Gentleman’s club proposed inside historic building

An Edmonton company is looking to build a gentleman’s club in one of the city’s oldest historic buildings.

Two months after condo owners at New Cambridge Lofts circulated a petition and stopped a strip club from being built in the bottom level of their building, the same club owners have moved their application across the alley to the Canada Permanent Building downtown.

A restaurant located inside the building has left, and Crazy Horse Gentleman’s club Ltd. wants to move in.

The 114-year-old structure was once the Alberta headquarters of the Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation of Toronto.

News of the new application is getting mixed reviews from some of the people who work in the area.

“It would be good for business in terms of cigar sales,” said Kajlil Somji, an employee at Golden Oaks Cigars located next door to the building. “But in terms of the type of clientele it would bring; I’m not sure how I would feel about that. I don’t know if it would be good for the area.”

One member of the New Cambridge Lofts’ Board of Directors is wary about the news.

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“Part of me is happy that we don’t have the share access to our home with this business,” said Kent Mckay, corporate secretary of the board. “But it is still really, really close to our condo; and it is in this beautiful, historic, class-A, provincially designated building.”

Alberta purchased the Canada Permanent Building in 1980 to save it from being demolished. The structure is now listed as an “A-list” historic building on the Registry of Historic Resources in Edmonton.

“With the new building I am more concerned about property values, and people taking care of the heritage building,” said Mckay.

Mckay downplayed the criticism that residents of Cambridge Lofts were adapting a “not in my back yard” attitude.

“That was one criticism that was levelled against us. I don’t think we’re nimbies, I think we are just concerned stakeholders,” he said. “We are not wanting our block to take any steps backward.”

“I think it would discourage a lot of the families that inhabit Churchill Square on special events and at festivals. I think it would affect our property values, and the overall security.

“This is a neighbourhood, and I think people overlook that. They just see it as a commercial core, which is very different from a residential area.”

The city has confirmed that they have received an application from the Crazy Horse Gentleman’s club, but are asking them to provide more information before the application can move forward.

Mckay says that residents of New Cambridge Lofts will wait for the new application process to run its course, but will file an appeal if the application is approved.