ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) -A controversial business is returning to Roanoke under new management and a new name. A developer plans to reopen Gold and Silver Gentleman’s Club as Lust Gentleman’s Club.
Renovations are underway on the old strip club building on Franklin Road after the City of Roanoke granted a building permit to an applicant named Brent Jackson in late November.
The city’s zoning team determined that no special exemption permit will be required. The city says it will require valid Certificates of Occupancy for both the eating and drinking establishment and the adult entertainment establishment that will be located in the building.
Neighboring businesses say the building has sat empty for the last two years, and there are mixed feelings about the return of a strip club.
Julia Kern owns Roanoke Exchange and said she is a little concerned about the type of people the club may bring and the potential for drug and alcohol use there. She did not wish to appear on camera but told WDBJ7 that once she heard a strip club would be opening, she had a wooden fence and a locked door put up around the back door of her business, which is next to the strip club property.
Other businesses share Kern’s concerns and also worry about potential overflow into their parking lots.
However, others say more open businesses and fewer vacant buildings on the road are good for everyone.
“We kind of like to have buildings occupied on Franklin Road; we don’t like to see any vacancies. When you have vacancies on Franklin Road, theft tends to go up, and we have people messing with our cars and messing with our building,” said John DiLauro, who owns Transmissions America on Franklin Road. “It will bring more traffic through the area, which has a tendency to help business. It will help the Mexican restaurant, it will help us, because you have more people flowing through the area.”
DilLauro said his father opened Transmissions America on Franklin Road in the early 80s, so having a strip club just down the street is nothing new. He said as long as it is managed properly, he has no problem with it.
“You want to run it where the people going in and out of that business are respectable people. You don’t want any kind of issues where people are getting shot or stuff like that over there, and fights and stuff like that going on. So as long as it’s being run properly, we’re fine,” said DiLauro.
Multiple people living in nearby neighborhoods who did not wish to appear on camera told WBDJ7 on Wednesday they’re not happy a strip club will be near their homes again. They said it doesn’t fit in the area, and that previous iterations of the club were seedy.
The building on Franklin Road has a long history of being a strip club. It has previously been named Girls, Girls, Girls, Juice’s Exotic Cabaret, and the Gold and Silver Gentleman’s Club. In 1997, Girls, Girls, Girls Inc. was charged with facilitating unlawful exposure and obscenity and was fined $40,000. Back in 1965, a club called Papa Joe’s also caused major controversy in Roanoke for having topless Go-Go Dancers.
Virginia law allows strip clubs but prohibits full nudity.
So far, WDBJ7 has been unable to get in contact with Southwest Virginia Investments, which city records show as the business license for this property. An opening date for the new club has not yet been announced.
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