Can Can Room owner wants webcam business in former strip club
The owner of the shuttered Can Can Room wants to open a webcam business in the former Las Vegas strip club.
But even if he lands county approval, his landlord says the Can Can Room’s lease would not allow for that kind of operation.
Sam Aldabbagh, whose decades-old strip joint saw its business license revoked last year, has filed plans to rent out private studios for live streaming in the former club at 3155 Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, just west of the Strip behind the under-construction Resorts World Las Vegas.
He also wants a studio centered around a stage that would let “aspiring and professional exotic dancers” create dance videos for personal or commercial use, according to county records.
The business would span about 4,200 square feet inside and feature a dance platform area and seven private studios, county documents say. It would not be open to the public.
Clark County commissioners are scheduled to consider the proposal Wednesday on appeal, following a denial early last month by Nancy Amundsen, director of the county’s comprehensive planning department.
The new business plan comes after the Can Can Room’s new landlord, The Siegel Group, sued Aldabbagh last year, claiming he ran an illegal brothel there and refused to vacate the property.
Aldabbagh’s legal team has said in court papers the landlord made “a slew of horrendous allegations” without evidence and sought to “unjustly terminate” his lease.
Aldabbagh – whose name also has been spelled as AlDabbagh and Aldabagh – did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
Michael Crandall, senior vice president at The Siegel Group, said county approval for the proposed new business would be “irrelevant.”
Under Aldabbagh’s lease, he said, only a strip club can operate in the Can Can Room’s space.
“It 100 percent does not allow for this,” Crandall said.
Siegel Group founder Steve Siegel, whose other holdings include the Siegel Suites chain of low-priced apartments, acquired the 62,000-square-foot commercial building that housed the Can Can Room and other tenants last May.
After the purchase, he spoke with the Review-Journal about his vision for turning the complex into a hub for eateries, and how he told the escort services there – operating on month-to-month leases in upstairs offices – that they had to move out.
His firm sued Aldabbagh through the property’s holding company Sept. 5, alleging he ran an “illegal business” there in violation of state law and his lease.
The lawsuit alleged, among other things, that dancers were required to engage in sex acts with Aldabbagh and customers, that he employed a madam who collected money from patrons for sex acts, and that the club had VIP rooms with beds where workers performed sex acts in exchange for compensation.
A judge later agreed to strike those allegations from the complaint, but his ruling did not prevent The Siegel Group from presenting evidence at trial of those claims.
The case remains open.
The Can Can Room’s business license was revoked Sept. 25. Aldabbagh appealed the decision, seeking judicial review. That also remains open.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
