CLEVELAND — It’s the end of an era for the Frozen Daiquiri Bar and Restaurant in Downtown Cleveland.
“We are working to shut down the crime in the city no matter what the reason is or what the cause is, and what we knew was that that building and that area was the center of these issues,” said Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin.
An open sign that once lit up is now permanently dimmed at what used to be the Frozen Daiquiri Bar and Restaurant on Bolivar Road in Downtown Cleveland.
“Just since last year, we had 10 incidents of situations where the police had to be called,” said Griffin.
Now, Griffin said police responding to incidents will no longer be a problem after he said he received an email from the building’s owner last Thursday informing him of the bar’s permanent closure.
“We have an all-government approach where we want to make sure Downtown is safe, so we work with the police department, the fire department, the health department to finally shut down the Daiquiri bar,” said Griffin.
Body camera video News 5 received from Cleveland Police on Monday shows officers responding to what authorities said was a call for a shooting outside of the bar that left a 24-year-old man dead in December 2024.
RELATED: Cleveland police investigating fatal daiquiri bar shooting
“Somebody got shot out here,” said one 911 caller. “We need an ambulance quick and police ASAP.”
Then, earlier in April of that same year, authorities said a similar incident happened, where two people were shot inside the bar and restaurant.
RELATED: 2 injured in Downtown Cleveland bar shooting
News 5 recently reached out to Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz for information, and he told us there aren’t any updates or arrests for the December murder investigation.
Meanwhile, the owner, James Cleveland, shared an Instagram post over the weekend of an email screenshot from December 30 that pointed to his willingness to come to an agreement to make some changes and even agree on a date for closing Frozen Daiquiri Bar, just two days after the shooting.
He even shared an Instagram comment that said, “what you (have) seen on the news is not a reflection of the business. But people targeting an individual as stated who is not a criminal, felon, or a person causing any crimes or violence.”
“The daiquiri was just a source of and a center of complaints, shootings, homicides,” said Griffin. “We want to support all businesses that run a good operation. We didn’t think this was one of them.”
We reached out to the owner for an interview, but he has yet to respond back to our request.
In the meantime, Cleveland shared on Instagram that he is in the process of selling his business and encourages anyone interested to contact him.
