The Ladybug Club has applied for a license to add strippers to its existing location on North Water Street in downtown Milwaukee.
The application comes as the Milwaukee Common Council is grappling with a decision on whether or not to grant a group of operators a strip club license at a location on Old World Third Street downtown, facing enormous pressure from the business community which has vehemently opposed the idea.
Habib Mangee, owner of the Ladybug Club, also known as 618 Live on Water, submitted an application to add adult entertainment, strippers, exotic dancing and also amusement and comics to the club located in the Milwaukee Building at 622 N. Water St.
This is the first application the Ladybug Club has submitted requesting adult entertainment, said Molly Kuether-Steele, with the city’s Licensing Division. A date has not yet been set to review the application, Kuether-Steele said.
In 2013, the downtown nightclub had its license suspended because of violent incidents there.
Ladybug Club owners could not immediately be reached by email or phone for comment on this story.
Meanwhile, aldermen are still considering a proposal from three groups that want to open a strip club at 730 N. Old World Third St. in exchange for them dropping lawsuits against the city totaling more than $1 million. The club would be owned by Radomir Buzdum and Silk Exotic owners, Joe Modl and Scott Krahn. Silk Exotic owners and members of the Buzdum family have sued the city because their repeated attempts to open a downtown strip club have been denied.
But after hearing from more than a dozen downtown business owners at an April 17 hearing who opposed granting a license for the Old World Third strip club establishment, the matter was tabled. The Common Council is expected to review the matter again this month.
Alderman Robert Bauman, who represents downtown Milwaukee and previously cautioned that striking a deal with one strip club group would open the door for future operators to apply for strip club licenses, did not want to comment on the Ladybug Club license.
“I’m still processing this development,” Bauman said.
