Privé issued county violation for elevator

By Xania Woodman

Published Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 | 11:35 a.m.

Updated Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 | 6:14 p.m.

As Privé nightclub was receiving its commissioner-approved 30-day temporary liquor license Friday in preparation to reopen that night, the Clark County Department of Development Services’ Building Division was issuing the club’s owners a notice of violation for having installed a pneumatic vacuum elevator on club premises without getting the required permits.

Clark County public information officer Dan Kulin said the structure wasn't included in Privé’s original building plans. It also doesn't appear in fire department records.

A functional mechanical and decorative notion borrowed from Opium Group’s boutique Miami nightclub Set, the elevator serves as a go-go booth. The sleek, cylindrical tube soars up from the center of the VIP booth that surrounds it. Privé’s theatrical lift is said to have been installed in the days after the club passed fire inspections in late 2007. The elevator was subsequently never tested or approved by the county or state.

Press photos of Privé have prominently featured the “performer lift” since the club’s opening, yet it went unnoticed and unauthorized for two years. The violation was possibly discovered as a result of the slew of inspections required for Privé to reopen Friday night for celebrity guest DJ Jermaine Dupri's performance.

“The electricity has been cut off to the lift,” said Kulin, which he said fits the definition of an elevator as defined by Nevada Revised Statute 455C.060. It cannot be used until it has finally been approved by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry’s Division of Industrial Relations’ mechanical unit and also by the county Department of Development Services’ building division.

The violation was issued in accordance with NRS 455C.110 and NRS 455C.120. Though Friday’s notice of violation does not come with a fine, Kulin said the $150 tab for the county’s investigation has been passed on to Privé for reimbursement.

The subject of Privé’s new ownership and management is slated for further discussion on Sept. 1 at the next regular meeting of the Clark County Commission. At the last meeting, on Aug. 18, commissioners disagreed with Department of Business License director Jacqueline Holloway's recommendation to award Privé a 90-day temporary. The commission instead allowed just the one-month license until it could hear from Planet Hollywood and Metro.

Request for comment from Planet Hollywood was not immediately returned. Opium Group said it had "no comment."