Indie rock club 4040, which University real estate officials brought to campus less than two years ago, has moved out of the Rotunda on Walnut Street and reopened downtown.
The club, run by R5 Productions, moved to the Rotunda in January after vacating 4040 Locust Street because of neighborhood noise complaints. It shared the space at the 40th and Walnut location with the Foundation, a student-run non-profit group that supports community arts.
For the time being, the club is temporarily staging shows at the First Unitarian Church at 21st and Chestnut streets.
University and Foundation officials said that the move will be beneficial for all parties, and that R5 Productions left on good terms.
But others feel that the situation may not have been so friendly.
College sophomore Michael Saretsky -- who frequented 4040 and plays in a band that was slated to perform there -- said he received an e-mail from the R5 listserv this summer saying that after Sept. 1, the club would stop doing shows on Walnut Street. The e-mail mentioned disagreements with the University, Saretsky said.
Saretsky also told of how he found a note on the Rotunda door this summer stating, "Due to politics with Penn, the... show has been cancelled." He said he believed the note had been posted by R5.
4040 co-owner Sean Agnew did not return repeated calls for comment.
"I think it's a bad thing," Saretsky said of the venue closing. "The venue itself was pretty nice.... They really had eclectic music."
But Tom Lussenhop, a University real estate official, said it was the quality of 4040 -- and of the Rotunda -- that resulted in its move.
"The demand for eclectic, off-campus, all-aged music and other cultural performances was so great we couldn't accommodate everyone in one theater," Lussenhop said.
The University helped bring 4040 to campus in 2000 as an alcohol-free social alternative.
Foundation program director Andrew Zitcer said that locating 4040 in the Rotunda was never a long-term solution, since the schedules of the Foundation and the indie club would have conflicted and limited both organizations.
"It was a temporary situation from the get-go," Zitcer said.
He said 4040's short stay at the Rotunda was possible because the Foundation's schedule was winding down at the end of last semester.
College sophomore Peter Bloom, Saretsky's bandmate, said he thought 4040 was "having issues" with the University, in that Penn was fickle with scheduling availability at the Rotunda.
"It was just becoming inconvenient to have that space to do everything [4040] wanted to do," he said.
Lussenhop said that the Rotunda couldn't accommodate both of the burgeoning art and music scenes.
"We need to serve the students' demands first," he said.
Asked about a permanent location for 4040, Lussenhop responded, "I hope by the new year we'll have settled on a final location."
"I think they're looking to start their own, more professional club," Zitcer said. "I hope that they're going to stay in West Philly."
Lussenhop emphasized the fact that the University, the owners of 4040 and Foundation coordinators came to a mutual understanding about the club's move.
"Sean is a successful music entrepreneur and represents just the kind of impresario we'd like to incubate and see go on to be successful," Lussenhop said.
Students seem optimistic about the music scene here in spite of the club's trouble finding a permanent location.
"I have a feeling it's just going to pop back up," Bloom said. "I don't think independent music has been set back that much."
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