San Antonio -- It was a night club with a long history of violence. But now a final measure ensures history will not repeat itself.
There will be no more crime reported from Club Antro because Club Antro is no more. The owners have bowed to legal pressure and closed down for good.
News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters Mireya Villarreal began investigating the medical center bar in July 2010 after neighbors asked for our help with the rowdy establishment. A month later (August 2010) the city filed a lawsuit but lost the fight last September.
Since 2001 police had responded to the bar more than 1500 times. They had 46 TABC violations on the books, ten code compliance citations and one lawsuit. In the end, it just took a lot of time and evidence to shut this place down.
Murders, shootings, fights and riots - Uou name it and it probably happened at Club Antro. Even though there was a pending lawsuit against the bar they were allowed to stay open.
The owners changed the bar's name to Silk Ultra Lounge in October 2010 and promised to clean up their act. But neighbors told us they had the same rowdy crowd coming in causing the same kinds of problems.
That's why the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) continued to investigate and build a case against the club.
"As time went on there were other allegations that we became aware of and investigated and pursued administrative action on them as well,” Lt. Craig Smith, TABC Spokesperson, told us.
Owners of the club were cited five times from February through November 2011. They were facing big fines and another temporary suspension. TABC had even set a hearing for January 26, last week, to try and get a judge to finally cancel their liquor license.
But before that could happen the club's owners waived the white flag.
"The permit has been canceled. It was an agreement between our legal division and them,” Smith noted.
So, after ten years of being in business, ten years of crime and drama, the club agreed to close its doors.
We did reach out to the club's owners and attorney, but no one returned our calls. Between legal fees and possible fines, you could probably say the city and TABC just wore them down.
