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WILKES-BARRE — A city nightclub closed for the last few weeks due to a code violation will be open again this weekend but it must install a sprinkler system within the next 30 days.
The Ali Baba Liquor Lounge also has to hire two people specifically to be on the lookout for a fire each night the club is open, according to city officials.
Posts on the Facebook page and Snapchat account for Ali Baba indicate it will be back open tonight.
The club, 219 S. Main St., was condemned Feb. 16. On Friday, the city’s director of operations, Butch Frati, confirmed the reason for the closure.
“They removed a wall which created a new gathering space,” Frati said. He explained the extra capacity meant the site would have to install a sprinkler system, something which had not previously been required.
Frati said Ali Baba has until April 2 to install the sprinklers, and its capacity will be capped at 300 until then.
To keep the bar safe in the meantime, Frati said the bar needs to have two employees dedicated solely to “fire watch.”
Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney said these two employees will not be firefighters, but rather two new crew members hired by the bar.
“They’re not bouncers, they’re not cooks,” Delaney said. “They can’t do anything else but act as the alarm system.”
Before reopening, Delaney said Ali Baba had to prove to building code enforcer Dan Kratz and Fire Captain Robert Suchosky that the two new workers had been hired. The club did this by providing paperwork showing the hires, officials say.
Delaney said Kratz and Suchosky toured the bar Friday at around 3 p.m. to ensure the management team had done enough to make the building safe until the April 2 deadline for sprinklers.
The chief also said code enforcement and fire crews would likely be dropping in at various points to make sure things remain suitable.
Meanwhile, the building’s owner, Nabil Abualburak, seemed to shrug off the issues.
“They weren’t happy about the wall coming down, so the wall went back up,” Abualburak said, saying this change led to the reopening.
Abualburak said the bar would be open Friday night in spite of the snowstorm.
Facebook posts advertised drink specials for Friday, along with a Saturday night performance from Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley.
Grizzley is best known for his single “First Day Out,” which peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The club recently found itself embroiled in a local controversy after booking a show by New York emcee Teka$hi 6ix9ine.
6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, is currently awaiting sentencing in New York after pleading guilty to a charge of use of a child in a sexual performance.
6ix9ine’s performance, originally set for April 21, was eventually nixed. But it could not be confirmed if the show was canceled by the club due to the outcry or by Hernandez’s promoters. The show was scheduled for after Hernandez’s April 10 sentencing date.