City Winery will be closing its Ivy City location after the end of this year and will be looking to relocate within D.C.

A City Winery spokesperson shared the following statement from City Winery CEO and founder Michael Dorf:

“While we have tried hard since 2018 to be part of the resurgence of Ivy City, in particular, the development of Okie Street around the Hecht Warehouse area, we need to be responsible to our staff, customers and the many musicians regarding their safety. It is difficult enough operating a cultural facility in a challenging economic environment, but when the neighborhood puts so many at risk, it makes it impossible to operate. We very much love Washington DC and will be announcing a new location in the coming year.”

The venue will be open until Jan. 1 and will be issuing refunds to anyone who bought tickets for shows after that date, according to the spokesperson. Employees received an open invitation to apply to work at other City Winery locations, per Dorf, the CEO. He says five D.C. managers have already transferred to locations in other cities.

Locals, however, have criticized the City Winery CEO’s characterization of the neighborhood. Many point to the lack of nearby Metro access in the area as the real reason for the lack of business. Others have said that Dorf is relying on the unsafe neighborhood narrative as a “cop out,” and that the company is glossing over other issues like turnover rates.

Dorf tells DCist/WAMU the winery has had significant turnover, but mostly attributes this issue to a pandemic-era labor drought and crime. Dorf says that in 2018 he met with the landlord — Douglas Development — and local business owners to try to “enhance” the Okie Street block and surrounding area. Their vision, he says, didn’t come to fruition.

“We have seen an increase of violent crime,” Dorf says. “We have seen a real increase in the velocity of intimidation to people walking right on the block in front of us.”

He says staff and customers have been attacked physically, had their cars broken into regularly, and that the combination of local police and the venue’s own security isn’t enough to thwart the offenders. The winery has had difficulty booking artists and weddings in recent months, and loses more than $1 million annually, Dorf adds.

Dorf says he liked the idea of opening City Winery in an “edgy” neighborhood, but expected the area to eventually become a safer, popular business district. He stressed that he doesn’t want people to interpret the decision to close or complaints about crime as being related to race.

“We do have a heavy R&B focus, you know? Our staff are predominantly Black and Hispanic,” Dorf says. “We’re very much a woke, cool, integrated company with a very open mind to music and humanity, and we pride ourselves on that.”

In Ivy City, and particularly in the area directly surrounding City Winery, crime rates have remained relatively steady over the last four years. Violent crimes were down compared to the previous four years, at 214 compared to 282. Property crimes were slightly up, at 1,087 compared to 954. Theft from cars, which Dorf cited to DCist/WAMU, is up 399 to 345.

Between 2018 and 2021, the city as a whole saw a sharp uptick in homicides and other types of violent crime – last year’s homicide total was the highest since 2003. This year, however, homicides are down 10% year over year so far.

“While we know that we are making progress, we are sensitive to the reality that some of our residents and business owners may feel anxious about violence occurring in our city and across the nation,” D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue said in a statement to DCist/WAMU. “We are currently making every effort to engage the ownership of City Winery so we may work in tandem to identify potential strategies to further prevent incidents of violence in the Ivy City community where possible and reduce feelings of anxiety.”

Ivy City has changed rapidly over the past decade. City Winery is surrounded by restaurants, such as Ivy City Smokehouse and Gravitas, Republic Restoratives distillery, and Other Half Brewing Co. (J. Peter Loftus, the smokehouse’s general manager has publicly criticized the management at City Winery, tweeting that the venue “failed due to their own negligence and had no community outreach with Ivy City.”)

There’s also a Planet Fitness, a luxury apartment development, a Mom’s Organic Market, and a men’s shelter nearby.

The 40,000-square-foot, four-floor City Winery opened in 2018 with limited hours and private events in the former Dream/Love nightclub. In 2019, the winery opened its rooftop garden to the public and became known for its jazz, funk, and R&B concerts, comedy shows, and wine and food offerings. The New York-based winery chain has locations in more than a dozen locations across the U.S. The D.C. location closed temporarily in July 2020 due to the pandemic, but reopened in September 2021.

City Winery was in the news earlier this year, when it was revealed a man who was charged with a string of attacks on unhoused residents in D.C. — and suspected of similar crimes in New York — had been an employee at the Ivy City location. A grand jury in September returned a 17-count indictment against Gerald Brevard III related to the D.C. shootings, with charges including first-degree murder and aggravated assault while armed. Brevard pleaded not guilty in October and the case is ongoing.

This story has been updated with comments from City Winery CEO Michael Dorf and a statement from Interim Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Kevin Donahue.