WBJ: Anacostia waits on strip club buyer

Monday, July 27, 2009, 6:15am EDT

Eric Whitehead plans to open a jazz café, his first, next year, which would be audacious enough given the state of restaurants right now. But Whitehead plans to open his Jazz ‘N Soul Café in downtown Anacostia, on Shannon Place SE, where there is nary a place to eat dinner, much less listen to live music.

The idea is both sufficiently exciting and realistic that it has the support of the property’s developer, Four Points LLC, and Mayor Fenty’s economic development team, which awarded $1.1 million in tax increment financing to Four Points at the end of last year to help bring 11,000 square feet of new retail -- including Whitehead’s café -- to Anacostia.

Whitehead’s café is contingent, however, on his being able to sell a nude-dancing license, a vestige from a previous establishment he owned, Club Rendezvous.

Whitehead said he nearly sold the license for $1.4 million, but that the buyer, whom he did not name, backed out after failing to find an area that would welcome a strip joint. “Every time they attempt to move into a neighborhood, the community gets up in arms,” he said.

After the sale fell through, Whitehead asked a couple of banks for loans with no luck. He has a meeting with Four Points Tuesday to discuss next steps, but it’s safe to say the license could be had at a discount. “The TIF money came through but the rest of the money needs to come through,” he says. “I am just looking for an investor or a group of investors.”

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