JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville has ordered Mavericks to vacate the Jacksonville Landing "immediately" after videos of a brawl at the bar and concert venue spread through social media over the weekend.
Padlocks could be seen on the doors to the venue on Monday after the brawl took place sometime late Saturday night into early Sunday.
“Mavericks is done,” owner Darrin Kurtz told First Coast News Monday evening, speaking in the broader sense of whether he’ll continue the venue and concept elsewhere.
Businesses inside the Jacksonville Landing were given until June 7 to vacate the building. Mavericks had planned one more event – a country music sendoff – the evening of Thursday, June 6. But in the wake of the Saturday melee, the City of Jacksonville ordered an immediate shutdown, offering the following statement:
"The extension of time to June 7 was mainly offered for the purpose of moving out," a representative with the city said. "The city has padlocked the door. This holdover that extended until June 7 didn't authorize tenants to fail to meet their obligations."
In a phone call Monday afternoon, a City spokesperson clarified that the obligations unmet were regarding safety and security.
Kurtz told First Coast News that several accounts on social media about the incident were inaccurate.
“They said that there was no JSO, no security, a free-for-all, us letting people fight for three hours,” he said, then detailing the security measures he had taken, ones he said were typical of events at his establishment. “Four JSO officers, and we had 20 security members, between outside security we hired, internal security we work with, and the promotional team,” Kurtz said.
The concert where the fight took place started at 10 p.m. and ended after midnight.
Several videos circulating through social media show multiple angles of punches being thrown and others jumping in, but it's unclear if anyone was injured.
Local performers were on stage as the fight went on.
In the videos, someone is heard over the loudspeaker telling people to exit the building.
“A zoning lieutenant came up to me and asked if I would please just go ahead and shut the party down," Kurtz recalled. There was an hour to go, I shut it down immediately."
Kurtz acknowledged that a promoter’s decision to use advertisement posters reading “Drink or Drown” was regrettable. But he made it clear that he holds no hard feeling toward the City about its decision.
“The lieutenant actually walked up to me afterwards, thanked me, shook my hand, and said I did a great job with that,” he said.
Asked again whether another Mavericks or other venue is in his future, Kurtz appeared to qualify his earlier comment, saying he just wants to take a deep breath and let some time pass.
“The sad thing about all of this, at the end of the day, is that Mavericks is going out on a note like this,” he lamented.
First Coast News reached out to the concert promoter as well as the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, but has not received a response.
