Church thwarts new strip club plan with purchase of popular night club

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Houston church has signed an agreement to purchase a former night club that the owners of a popular strip club wanted to buy.

Pastor Chris Seay with Ecclesia church says they will pay $3.75 million for the old Meridian night club located at 1503 Chartres Street, east of downtown.

He announced the purchase of the 50,000-square foot facility this weekend during a sermon.

"We're not going to buy a place to keep a strip club out, but it's not a bad bonus," he told congregants.

Seay says the church tried unsuccessfully to buy the property back in 2009. A new chance came about recently following sale in a bankruptcy.

The church has done this sort of renovation before. Its current space is in an old paper company warehouse in the 1100 block of Elder, which is just north of downtown.