With a reported relaunch in the fall with a new name, Babes Cabaret has yet to apply for any building permits. But a city official said that if and when it does, the city could have a chance to shut the strip club.
"I will certainly vote to do so," Scottsdale Councilman Robert W. Littlefield told XBiz, noting that his staff is researching legal options, anything to “trigger a legal event.”
Littlefield also said that because the club serves liquor, all dancers must wear pasties over their nipples. That alone could pose problems for the club if it were to stream video over the Internet.
“There is absolutely no way that the club could get a conditional use permit to operate with nudity,” he said, noting that the adult star has yet to sign any legal papers with Scottsdale or the state relative to the club’s ownership.
Jameson and officials from her ClubJenna company did not return calls to XBiz on Wednesday, but an earlier report claimed the club would finish renovations in late September or early October.
One report included that Jameson, husband Jay Grdina and a third partner plan to include or merge the ClubJenna brand with Babes Cabaret.
Jameson and Grdina founded Scottsdale, Ariz.-based ClubJenna five years ago. The couple lives in nearby Paradise Valley, Ariz.
Jameson, in a previous interview, said her goal is to improve Babes Cabaret, attracting a high-end clientele of both men and women.
"It will be a first-class club — cleaner, nicer, invariably drawing a higher-end crowd," she said at the time, noting that she was "super excited" about purchasing the Scottsdale club.
"It will be our first Club Jenna strip club … so watch out!" Jameson said. "Hopefully it will be the first of many to come."
Babes Cabaret is less than a half mile from the planned ASU Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation, the centerpiece of the city's revitalization efforts.
Residential neighbors of the area say they feel let down because Scottsdale officials have promised to improve their area after years of neglect.
“That's not what we thought of when they said ‘revitalization,’” said Lisa Haskell, a neighborhood activist who lives near the strip club. “I'm just not sure what their vision is. Babes was fine, but do we really want a new-and-improved one in a revitalization area?”
Littleton echoes that point of view. “This is an area we’ve been fighting [for revitalization] for years,” he said.