Clubs’ landlord acquires NE sites

A landlord to nightclubs and strip clubs displaced by the baseball stadium in Southeast already has spent more than $8 million for property in a Northeast neighborhood where officials are debating whether to allow nude dancing clubs.

Robert Siegel bought one property last year near West Virginia Avenue and Mount Olivet Road in Northeast for $1.7 million through his company, 1352-1354 Corp. The seller, developer Winfield Sealander, more than quadrupled the $350,000 that he spent to buy the land in 2004, records show.

Critics of allowing strip clubs to move to Northeast say they’re concerned by such transactions.

“He’s a shrewd businessman. I can’t imagine he would devote this large amount of cash on just pure speculation. Someone must have given him the false hope that this is a done deal,” said Kathy Henderson, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 5.

Others have complained that at least one of roughly five proposed clubs would be too close to a church, food bank and day care center.

Mr. Siegel said yesterday that nobody from the D.C. government had consulted him before he decided to buy the properties.

“I’ve done this on my own,” he said. “In fact, I’ve had an absolute lack of D.C. government resources.

“I want to work with the community,” he said, adding that the clubs don’t attract crime and prostitution.

The D.C. Council today will consider legislation authored by council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, that would allow nude clubs, including homosexual clubs, that have been on the stadium site to relocate their liquor licenses to the area.

Mr. Graham yesterday said he plans to accept a proposal by council member Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat, to permit just two liquor-license transfers to the Northeast neighborhoods of Ivy City and Trinidad. However, more than one business can operate under a single liquor license at the same location.

“I think we’re really on the way to reducing the concerns in Ward 5,” Mr. Graham said. “I think it’s going to be far from a red-light district.”

Mr. Graham said he’s given no assurances to Mr. Siegel or any other club owners trying to move to the area that the District will approve a relocation.

“He might be making these investments for a lot of reasons,” Mr. Graham said of Mr. Siegel’s purchases. “I haven’t spoken to him. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t even know what’s going to happen here.”

Mr. Siegel said he’s not sure what he plans for the property at Mount Olivet and West Virginia, although he recently received several tenants, including operators of a homeless shelter and tool-and-machinery business.

Months after buying the property, Mr. Siegel paid $3.95 million to Karajoel LLC for a lot at 2046 West Virginia Ave. NE. He plans to lease the property to Ron Hunt, who had run the Nexus Gold club by the baseball stadium. He described Nexus Gold as a gentlemen’s club that had nude dancing.

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