Staff photo / Dan Pompili A U-Haul truck is backed up to the front door Thursday of the Zodiac Club Lounge and Grill, 169 S. Four Mile Run Road. An attorney for the property owner confirmed the business is officially closed.

with the property after Zodiac vacates, but he knows what it will not be.

“It will not reopen as a bar or restaurant and the license will be transferred out of that location,” Cochran said.

He said Alexander agreed with the requirements the Zodiac had become a major problem.

“The trustees had a legitimate concern and my client did too, and so he was able to reach

an agreement with the tenant to close immediately,” Cochran said.

STATE CASE LOOMS

Even though the bar is closed, that does not mean the Zodiac’s legal troubles are over. Complaints are still pending with the Ohio Liquor Control Commission.

Eric Wolf, enforcement commander for the Ohio Investigative Unit, said Thursday that previous violations from September have been referred to the commission. The commission’s docket for January shows the business is scheduled for a hearing Jan. 16.

Santos said he asked D’Apolito and Gavalier to see if the state will attach the shooting report to its file on Zodiac, but Wolf said Saturday’s incident cannot be included in a hearing for previous violations. Austintown can, however, include it in their objection to the bar’s license renewal, he said, in the event that the Zodiac tries to open elsewhere in the township.

Troubles with the bar in 2024 alone go back at least to February and the state website shows citations connected to worker’s compensation violations, writing bad checks, and tax problems including a new tax issue filed on Nov. 21. But everything came to a head in September.

On Sept. 22, police responded to another complaint from nearby residents about a full parking lot and noise coming from the business well after 4 a.m.

When an officer responded to conduct a liquor license inspection, a fight broke out just as he arrived and the crowd began to flee. Many fled back into the bar and locked the doors behind them so that other patrons and police could not enter the bar, while others inside were unable to exit, which constituted a fire code violation.

Wolf said that when his unit arrived Sept. 27, they issued a state citation for hindering an inspection, per Austintown’s report, and found multiple other violations while they were there.

He said Zodiac’s license allows it to only serve beer and wine but the bar was found to be serving mixed drinks using hard liquor.

Wolf said inspectors also found marijuana in the office, a handgun hidden in a basement trash can, and nonspecific unsanitary conditions.