4040 club to move; neighbors approve

By the end of October, the indie rock club at 4040 Locust Street will be packing up for relocation, and it's fair to say that a number of residents on the block will be more than relieved. 4040, whose present location was meant to be temporary since its opening, will be moving "about two blocks away at the most," according to co-owner Sean Agnew. University officials would not release the exact location of the club's future home. Students living near 4040 said last night that they were relieved that the club will be moving, citing problems with noise, trash and loitering concertgoers that have plagued the area since the club's opening last spring. Agnew said that despite noise complaints, the club's popularity has soared, with the last three shows selling out and advanced ticket sales on the rise. And according to Tom Lussenhop, the University's top real estate official, "Hundreds of people have supported it. Lots and lots of students go to the shows, so I assume they're happy with it." In response to noise complaints, Agnew had reported plans to install a theater curtain to reduce the noise level last March. But the plans fell through because it would have cost "several tens of thousands of dollars more than we thought," Agnew said. Instead, guards have been placed by the door since the end of April to prohibit people from entering and exiting while bands are playing, Agnew said. "Since that point, there have been little or no noise complaints," Agnew said. He added that if the new location is in a residential area, a curtain will be installed. College senior Joanna Kasirer, who said she feels neutral about 4040 and its plan to relocate, agreed that the noise level has decreased. "We actually haven't heard anything this past week. Recently, it's been pretty calm." However, according to one resident who lived on Locust Street this summer, "It's been very loud. I don't think the noise has decreased." Besides being unhappy with reportedly loud noise at night, residents on 40th and Locust have complained about harassment from concertgoers, loitering and trash left in the street. "Students come at about 10 a.m. and stay till the concert and they make a mess. I don't understand why they're there all day," said a Wharton senior on the block, who wished to remain anonymous. A household of College seniors, who also asked to remain anonymous, said they have called the police dozens of times in their two years of living on the street. "They [the concertgoers] sit on our stoop. They chain their bikes to the front bars of our house. They leave beer bottles, food and bags in front of our house. This is a residential street, and is supposed to be a safe place, and we feel scared walking home at night." But residents who are upset have emphasized that they are not against the club itself -- but its location. "The club is a great place; it's just the location that's not appropriate. Penn students need to study," one student said. "If there are people in the neighborhood who don't like it, [4040] should go somewhere else," nearby resident and College senior Jeremy Lawson said

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