With the demolition of the University Square starting this summer, the student bar scene in the University Avenue area will be affected by the loss of Madhatter's.

The popular student nightspot will be forced to change locations or close indefinitely when the aging shopping complex is leveled to make room for a high-rise development of university services, private housing and more.

While many tenant businesses in the University Square complex have either found alternate sites or have chosen to close their doors, Madhatter's continues to search for a viable downtown location.

"We are aggressively looking all over, mostly on State Street," Madhatter's manager Becky Fichtner said.

Because Madhatter's has been located at the University Square since 1986, and is an important component of campus nightlife, the bar's management staff wants to maintain that regular crowd, according to Fichtner.

"I think that one thing that makes our bar stand out a lot from the other bars is that we have a huge regular crowd," she said. "Wherever we relocate, we want to make sure it has the same feel as the old Madhatter's."

Madhatter's has been the focus of some controversy in the past due to criticism from city officials and organizations about its drink specials.

Some believe that Madhatter's aggressive promotions contribute to a binge-drinking culture on campus.

"I don't want to pick on Madhatter's necessarily, but there is a density of taverns in the downtown area that promote excessive drinking," said Susan Crowley, director of the Policy Alternatives Community Education project.

PACE — a campus and community coalition — is dedicated to reducing the culture that promotes high-risk drinking.

"I'd like to see it relocate without the drink specials," Crowley added.

The change of locations would require a city review of Madhatter's liquor license, where the issue of drink specials could be debated.

Madhatter's would need to present a new location to the city before a modified liquor license could be issued, but Ald. Austin King, District 8, added the change may not take long.

"The [city's Alcohol License Review Committee] tends to expedite change of license applications," King said, referring to the bar's summer demolition deadline.

King added one concern held by city officials is the current density of bars in the University Avenue corridor, which receives frequent police calls on the weekends.

Madhatter's has not been singled out as a greater contributor to public disturbances than neighboring bars, but King added the density of drinking venues on University Avenue is of concern to city leaders.

"It's hard to distinguish between various bars because they tend to lead to a high density of people flowing out into the streets in the early morning," he said.

King further stressed he hopes Madhatter's chooses a less saturated area downtown if it chooses to move.

While there is a possibility of Madhatter's retaining a location at the University Square after redevelopment, the project is slated to take three years to complete, and the idea of building a different bar at this location still has support, according to King.

"That's up to the folks who own the building," he said. "I would support a new liquor license in the University Square development so long as they have a good business plan."