Topless club stirs fears

The Runway, planned near the airport and RTP, is viewed with dismay by some would-be neighbors

RALEIGH -- Add a topless bar to the list of businesses planned for the city's northwest corner.

Presuming that legal action does not stop it, The Runway will open in the spring of 2009 on Mount Herman Road, minutes from Raleigh-Durham International Airport and not far from Research Triangle Park, where more than 39,000 people work. It would be the first adult-themed nightclub to open in Raleigh since 1992.

"It was long overdue," said Phong Nguyen, one of The Runway's owners.

But not everyone is happy with his plans.

Nguyen had a major victory late last month over neighboring businesses when three judges with the N.C. Court of Appeals reinstated a special permit granted nearly two years ago by the Raleigh Board of Adjustment. Area business owners, including those from the Angus Barn steakhouse, had sued in March 2006 to try to stop the club from opening.

The last topless club to get permission from the city to install poles was Thee Dollhouse, which opened in 1992 and is now operating as The Men's Club of Raleigh on Yonkers Road.

"It's sad for our city," Van Eure, Angus Barn's owner, said about The Runway. "You wouldn't expect to see that right at the entrance of the city."

David L. York, a Raleigh lawyer who represented the objecting neighbors, said he's still evaluating whether to ask the N.C. Supreme Court to review the case.

If he does, he has a week to do so.

Nguyen said he flew in an architect from South Florida this month to draw up plans for the $2.7 million, 10,000-square-foot nightclub. Now, a few abandoned buildings sit on the property, and he plans to tear them down and build a two-story entertainment complex.

He wants to fashion it after nightclubs in cities such as Miami and plans to offer a higher caliber of entertainment than typically found in roadside topless bars.

"It's more of a show as opposed to just a topless club," said Nguyen, an emergency room physician living in Raleigh. "The idea here is to appeal to an upscale audience."

Nguyen embarked on the project, the first he's ever tackled, because he felt there was a need, with only four or five other similar businesses operating in the area. Raleigh has tried to pitch itself as a destination for visitors, and the city's convention center is slated to open downtown next year. The club will also be minutes from the airport and near Research Triangle Park.

Dennis Edwards, the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, said most major cities that attract conventions also have the type of entertainment Nguyen plans to offer.

"There is always an element of some convention delegates that are looking for that type of entertainment," he said.

But he doesn't plan to add the club to the brochures.

"I don't view it as a deterrent, but I don't think it's something we'll actively promote," Edwards said.

But Nguyen's promises of a trouble-free crowd have not eased the worries of his neighbors, including Terry Overton, the owner of Triangle Coatings Inc., a property adjacent to the club's proposed site.

"It brings money, and it brings sex, and what follows that? Drugs," Overton said. "It's a snowball running downhill is what it is."

Eure said two adult bookstores are already near her restaurant, and she worries that having three sex-related businesses as neighbors will reflect badly on her restaurant, which is highly regarded in culinary circles.

Angelina Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives, which represents 1,200 gentlemen's clubs, said resistance is common in midsized or smaller cities. The more rural an area, the more difficulty club owners encounter, she said.

Much of the resistance is based on unfounded fears that if a club opens, it will attract unsavory patrons and become a haven for outcasts, she said.

"The reason that a club would be coming to town is that there's a market for it," she said. "It's not just perverts and geeks. Perverts and geeks can't support the industry."

(EXPRESS YOURSELF ABOUT THE CLUB: What do you think about a new gentlemen's club in the Triangle? Share your opinion at share.triangle.com/club.)

(News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)