The owner of an adult magazine and video store in Northeast that was ordered shut down by D.C. officials earlier this month as an illegal “sexually oriented business” hopes to reopen by adding more mainstream services that would be marketed to homosexuals.
Robert Siegel, who owns the business, hopes to place an art gallery and exercise room at the building, which will also house pool and ping-pong tables, said Skip Coburn, executive director of the D.C. Nightlife Association and a spokesman for Mr. Siegel.
“He hasn’t yet been able to fully implement all the activities that he wants to have, like a community center or community-type building catering mainly to the [homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] community,” Mr. Coburn said. “He envisions having an Internet-cafe type thing, an area where people can come in and read magazines and exchange views.”
The District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) earlier this month revoked Mr. Siegel’s certificate of occupancy for the business, called 2120. The establishment was one of a number of businesses formerly located near the District’s new baseball stadium that catered to homosexuals.
A limousine company formerly housed at the site of Mr. Siegel’s business — at 2120 West Virginia Ave. — had been approved to use the building as office space.
But in a June 11 letter from DCRA Zoning Administrator Bill Crews to Mr. Siegel, Mr. Crews said Mr. Siegel’s certificate of occupancy was revoked because he failed to say that his building would be used for a “sexually oriented business” instead of office space when he took over the site.
The certificate is scheduled to be revoked today, according to the letter.
The business, called 2120, charges a $10 admission fee, sells adult movies and magazines catering to homosexuals and has a screen inside where patrons can preview the films. It does not sell alcohol.
Mr. Siegel referred questions to Mr. Coburn, who said Mr. Siegel also plans to work with city officials to ensure that his business is not “predominantly” sexually oriented so it can be housed at the building under city zoning regulations.
“Bob’s position is he doesn’t have a predominantly sexually oriented business, that having legal adult magazines and adult videos for sale does not make a business sexually oriented,” Mr. Coburn said. “That’s obviously open to everybody’s interpretation.”
The revamped business could still face an outcry by neighborhood residents, who opposed legislation sponsored by D.C. Council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, that would have allowed several strip clubs displaced from the site of the District’s new stadium to relocate their liquor licenses into Ward 5.
Community activist Kathy Henderson said residents and clergy are planning a rally at 2120 on Tuesday in support of the DCRA decision.
“He can try to reinvent himself into something that’s seemingly acceptable on paper, but we don’t want it,” she said.
The decision by DCRA came after staff from the office of D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat, visited 2120 and notified Mr. Crews that a sexually oriented business was operating at the site in violation of city zoning rules.
Mr. Thomas said yesterday that he was “pleased that the regulatory authorities have followed through with our initial investigation.”
“We have to be very careful that these businesses don’t interpret the law [in a way] that allows them to get around ABC laws,” he said.
The ordered shutdown also followed a compromise by Mr. Graham and Mr. Thomas that placed stipulations on where displaced clubs can relocate, including one amendment that says only two clubs can move to a single ward.
Mr. Siegel also owns at least one property that had been eyed for a relocated strip club, and Mr. Coburn said he expects one club to still be able to move to a Siegel-owned property on West Virginia Avenue in Northeast under the legislation.
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