The liquor license of Jazzy Joe's will likely be auctioned next month to settle tax liens against the owner of the license, Sonia Anderson.
S.J. Port, spokesperson for the state Department of Revenue, said Anderson owes $74,205.93 in a combination of unpaid meals, withholding and corporate taxes.
Jazzy Joe's, a the music club and bar, was closed in April on a court order sought by Anderson's former lawyer, Patricia Johnstone, who is owed more than $6,600 by Anderson.
Additional debts of more than $150,000 to a vending company, the Gloucester Fund and a former friend who secured a mortgage for Anderson doomed the club.
Edward Pasquina, chairman of the city's Licensing Board, said that only bona fide candidates would be eligible to bid on the license. He said the bidders would need to show the ability to use the licence immediately after purchasing it.
"They'll have to have a viable place to put it in," said Pasquina. The former Main Street location of the club is not an option, with the neighboring Jalapeno's restaurant already expanding its facilities into what had been the Jazzy Joe's portion of the West End building.
Recent licenses have sold for about $100,000, but Pasquina declined to speculate on what Jazzy Joe's licence might bring. Already on the market for months is the licence that was used at the now-defunct Green Tavern.
The board gave Anderson a final week's notice to produce a workout plan for the creditors as a prerequisite to keeping the liquor license. When the deadline passed without work from her the board began planning for the auction.
By then, however, the state had stepped in to confiscate the license which had been taken from Anderson by a sheriff's deputy on the order of a judge acting on behalf of the owner of the building that the club began occupying three years ago.
Port said the revenue agency and the Licensing Board would work out details of the auction.
"We're look for an auction in mid-July in a public building," said Pasquina, noting that the auction would be the first of a liquor license he can remember.
Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com.
