After fatal nightclub shooting, Allentown officials detail how closing 'nuisance' business is difficult

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown officials “have every intent” to take action against a nightclub where a man was fatally shot this month, one of the city’s top officials said.

But even though the club was operating illegally, it’s too early for nuisance-abatement measures, Vicky Kistler, who runs the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development, told LehighValleyNews.com.

That's because police still are actively investigating the deadly shooting outside BKK Lounge on Union Boulevard.

Kistler's department holds the city’s nuisance-abatement powers, which can include shuttering businesses.

David Isaiah Rivera, 26, and Pedro Junior Paulino, 35, both of Allentown, face homicide and criminal homicide charges, among others, according to court records.

Police allege they fired into a group of people outside BKK Lounge after a fight inside about 4 a.m. Feb. 2.

Ivan Diaz, 32, of Lower Macungie Township, was killed and three others were injured in the shooting. All three are expected to survive.

Rivera was arrested and charged Feb. 2; Paulino surrendered to authorities Saturday.

We need residents' help: Mayor

Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said residents have urged him to shut down BKK Lounge in the wake of Diaz’s death.

But it’s not that easy, as businesses and property owners have legal rights, Tuerk said.

“If you just go shut it down because you suspect it’s a problem, you’re not giving it the due process that it requires,” he said.

Police could be accused of harassment or illegally targeting afterhours businesses if there is no “real cause to spend time there,” Tuerk said.

He said things “had been pretty quiet since November” at BKK Lounge.

He called on residents to speak up and report businesses that are operating illegally.

“The amount of time and attention that we spend on a place is a function of the amount of complaints that our residents are making,” Tuerk said.

“We need our community’s support in identifying these places and bringing them to our attention. We can manage problems that we’re made aware of, but we need help in doing this.”

Dozens of police visits, no complaints

Allentown officers responded to calls and completed patrols more than two dozen times at or around BKK Lounge since July 2023, according to Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca.

But police passed along no complaints about the business to DCED officials, Kistler told LehighValleyNews.com.

“I don’t have anything indicating that there [was] a desire to shut the place down,” she said.

None of those incidents — which included an assault and several domestic disturbances — met the city’s standards to trigger nuisance-abatement measures against BKK Lounge, Roca said.

“Ultimately, this comes down to the business being run properly,” Roca said, calling on afterhours business owners to “be a good neighbor.”

Allentown’s city code gives the Department of Community and Economic Development authority to shut down a business it deems a public nuisance.

That declaration usually comes “because a [city] department … has declared enough is enough,” Kistler said.

But it appears no department reached that point before the Feb. 2 fatal shooting.

‘Complicated’ process

BKK Lounge was illegally operating as a nightclub; it was licensed to be a family restaurant, Kistler told LehighValleyNews.com.

A family restaurant in Allentown cannot serve alcohol or let its patrons bring their own inside, she said.

“It is not a BYOB [establishment]; it is not a bar,” Kistler said. “There should be no alcohol” in BKK Lounge.

Kistler said her department will work to link the Feb. 2 fatal shooting directly to how the business was operating — a key hurdle officials must clear before taking action against BKK Lounge.

“We have to determine that any action that happens is happening as the result of the operation of the business,” she said.

She said city employees have to conduct a “complete” investigation into BKK Lounge.

Declaring a business a public nuisance often is “complicated” because its operator doesn’t own the property, Kistler said.

City officials must give property owners an opportunity to resolve issues with or evict their tenants, she said.

‘Literally padlock the business’

If property owners “do neither,” Kistler said, the city can shut down a business and set conditions for it to reopen.

And if those conditions are not met, officials “go and literally padlock the building and declare it a public nuisance,” Kistler said.

The city recently did that at a business on Susquehanna Street, according to officials.

Orange-and-green public notices are posted on the door of La Cuatro Hookah Lounge at 373 W. Susquehanna St. Posts on the business’ social media pages show large parties inside the hookah lounge.

City officials are working with that property’s owner and operator to “determine the next steps”; no new business licenses or permits will be issued for the property until a resolution is reached, Kistler said.

“We don’t take this lightly," she said. If "we’re shutting down a business, that’s not ever what a Department of Community and Economic Development wants to do.

“We fight really hard to keep our responsible and reliable businesses open.”