New ‘Kingdom’ business opening put on hold
A new business, planned for the former strip club known as the Kingdom Gentlemen’s Club on Highway 160 and Homestead Road in Pahrump, has run into a delay as it seeks to open.
The project, spearheaded by Dr. Peter Shield, who is the new king of the “Kingdom” and is a retired international archaeologist, has been temporarily put on hold by the Nye County Building Department for code violations.
Shield had planned on opening his new antique mall/entertainment center, a place that focused entertainment for families and kids, in October.
Shield had already moved into the building when he got the bad news.
“All my things are there in the building,” he said. “Obviously I am upset, but I can see where both sides are coming from.”
The Nye County Planning Department told the owners of the property that they were in violation of two main building codes.
“The main code they are in violation of is the one governing parking lots,” Steve Osborne, Nye County principal planner said. “At the moment, they don’t have any and then there are landscaping issues too.”
Osborne said the violations come under building code section 17.04.720: general development standards.
He said that currently there are no parking spaces and no landscaping at all on the property. Osborne said that the former owner, Joe Richards, was grandfathered in and didn’t have to comply with the code that came into existence in 2004.
Osborne said that the owners will have to either file an appeal or a waiver so that Shield can open.
Shield said he attended a meeting with the owners and the planning department at the property on Monday. The owners and Shield will not know anything until November 15.
“The waiver would exclude us for the time being, ” Shield said. “All the paperwork has been completed for a waiver, which would allow us to operate until some of the code items can be fixed, I was told that they would comply with the parking code. Lines will be painted on the current lot. We are only six spaces shy of the 20 we need.”
“The owners have told me that they would fully bring the property up to code if the business is successful,” he said.
If the waiver is granted for the business, Shield said he probably will open sometime in mid-December.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com
