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Ever since he moved into the neighborhood earlier this year, Don Oppenheim wished for the demise of Grove Liquor in the heart of the fledgling Ashby Arts District. 

But when the liquor store on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Ashby Avenue lost its lease last month, Oppenheim, who lives a block away, knew it was too early to celebrate.  

“A coffee shop, small cafe or even a pool hall could really help this neighborhood turn the corner,” he said.  

During the past few weeks, city officials and local merchants have implored the building’s owner, Sucha Singh Banger, who also owns the troubled Black & White Liquor at 3027 Adeline St., not to open a new liquor store at the Grove Liquor site. 

“Another liquor store would be devastating,” Oppenheim said.  

Reached at his store Monday, Banger said neighbors would likely get their wish. “It’s not going to be a liquor store,” he said. “It will probably be a cafe or a grocery store.” 

Days earlier, Banger’s brother told the Daily Planet that Grove Liquor would become “Black & White Two.” Banger said his brother must have been joking. 

A series of troubles at Black & White began in June when police arrested the night clerk, Satnan Singh, for buying stolen liquor. Then, a month later, a fire that Berkeley Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said appeared to have been intentionally set, gutted the shop and upstairs residence. A search of the apartment later turned up a cache of illegal military-grade firearms. 

Black & White is shut now due to the fire damage and Banger said he intends to reopen at the location, but did not know when. Some neighbors had speculated that Banger planned to move his operation to the now empty Grove Liquor site about a block away, but Banger said that was not his plan. 

Local merchants and city officials say Banger is charging too much rent for the location to lure potential cafe operators, sparking fears he still intends to open a second liquor store at the Grove site. 

A second Black & White is not what Ashby Arts District organizations have in mind. Anchored by Epic Arts, a community art center and concert space, and the Ashby Stage, home to Berkeley’s Shotgun Players, the area now has evening events but few food establishments to support the venues, said Shotgun Artistic Director Patrick Dooley.  

“A vibrant business that the community supports would do wonders for us,” he said. Dooley added that he often had to pick up empty beer bottles and plastic vodka containers from outside Grove Liquor and watch men selling drugs on the corner.  

“Since the store closed almost overnight all that traffic has gone away,” he said. “I don’t think it matters who’s running the shop. A liquor store and selling drugs go hand-in-hand.” 

Councilmember Max Anderson said he wants to see a book store or coffee shop on the corner, but cautioned that the city had few options to force Banger’s hand.  

City officials have put potential cafe operators in touch with Banger, but no one could hammer out a lease. 

“He’s asking for too much money,” said Dave Fogarty of the city’s Office of Economic Development. Banger said he is asking $4,500 a month for the shop, about $1,000 more a month than he charged to the operators of Grove Liquor.  

Epic Arts Executive Director Ashley Berkowitz said he also failed to sway Banger to either sell the building or agree to terms with a tenant that wasn’t a liquor store or dollar store. “He’s not being realistic about what the building’s worth,” Berkowitz said. 

According to Berkowitz, the storefront is a “tear-down,” and Banger hasn’t expressed much interest in making improvements that would attract a café operator. Banger told the Daily Planet that he was willing to fix up the building. 

Black & White Liquor is facing a 20-day liquor suspension and three-years probation for buying stolen liquor during a police decoy operation. Banger can’t escape the penalties by switching his liquor license to the former Grove Liquor, according to Alcohol Beverage Control District Administrator Andrew Gomez. 

“We would move to transfer the disciplinary history to the new shop,” Gomez said. He added that ABC couldn’t punish Banger for his tenant’s illegal weapon cache, and that Black & White received only a 20-day suspension because it was the night clerk, and not Banger, who police caught buying the stolen alcohol.  

However, Gomez said that if Banger, or any other potential liquor store operator, should seek a license to set up shop at the former Grove site, neighbors have the right to protest the license application.  

And if police and residents could show that the store was in an area with a high crime rate and an over-concentration of liquor stores, Gomez said the city could possibly block the license or at least restrict hours of operation or the types of containers sold in the shop.  

Michael Caplan, a City of Berkeley neighborhood services liaison, said Berkeley had few options to stop Banger from opening up a new liquor shop at the corner.  

“There’s no zoning mechanism to say it can’t be a liquor store,” he said. Caplan added that the city would have to go through its nuisance abatement process to fight the license. Showing that a liquor store on the corner would constitute a nuisance would be difficult, he added, because Grove Liquor didn’t generate many complaints.  

“It’s not that Grove was bad,” Caplan said. “It’s more that people would like to see it be something more beneficial.”