The Honolulu Liquor Commission suspended the liquor license of a popular downtown nightclub May 26 because of "chronic uncorrected" fire hazards due to overcrowding.

Under the suspension, SoHo Mixed Media Bar, at 80 S. Pauahi St., must stop serving alcohol for two weeks, beginning Wednesday.

The investigation into SoHo began in April 2010 when firefighters noticed overcrowding at the bar, said Honolulu fire Capt. Gary Lum, acting battalion chief of the department’s Fire Prevention Bureau. He said fire investigators visited the establishment at least four times last year and each time found the bar exceeding its maximum occupancy, sometimes by several hundred people.

"Mainly we’re concerned with the overcrowding aspect, meaning they’re admitting more customers than they’re permitted for," he said. He said firefighters are trying to prevent a large loss of life such as what happened at another nightclub on the mainland.

In 2003, 100 people died and more than 200 were hurt in a blaze that swept through the Station, a nightclub in Rhode Island, in about 10 minutes. There were about 440 people in the club when the fire broke out. That incident led the National Fire Protection Association to change its standards to require sprinklers in nightclubs with capacities over 100.

Under city law, SoHo must install an automatic fire sprinkler system to allow more than 299 people onto its premises, Lum said.

SoHo, which celebrated its second anniversary earlier this month, has a maximum occupancy of 49 because it is classified as a business. SoHo’s owner has been seeking to change the establishment’s classification to an assembly to bump its maximum occupancy closer to 1,000.

While inspecting the bar in April 2010, a fire investigator found about 370 people in the bar, and several other fire code violations such as failing to post the maximum occupancy and having obstructions in the exits. The investigator also cited the bar for not having exit signs, emergency exit lighting and fire extinguishers with current tags, according to Liquor Commission documents.

In follow-up visits, fire investigators found about 500 people in the club in May and 367 people in December, Lum said. An investigative report by the commission said a fire captain was concerned about "SoHo’s chronic uncorrected fire code and assembly violations which jeopardize the safety of patrons."

Last June, fire Capt. Terio Bumanglag wrote a letter to the fire chief saying that SoHo should not be allowed to continue operating "under these life safety hazardous conditions," commission documents said.

Lum said the Fire Department approached the Liquor Commission this year after the nightclub failed to correct its occupancy violations. The commission suspended the bar’s license May 26.

The bar’s owner is close to changing the bar’s classification to an assembly, which would increase the club’s maximum occupancy to 945, an official at the city Department of Planning and Permitting said.

Bar owner Daniel Gray said he didn’t realize the previous bar had so many building and fire code violations when he took over the lease. He invested about $300,000 in repairing the establishment and installing safety equipment and the sprinkler system, he said.

But he took the suspension in stride, saying he needed to close the bar to finish the safety renovations, which should allow him to change the bar’s classification to an assembly before he reopens. He is planning a grand opening when the bar reopens July 1.

It’s the second time in a year that the Fire Department has investigated a nightclub because of fire hazards. Pipeline Cafe closed in February after the owner decided not to retrofit the building with fire sprinklers.