Common council denies Silk Exotic’s liquor license request for Visions location

Madalyn O'Neill by Madalyn O'Neill

MADISON, Wis. – Madison’s Common Council voted Tuesday to deny Silk Exotic the liquor license it requested in its attempt to take over Visions Night Club and rebrand it as Silk Exotic Madison East.

It comes after a recommendation from the city’s Alcohol License Review Committee to deny the request, citing neighborhood concerns about safety.

“People are ready for it to not be there anymore,” said Alder Grant Foster, who represents the district in which Visions is located. “It’s right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and so having a night club of any sort and having any kind of management is going to bring the challenges a night club will bring.”

In its application for a liquor license, Silk Exotic said it would address issues like safety concerns, noise and parking by taking “proactive, preventive security measures,” putting in “state-of-the-art soundproofing” and adding valet parking.



“That’s the heart of the pitch: We’ll be better than Visions,” Foster said, but he wasn’t sold.

“We had a public meeting on it. One member of the community … said, ‘You keep saying you’re going to be better than Visions. What are you going to actually do for us? What are you going to bring to the community? What positives does this bring for us?’” Foster said. “It really just left the Silk operator speechless.”

Visions owners still have their liquor license, despite a city attempt to revoke it, with a 56-page complaint from the City Attorney’s Office alleging misconduct and neighborhood nuisances since 2012.

“Standards for non-renewal or for revocation (of liquor licenses) are pretty high, but for new applications, I would say it’s much more possible for the ALRC to find it’s not in the best interest of the community and deny it,” Foster said.

Visions argued the problems in the complaint didn’t all stem from the business but agreed to a 90-day suspension of its liquor license. That will be up in about two months, when Visions could potentially reopen.

“We will be keeping an eye on how they’re conducting their business,” assistant city attorney Jennifer Zivaly said.

The neighborhood will be keeping an eye on the establishment’s future.

“It’s a challenging business and we’ll see,” Foster said.

News 3 Now attempted to contact Silk’s director of operations and its attorney. Its attorney responded, saying he’s not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

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