WHATELY — Club Castaway will remain closed as the prospective new owners withdrew their license transfer application two hours before the April 13 Select Board meeting.
HC Entertainment, the Boston-based applicant, sent a letter to the Select Board at 4 p.m. that day declaring “it wished to withdraw” its application, according to Town Administrator Brian Domina. Attorney Tom Lesser of Lesser, Newman, Aleo & Nassar submitted the email on HC Entertainment’s behalf.
“It indicated the prospective owners wished to withdraw,” Domina said at the meeting. “There’s not much to talk about at this point.”
Lesser could not be reached for comment by press time.
The Select Board meeting was supposed to be a continuation of a public hearing held Feb. 23, as HC Entertainment sought a transfer of Club Castaway’s liquor license and the issuance of a new adult entertainment license. HC Entertainment was represented by Alexander Cwiakala and Harrison Bonner, co-founders of Wollaston Real Estate Investments, and head bartender Paula Andrea at the February meeting.
A call to a number listed for Cwiakala was not returned.
At the February meeting, the Selectboard raised questions about HC Entertainment’s experience in managing an adult entertainment business.
Wednesday’s discussion was supposed to involve Police Chief James Sevigne as HC Entertainment presented its security plan and employee training protocols for the club.
With the withdrawal of the application, Club Castaway, Franklin County’s only strip club, will remain closed for the foreseeable future. The club was purchased in 2019 by East Boston businessmen Nick Spagnola and Julius Sokol and has been closed since the state issued an emergency order to close nonessential businesses in March 2020.
Before the pandemic, the club had been in operation under its new ownership for a few months. In June 2021, Spagnola said he was “working on a plan to reopen.”