Business leaders oppose strip club in downtown area

Group won’t recommend site

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.

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.