A gentlemen’s club, known as the Gold Club and for a time, the Fantasia Lounge, has been permanently closed after being declared a criminal nuisance property.
The club on South Market Street, just outside of the city of Wilmington, had been temporarily closed after the Department of Justice filed a nuisance action against it in November 2015.
That filing came after activity in and around the property that included a homicide earlier that November.
The business reopened under the direct control of the property owner as the Fantasia Lounge, and remained open under a temporary abatement agreement executed in January 2016. The conditions of this agreement included a number of conditions, including improved security and not operating as a gentleman’s club.
On March 3, the Delaware State Police conducted an undercover investigation of the property and discovered numerous violations of the January court order and state law, according to a release from the Attorney General’s office.
Among the violations were the property being used as an adult entertainment establishment. Also , a security video surveillance system which monitors the parking lot, the entrance to the building and the interior of the building was not installed or operating.
The department went back to court on March 8 with a Motion for Contempt and Sanctions, asking for a permanent closure of the business.
A Final Abatement Order signed by Superior Court Judge Charles E. Butler on March 29, 2016 closes the doors for good and will not allow a business to be reopened in that location by any of the existing ownership without permission from the court. The business ceased operations on March 25.
“In our original complaint a few months ago, we noted police had been called to the property almost 240 times in four years,” said Attorney General Matt Denn. “The fact that the owners would continue, in the face of a court order, to operate in a way that promotes violence, drug activity, and other crime, emphasized the need for its permanent closure. I want to personally thank Deputy Attorneys General Stacey Stewart and Oliver Cleary for their hard work in leading to the closure.”
The property was known for years in law enforcement circles as a place frequented by people with outstanding warrants or probation violations.
A few years ago, a law was passed that allowed businesses declared to be nuisances to be shut down through a civil process.
