• discussions >
• Front Room

Judge to neighbors: Strip club can expand

samsung1

Ohio

Platinum Plus celebrated the ruling at its grand opening Thursday

A renovated strip club in east Allentown had something to celebrate at its porn-star-studded opening Thursday night — a judge ruled the club can expand despite neighbors' objections.

Platinum Plus, which replaced Erv's Ladies and Gentlemen's Club on Airport Road, has been tied up in a legal battle since April when it won Allentown's approval to triple in size and stay open until 2 a.m.

The neighbors went to court to overturn the city's ruling, but Lehigh County Judge J. Brian Johnson on Tuesday rejected their appeal, saying the city zoners ruled appropriately.

The decision came just in time for the club's grand opening party Thursday hosted by famed adult film star Ron Jeremy, with an appearance by award-winning porn actress Stormy Daniels.


Platinum Plus is bringing a "face-lift" to the adult industry in Allentown, said owner Ken Wood, who lives in South Carolina and owns 15 other clubs.

That's little consolation to the neighbors involved in the lawsuit. They refused to talk about the case but admitted they are glad it's over.

They just wanted the club to close at midnight, said Dennis Pearson, who heads the East Allentown Rittersville Neighborhood Association, which was a party to the case.

"We don't want to become a recognized night-time district," Pearson said.

In his ruling, Johnson said because Platinum Plus was replacing an existing strip club that has had an agreement with the city since 1993, stricter laws passed last year to limit adult-use clubs to a midnight curfew don't apply. The club can expand to 15,000 square feet because of those previous agreements and because that won't bring it any nearer to a residential neighborhood, he wrote.

"I'm not surprised," Pearson said. "But it's something the neighbors wanted to try."

The legal battle was mired in allegations of deceit, namely that a competing strip club was footing the neighbors' court costs.

Neighbors said they didn't know who was actually paying for legal fees — only that it was a "third-party benefactor."

When the judge demanded to know, Brian Segel, a Realtor who helped secure a property for another soon-to-open club, said he was paying for attorney William Malkames to represent the neighbors.

Segel helped Josh Kesler and a silent partner acquire a Lehigh Street property that was once home to Scarlet's Grand International and will soon feature Savannah's on Hannah, described as an upscale topless lounge.

The judge's ruling is good news for Platinum Plus, whose attorney credited the victory to honesty.

"My clients will continue operating just as they always have, and that is by being open and honest about their intentions and developing strong relationships within the community that they chose to establish their business," said attorney Matthew Croslis of Allentown.

Now, the weary residents who have fought for years to prevent the proliferation of nightclubs in their east Allentown neighborhood, will probably drop the case, Pearson said.

"I don't think we're going forward," he said.

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-al…