Adult entertainment district may be coming to the Flats
Posted on June 26, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Cleveland is looking into developing three acres of the West Bank of the Flats into an adult entertainment district in an effort to get Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club to move there from the East Bank of the Flats.
The two block adult entertainment district would run southwest from the corner of Center Street and Merwin by the red turning bridge. Diamond Men’s Club is already located in that area and would be part of the new district. The Hustler Club would move into the old Crooked River Brewing Company building which is mostly vacant but currently houses the Pizza and Calzone Company. There are also rumors the Stage 2 strip club would move into the district from its current location on Superior Avenue.
Scott Wolstein plans to redevelop the East Bank of the Flats into a multi use neighborhood but needs the Hustler Club to move in order to make that happen.
Some people near the proposed adult entertainment district are upset about the move, including the developers of Stonebridge condominiums. But Diamonds is already there and the master plan for Stonebridge calls for more condos just a block away from Christie’s — another strip club on the East Bank.
Development is good for the area, even if it is turning abandoned buildings into strip clubs. It will bring people and money into the area and into the city. A crowd leaving a strip club is not going to be any more rowdy than a crowd leaving another bar or club. There’s an adult store and a strip club in the Warehouse District and that hasn’t hurt development there. Having The Circus on the East Bank of the Flats didn’t stop the Flats from hitting its peak in the early 1990s. A gay bathhouse in Ohio City hasn’t stopped $450,000 townhouses from being built across the street.
Some have complained that people walking in a nearby park will be able to see the strip club. So what? It’s a building. The strippers are dancing on the inside of the club, not the outside. You’re not going to be exposed to anything you don’t want to be if you’re just passing by.
Downtowns should be a mix of people and businesses — some of which you may not like. It’s what makes being downtown and living downtown unique and different. If you want to live in a fake, cookie cutter ‘downtown’, move to Crocker Park.
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A bold moved to make considering that whole “strippers must dance at least six feet away from the patrons” bill (which I STILL don’t get.). Hey, at least Cleveland+ will have something new to market…except to the Cincinnati area.
I have one question though: when will the Mayor Jackson show as much concern for the CMSD? If you want to create a truly sustainable city, you need to work on the school district and the mayor does have in hand in that.
I think that’s a great question. None of us will see our downtown home values rise until meaningful reform happens in the Cleveland school districts, which by all normal measures are completely abysmal. New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. all learned that and are investing intensively in their schools.