Adult-Club Owner Bids To Buy Showbox -- Deja Vu May Be Planning Move To Site

The owner of a national chain of nude dance clubs is bidding to buy the Showbox Building on First Avenue across from the Pike Place Market amid speculation he will establish a new adult-entertainment center in downtown Seattle.

Michael Lyons, an Olympia businessman who owns the Showbox, confirmed yesterday that Harry Mohney, owner of the Deja Vu strip clubs, has offered to buy the property. The sale is scheduled to close by the end of this month, Lyons said.

Lyons declined to disclose the selling price. However, Doug Hixson, property manager for Harbor Properties, which holds the master lease on the building, said he has been told it is $2.8 million.

Mohney, who is based in Lansing, Mich., could not be reached for comment.

"My understanding is that the property is being bought for investment purposes," said Lyons. He said it was "highly speculative" that Mohney would or could move a strip club into the Showbox, adding he didn't believe the property was zoned for adult entertainment.

"Nothing has been consummated. It is not a done deal. It could unravel just based on the fact the zoning is what it is," said Lyons.

However, Martha Lester, legislative analyst for the Seattle City Council who has been researching the Showbox's zoning, said Department of Construction and Land Use records indicate the building is categorized for retail and theater use and as a place of public assembly.

Department officials told her a topless dance club could fall within that wide definition. If so, a new owner would not come under the city's moratorium on new building and use permits for adult entertainment establishments.

Neighborhood reaction ran the gamut.

"That is really bad news. It sure doesn't sound like an upgrade to the neighborhood to me," said Peggy Ritchey, president of the Newmark Tower Homeowners Association in the high-rise condominium on Second Avenue, just east of the Showbox.

Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, said residents, business owners and the association have been working for years to clean up the Pike Street area near the public market.

"We don't want any changes in use patterns that take us backwards," she said. She added she had little solid information on what the sale would mean.

The pending sale comes as Deja Vu and an adjacent adult business at First and Pike, Fantasy Unlimited, are about to lose their leases in their current building owned by the Samis Land Co. Samis plans to redevelop the property of the late Sam Israel for retail and residential uses.

A local Deja Vu spokesman said he was told earlier to plan on moving the two businesses to a space above the Champ Arcade adult book and video store on First Avenue just north of the Samis property at First and Pike. He has not heard differently, he said.

Purchase of the Showbox, however, would appear to open another possibility for locating Deja Vu, though Hixson said Harbor Properties holds the lease until January 1999. He said he has not been contacted by Mohney or Mohney's representatives about trying to break the lease.

"When Harbor took over the master lease (in 1984), one of our things was to move the porn out and move in other forms of retail business. The Comedy Club was in there and now it is a music club. We prefer to see other forms of retail and residential uses ideally," said Hixson.

Hixson said Harbor Properties, developer of the nearby Harbor Steps West and East apartment complex, has invested more than $1 million in upgrading the Showbox Building. Before Harbor took over the lease, the building used to house the Amusement Center peep show and the Temple of Venus, which featured live sex acts.

The Showbox now is home to two restaurants, a vintage clothing store and the Showbox theater, which has hosted music groups ranging from Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to Elvis Costello and Los Lobos.

While many voiced concern over the Showbox Building's future, Shelly Yapp, executive director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority said there could be a "net gain" if Deja Vu and the other adult businesses moved to the Showbox site.

That would enhance the chances of First and Pike, the key corner leading into the market, being fully redeveloped, she said.