MILWAUKEE COUNTY

No good spot for strip club in downtown Milwaukee, business group says

Mary Spicuzza, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This site on N. Old World 3rd St. has been considered for a strip club.

A group of downtown business leaders says it "cannot in good conscience" recommend a location for a strip club in the heart of the city.

The downtown Milwaukee Business Improvement District was asked for recommendations for alternate locations last week following a contentious three-hour long Licensing Committee hearing at City Hall about the strip club, the "Executive Lounge," proposed for 730 N. Old World 3rd St.

After that meeting, Beth Weirick, the BID's chief executive officer, said business leaders were working on a list of potential locations.

But the group said Monday that it can't recommend a good location for a strip club downtown.

"We never understood that a viable location was constrained to rigid geographic boundaries that the gentlemen's club operators have since established," the BID said in a statement. "We have discussed this request with our property owners and tenants and cannot in good conscience recommend a downtown location that would not be subject to adverse secondary effects."

The group noted that it has opposed five applications over the last five years for a strip club at the proposed location. It described the recent "revival of Wisconsin Avenue," and noted that if the city approves the Old World 3rd St. location, it will do so over the objections of the new owners of the Shops of Grand Avenue, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, thousands of residents and others.

"A gentlemen's club has no place in the renaissance of Wisconsin Avenue," the BID said.

The group also urged city leaders to zone appropriate locations for strip clubs.

"We reiterate our plea for an effective, permanent solution that only zoning changes can bring," the group wrote.

The debate over possible locations comes as the Old World 3rd St. plan stalled again last week, with the licenses committee deciding to hold the matter without a yes-or-no recommendation.

Ald. Tony Zielinski has said the issue is scheduled to go before the Licenses Committee again May 8.

Repeated attempts have been made to open a strip club at the location, which was previously Rusty's Old 50.

If the Common Council ultimately agrees to grant the license to the Executive Lounge, strip club owners would drop their lawsuits filed against the City of Milwaukee over past efforts to block opening clubs downtown, under agreements club owners signed earlier this month.

Under the deals, club owners would drop their lawsuits without costs to either party, and city officials would agree to not enact legislation that "substantially burdens" the operation of a strip club for six years. The city would not, for example, designate a minimum room size in which erotic dancers perform, nor would they require the dancers to remain at a certain distance from patrons while performing, require them to perform on a stage, or prohibit any touching, other than touching that is already prohibited by state law, the agreements say.

The agreements involve Six Star Holdings LLC, Boardroom Entertainment MKE LLC and Roaring 20's Management LLC. All three groups have previously sought to open clubs downtown.

Last year, city officials approved a nearly $1 million payment to Silk Exotic due to the years-long fight over opening a location downtown.

The owners of the new "Executive Lounge" club would include Silk owners Joseph Modl, Scott Krahn and Radomir Buzdum.

Silk's Craig Ploetz would serve as the head of operations for the downtown club.

Jon Ferraro of Silk was indicted in California in 2015 as part of a sprawling racketeering case targeting the Russian mob, according to a federal cellphone tracking warrant that was briefly unsealed. His name is not listed as an owner of the new club.