Troubled Hip-Hop Club To Be Closed -- Port Pays $419,000 In Deal To Buy Out Sharky's 2-Year Lease

The Port of Seattle will pay $419,000 to shut down Sharky's dance club, ending a troubled three-year history for the club on Ballard's Shilshole Bay.

The settlement, approved yesterday by the Port Commission, means Sharky's will close its doors Jan. 6. The Port, which owns the building and property, is buying out Sharky's two-year lease.

"I've got mixed feelings," said Walter Yakhnich, Sharky's owner. "We enjoyed this business, but we didn't enjoy fighting with the Port all the time."

The settlement comes just days before the state Liquor Control Board had been scheduled to hear a petition by the city of Seattle and the Port to revoke Sharky's liquor license.

The dance club, at 7001 Seaview Ave. N.W., is a blight on the neighborhood, and a magnet for drugs, violence and alcohol offenses, said the city and the Port, which, as part of the agreement, withdrew their liquor-license objections.

While no one faulted Sharky's owners for behavior in the club, which draws as many as 800 to 1,000 people on a busy night, the actions of some patrons and others who gathered in the parking lot when the club closed was so worrisome that the Port assigned a dozen officers to patrol it on the two nights the club played hip-hop music. Hundreds of patrons would linger in the lot after the music stopped, and police files bulged with reports of everything from gunshots to expired license tabs.

The $419,000 was based on an independent appraisal of the value of the business, Port officials said.

"We're buying an acceptable amount of public safety for the least amount of money," said Commissioner Paul Schell. "It's unfortunate we had to spend the money."

According to the Port, it spends $250,000 a year patrolling Sharky's parking lot, about twice what the Port collects in rent from Yakhnich.

Even if the liquor board had revoked Sharky's license, Yakhnich said he would have appealed it and the issue likely would have been tied up in court through the remaining years of the lease.

Port commissioners said they weren't happy with the size of the settlement but said it was the only way to keep peace at Shilshole.

"We better do a better job when we negotiate a lease with any restaurant tenant," Commissioner Paige Miller said. "That is the painful lesson for us."

Commissioner Gary Grant voted against the settlement, asking why the Port should pay for police protection for a private business. "It doesn't seem fair," he said. "I don't feel comfortable authorizing this expenditure."

The problems began soon after Walter and Gula Yakhnich opened Sharky's in January 1995 and began playing hip-hop music Thursday and Saturday nights.

Just three months later, police were looking at ways to close down the club because of the problems in the parking lot. The owners, as well as many hip-hop fans, complained that police inordinately target clubs that play hip-hop music, especially when the crowd is mostly African American.

Sharky's used to pay off-duty Seattle police to patrol the lot, but that changed in February 1996 when the Port, worried about its potential liability in a parking lot it owned, stationed police officers there on the two hip-hop nights.

The city and the Port were hoping the liquor board would solve the problem, but in a similar case in 1992, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the holder of a liquor license had no duty to control the actions of people on public property.

Neighbors in the area have been pressuring the Port to help solve what became known as the "Sharky's problem."

There were countless meetings, and threats of lawsuits.

Don Aupperle, who lives on a boat in a nearby marina, said he was pleased by the settlement.

"It's a demonstration that an overall community effort can get things sorted out," he said. "And it certainly makes it easier to wander around the parking lot late at night."

The closure of Sharky's will put 21 people out of work, said Yakhnich, who said he is looking for another location for his dance club. He said he is investigating two sites near Tacoma.

"Maybe we can find a new, better place," Yakhnich said, "and people can continue to enjoy this kind of atmosphere."

The Port hasn't decided what it will do with the property. However, said Mark Knudsen, the Port's director of marine operations, "it's unlikely we'll lease it to another dance club."

Susan Gilmore's phone message number is 206-464-2054. Her e-mail address is: sugi-new@seatimes.com