litter and shootings that go with this type of club,” says Peggy Denby, president of the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance. “We’re going to oppose this very loudly.”
Denby points out that since the original Vision closed, that building has been replaced by the 1010 Midtown condo tower and, across the street, the 12th & Midtown mixed-use complex — including condos, offices and a Loews luxury hotel — is expected to be completed early next year.
In other words, she explains, there will be a lot of new residents and businesses nearby who may not appreciate the noise, traffic and lines around the block that a mega-club can bring.
“The hangers-on who can’t afford to get into the club are as bad as the club itself,” Denby says. “There’s no good that can come of this for the neighborhood.”
On the other hand, the Gidewons have mighty deep pockets — they’ve held a lease on the vacant buildings for years — and friends in high places. The Gidewon Foundation’s annual Party for a Cause ball, benefiting homeless and underprivileged children, took place earlier this month at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History and was attended by Mayor Shirley Franklin and mayoral candidate Kasim Reed.
Also on their side is the fact that the building has an established history as a nightclub. On the other hand, the area has since been designated a Special Public Interest District, which gives them more land-use hoops to jump through. And, of course, they still need to secure a liquor license.
The next public discussion of the proposed new Vision is Tuesday at the Neighborhood Planning Unit-E meeting. A week later, it will be considered at a meeting of the Midtown Development Review Committee. This is likely to be the start of a long, drawn-out battle.
Oh, and BTW, the brothers also apparently intend to reopen Compound this fall.
July 31st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Won’t this business reduce crime by “putting more eyes on the street?”
August 2nd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Not necessarily, CrimeStopper. I hate to say it but it depends on what type of crowd it attracts.
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
I hate to say it, but this area does not need a club. When Kaya and Visions was in that area, the noise and the traffic was incredible. Now that new residences are coming in, I cannot imagine the tenants tolerating this. If it does open, the owners will have to put in every effort to keep the ghetto element out. If 1 shooting happens, the city and the neighborhood will put the smack down on them so fast that their heads will spin.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Based on the original Visions Club at it’s best car break-ins, graffiti, litter, barf on the sidewalk, bass amplifiers 10pm to 4am. At it’s worse — shootings.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:16 am
The fact that they have to hire off-duty police officers to constantly maintain order should tell you what type of place this is going to be… sure, they can call it a “lounge” or whatever the heck they want. It’s still going to end up being a ghetto nightclub. There’s plenty of vacant land over at Atlantic Station… that seems to be “where the party is at” these days.
August 9th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
there is no way that they will be able to keep the ghetto element out. today’s atlanta ghetto element is far worse than the element that existed when Kaya and the original Visions were around. If you need proof, check out Atlantic Station. Its about 5 years away from becoming West End Mall.
August 12th, 2009 at 11:04 am
At the NPU meeting last night the attorney for Vision proposed having 10 police officers…4 watching and guiding the patron queue and 6 on Peachtree Street and 11th Street guiding and directing the cars.
There will be only 270 parking spaces for a 19k sq ft space that will house over 1,000 people. Vision was requested to submit a plan to how to deal with the Traffic issues and Security issues.
Similar to before, they did not get any permits to build out the glass areas. Before receiving any approvals or submitting security and traffic plans they started to build out.
This is business as usual. Build it, screw the neighborhood, then ignore they havoc the club brings into Midtown.
PLEASE: If you want to help avoid a repeat of the past issues, please write the following and encourage them say no. Mayor Shirley Franklin, Kasim Reed, Mary Norwood, Lisa Borders, Kwanza Hall and Anne Favuer.
Encourage local business owners to also write.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Please see why we don’t need more club owners that don’t care about what goes on around their businesses by going to: http://www.youtube.com/midtownatlantan. Caring about the quality of life where we live isn’t being racist as some people want to say instead of understanding the situation. Club owners can’t be concerned only about what goes on inside their clubs and not care what goes on around their clubs in the parking lots and streets during open hours and after hours. Taxpayers should be able to expect quality of life even in a intown neighborhood with an active nightlife. The Gidewons (Vision owners)have already had their opportunity and failed as caring about their influences on safety and quality of life within Midtown. Please say no to Vision! Let us and others learn from their mistakes and let us get beyond the past and handle the present problems and look to the future of Midtown.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
WOW!!!I AM NO ADVOCATE OF CRIME, BUT I AM AN ADVOCATE FOR ALL THE JOBS THAT THIS WILL CREATE.MUST WE ALL BE SELFISH AND FORGET THAT MOST OF THE YOUNG ADULTS WORKING AT THESE ESTABLISHMENTS ARE OUR SONS AND OUR DAUGHTERS? WHO OPENS A NIGHTCLUB WITH THE INTENT TO DESTROY THE QUALITY OF LIFE? THERE ARE 10 CLUBS IN THE SAME AREA. I HAVE LIVED DOWNTOWN FOR 15 YRS AND I HAVE NEVER HEARD SUCH A FUSS.I HAVE NO PLANS OF ATTENDING SUCH AN ESTABLISHMENT BUT THIS SURELY SETS OFF A RED FLAG AS SOME SORT OF RAILROADING. ATLANTA HAS LOST MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF TOURISM DOLLARS BECAUSE OF SELFISH PEOPLE.HOW DARE I TELL ANOTHER BUSINESS OWNER HE/SHE CANNOT OPEN THEIR DOORS BECAUSE I’M SCARED OF WHAT I THINK WILL HAPPEN. LOOK AROUND YOU PEOPLE. WE HAVE BASICALLY AN ABANDONED CITY OF CONDO’S,HOMELESS & JOBLESS PEOPLE. JOBS ARE NEEDED, AND I’M SURE THERE IS NO COALITION,NOR SIGNATURES TO HELP THAT.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Anyone who types in all CAPS is certainly an advocate of crime. Stats prove it, look it up.
Also, drug dealing jobs do not produce tax dollars. Also.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:50 am
I have to say… I’m extremely disappointed that people are trying to make this into a racial or homophobic issue – ITS NOT. This is about people’s safety. This is about the fact that numerous individuals have been brutally killed in these types of establishments. Does anyone remember Randy Griffin? The man shot and killed outside of Club 112 on 11th and Peachtree… or the security guard shot at Club Dreams… how about Carl Edwards Green who was shot at Opera… or the guy shot in the abdomen twice at Compound… or the two men stabbed at Lucky Lounge… or Demetrius Holt who was shot in the back and killed at American Legion. Why isn’t anyone talking about these murders and the unfortunate fact that hip-hop clubs nurture this type of crime? Why are the supporters of this club willing to take another chance at the cost of someone’s life?
August 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Brian is spot on. All caps only leads to more crime and violence. Get help fast MIDTOWN.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Before Midtown became a sterile boring condo development, it had wonderful nightlife.
It’s up to the APD to enforce noise ordinances and to work to ensure public safety. It sounds to me like more people are concerned about what goes on outside the club, rather than inside.
It’s a shame that decisions and public activism are based on the worst fraction of a percentage of society.
August 18th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
“It’s a shame that decisions and public activism are based on the worst fraction of a percentage of society.”
… a fraction drawn to our neighborhood by clubs like Vision
August 19th, 2009 at 11:51 am
If you don’t like noise, then why in the world would you live in the middle of a city? I would hate to see what kind of hissy fit you’d pitch if you lived in the middle of Manhattan. The complaints about noise when you live in the middle of a city have always been ridiculous to me. If you want quiet, move to Alpharetta, geez. As far a racism, I would put everything I own on the fact that this is a racial issue. If the Gidewons anything but black, no one would be saying anything about it at all. If that’s not true, why is it important at all to mention in this article that they are from Eritrea, a country in Africa??? Who cares!
As far as safety, I’ve been to Visions several times when it was open, and I’ve also been to Velvet Room, and I have never had a problem or felt “unsafe” as you put it. Instead of trying to shut down the whole idea of a thriving business that would bring revenue into the city when its desperately needed, why don’t you demand these owners give you what you claim you aren’t getting.
And for the record, people that attend these establishments are not “ghetto” as you all eloquently put it. I’m tired of the word ghetto being thrown around and automatically being synonomous with the fact that you’re black. It’s far from truth.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
The city is amazingly quiet at 2 am.
Unless you have 600 people pouring out of a nightclub as it closes.
Or you have hundreds of people, dozens with subs that can be heard on the 10th floor, cruising the area because of the people in line outside the club.
I lived across from Backstreet and can tell you EXACTLY what happens when a club operates on your block. I can also tell you EXACTLY how great it is when the club closes and the long list of problems that goes away with the “patrons”.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Dale, you specifically requested a seat in the smoking section and then bitched when someone lit up?
August 19th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
No, I didn’t bitch. I accepted the neighborhood into which I moved. I didn’t complain about Bulldogs, the Armory, McCrays or Loca Luna, but I can tell you how much nicer the neighborhood became after some of those closed down.
I would fight someone trying to open a new club in my neighborhood, just as people oppose Vision.
I am merely stating what happens with and without the club.
To follow your analogy in the Vision situation, I requested a non-smoking table and, midway through my meal, a smoking table was seated next to me in the non-smoking section. I was then told by Tiffani and others that, if I complained, it was because I was racist.
August 19th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Oh god. Midtown residents are like the homeowners associations in the suburbs. I live in walking distance from Club Esso. I never have any problems but im also not afraid of black people. And yes dickheads, using the term ghetto is racist like a bastard. We all know what you really mean.
August 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
This is becoming a political mess. You have a group of club owners who have gone to a great deal of effort to manipulate the system. Improving the property without permits, splitting the club into two sections to avoid compliance with square foot regulations, manipulation of the police department to obtain liquor licensing.
This is not TGI Fridays coming in to run this huge club, this is a group of guys with direct ties to the elements nobody wants in their neighborhood.
August 19th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have enough time” – Steven Wright
August 19th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Stones throw away then and im no Matt Ryan.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Peachtree Street, before you or I knew it use to be lined with quiet two and three story homes without crime, clubs, car break-ins, graffiti, car horns, litter etc. I spoke with someone today that lived off Peachtree as a child, that said he use to ride his bike the entire Midtown area of Peachtree St on Sundays without any traffic. No cars driving by, just him and his brother riding down Peachtree Street on their bikes. He watched it as it changed over the last five decades. He laughed with pure zeal when I read him the person’s statement “If you don’t like noise, then why in the world would you live in the middle of a city?” Where do you people get the idea that because in our short moment in the history of Peachtree Street, Midtown can only be what you know it to be and not allowed it to change? I have a problem not being able to sleep because Bulldogs bar which I live across from, which has a white owner so when Tiffani says “As far a racism, I would put everything I own on the fact that this is a racial issue. If the Gidewons anything but black, no one would be saying anything about it at all.” Pay up Tiffani! I didn’t move to Midtown in hopes I could hold on to my past, present or future impressions of Midtown. When I moved here over 10 years ago, while some friends asked why would anyone want to move to an area full of prostitutes and crack addicts. I moved here to be a part of what Midtown would become. It had gone down hill and was known as an area for us to party in chaos. I have gone to clubs past and present. That doesn’t mean that it is the only reality of the history of Midtown and how it will be. There is an ebb and flow to any place society exists. The realization of change comes with experience. We aren’t and never will be NYC so stop with the comparisons regarding why we moved here knowing what it is, since you don’t have a very long impression of what Peachtree has been. You are showing your lack of experience of life and change. Keep up that kind of thinking and some day you will be talking about the “ood old days” on Peachtree at the Vision Nightclub and no one will remember.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
@ Midtownatlantan – how is the renovation project going? :-)
August 19th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
The only victimization the Gidewons suffer from is not racism but their own success.
Per RETAILBROKER: “You have a group of club owners who have gone to a great deal of effort to manipulate the system. Improving the property without permits, splitting the club into two sections to avoid compliance with square foot regulations, manipulation of the police department to obtain liquor licensing.”
I witnessed this when the first Vision opened and they have done it again with this soon to be club.
IMHO I think they get away with things because they ARE African American.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Notice how these clubs are in single-story buildings, right next to high rises?
That’s part of what makes Atlanta unique, right?
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
This is quite an interesting discussion…Everyone needs to cut the bull….It’s about not wanting lots and lots of young black people hanging out in Midtown. It’s the same garbage that shut down the clubs in the Buckhead triangle. Now all you have for your efforts are loads of empty one bedroom condos and the tentative promise of being able to one day buy a $4000 handbag at the Streets of Buckhead.
How about getting Pennington to do his fcuking job!!!??? It’s not up to the club to police the streets. With all of the money spent on off duty police officers, why can’t you come up with a system to pay them to just do their jobs while they are on the clock? I’m not talking about Midtown Blue either….
We all knew way back when that Pennington’s support for rolling back bar hours was because he was inept and absent and looking for an easy way out. In the meantime we’ve lost lots of clubs,hospitality jobs, valuable convention business and tax revenue and our reputation as a place for young people to do what young people do.
Parking lots that were once filled to capacity drawing $10+ per space all night long now sit empty…and then you complain to the mayor about hiring more police officers. You might be able to get them with the revenue that you’ve chased away with suburban attitudes.
Midtown’s bubble is about to be burst again. Folks, like it or not, this is still a majority black city. You can’t expect to have Midtown without them or without gays. Success in Atlanta, financially or otherwise, demands their inclusion on their terms…not those dictated to them by a loud and insular minority.
While the nightlife elements were clearly on the endangered species list, I’m glad to see it coming back
August 31st, 2009 at 9:50 am
AtlNative blitters: “Folks, like it or not, this is still a majority black city. You can’t expect to have Midtown without them or without gays. Success in Atlanta, financially or otherwise, demands their inclusion on their terms…not those dictated to them by a loud and insular minority.”
In other words: “bow at my feet, whitey! we are the black majority and we want our way. we do not have to consider your sniveling request. we are the majority and you must follow our black agenda, ha ha ha ha!!!”
August 31st, 2009 at 10:19 am
it always makes me chuckle when people add an “s” to the end of names that don’t actually have them – visionS, mjqS, krogerS, etc.
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:20 am
HEY BRIAN, I’M BACK WITH GUESS WHAT? ALL CAPS!!! I NOTICED THEY SCARED YOU, I SEE WHY THE MENTION OF A CLUB WITH OTHER THAN WHITE PATRONS HAS YOU RUNNING FOR THE HILLS!!DIGEST MY COMMENTS..I UNDERSTAND THE CAPS & MY IMAGINARY HISTORY OF VIOLENCE MAY BE A BIT MUCH FOR YA!
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
this just in – only douchebags comment in all caps. word up, midtown!
September 6th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
YOU GUYS ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE TRAFFIC & NOISE… YALL NEED TO JUST SAY IT YOU GUY DONT WANT BLACK PEOPLE IN THE AREA… ALL THE LINKS YOU GUYS POSTED ARE AT BLACK CLUBS… VELVET IS NOT IN THE GREATEST AREA ANY CRIME OUT THERE… THEN YOU SOMEBODY RECORDED BULLDOGS TO SHOW THE TRAFFIC AND PUT IT ON http://www.youtube.com/midtownatlantan. IT WAS RECORDED ON 9/4/09 LABOR DAY WEEKEND IS GAY PRIDE WEEKEND SO THERE ARE GAYS THAT TRAVEL DOWN HERE JUST FOR THAT…. SO YOU REALLY CANT USE THAT RECORDING…. I DON’T C ANYBODY COMPLAINING ABOUT THE THURSDAYS NIGHT IN MIDTOWN WHEN OPERA, DOOR44, LEOPARD LOUNGE, AND SUTRA ALL HAVE BLACK NIGHTS… THERE AREN’T ANY GHETTO PEOPLE AS YOU CALL THEM (”BLACK PEOPLE”) RUNNING AROUND. OPERA HAS ABOUT 900 – 1200 PEOPLE IN THE CLUB ON THURSDAY’S…. ALSO YOU GUYS DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT THE CRAZY TRAFFIC THAT GOES ON ON FRIDAY & SATURDAY FROM THE CLUBS & LOUNGES IN MIDTOWN OPERA, DOOR44, LEOPARD LOUNGE,COSMO LAVA, TWISTED TACO AND SUTRA LOUNGE
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:52 pm
it’s amazing how addressing what may or may not fit into a neighborhood gets twisted into a racial discussion.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:58 am
C’mon Mayor Franklin!!!!
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/atlanta-board-oks-plan-156420.html
October 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
@ Crazy People – an appropriate moniker, it seems. First you say this is all because we don’t want black people in Midtown…. then you say you don’t see anyone complaining about the Crescent Street clubs who have all black nights with huge crowds. I didn’t realize they were “black” nights, but if you say so….
BTW, all of those clubs are in an area known as a club district. How would you like to buy an $ 800,000 condo at 1010 and have a club open across the street?
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
“BTW, all of those clubs are in an area known as a club district. How would you like to buy an $ 800,000 condo at 1010 and have a club open across the street?”
Because the restaurant that closes at 1 am right below that condo, that club district which is a mere 2 blocks away, and the bar that closes at 2 am around the corner are that much further? Probably wouldn’t care at all.
It’s worth noting as well that Buckhead, for its reputation in being a nightlife spot, is what attracted development near the village in the first place.
Nightlife then moved to midtown. Developers THEN followed, and now they want to make demands on how the scene should be?
People hardly hang in Buckhead anymore, and in recommendations for the best hoods for young professionals to live, midtown always comes up first. Why? The scene.
Without this appeal of something “happening” you’ll be looking at a dead, boring area and empty condoes steadily devaluing ala Buckhead, but they sure are pretty to look at and void of the “thug” set, right?
October 24th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Yeah, that must be why no one lives in Buckhead. You do know that Midtown condos are depreciating and sitting unsold, despite the wonderful “scene” of Midtown, right? Buckhead is “Dead and boring”?? Are you serious? That must be why all those people are going there to buy stuff, work and live. I will try to remember how dead it is when I am trying to get to the W, Blue Pointe or to visit my wife working at Phipps.
I was exactly the person you describe being attracted to Midtown when I bought my loft on Peachtree Street. I didn’t go there for the “scene”. It was for the walkability, proximity to Marta and Piedmont Park, like minded neighbors and many other reasons. I put up with the “scene” because the other factors made it tolerable.
Trying to get home on Thursday nights when Peachtree Street was choked with cars cruising Vision and Velvet was NOT an attraction.
Gunshots and parking lot fights in the club parking lot across the street were NOT an attraction. I did not complain because that was there when I bought the place. I saw enough crime, in less than three years, that I was listed on five police reports as a witness, all from the scenic beauty of my loft window overlooking Peachtree Street. It is a safer and more enjoyable place now because the clubs, and the traffic they attract, are gone.
The condo developers you describe came after the demise of Vision/Velvet and Backstreet when that area became attractive to developers.
The Crescent Avenue club district is not similar to what went on with Vision before and no one cruises a restaurant, so they are not a problem. And yes, a “mere” two blocks can make an enormous difference. I now live two blocks from Ponce, but you could not give me a house on Ponce.
One more important point. It isn’t the “developers” who “now they want to make demands on how the scene should be”. It is the residents who live there. Are you a Midtown resident? If not, those of us who oppose the clubs don’t really care what you think.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:49 am
The smell of cooking fish is good if it’s your dinner. The smell of cooking fish is less-good if you’re not eating it.
Garlic is delicious. Garlic breath is nasty.
Nightclubs are fun for people inside the nightclub having fun.
They’re very often not fun for the people who live by.
It’s not bigotry to not like a nightclub. It’s perspective.