The current issue of the MetroWeekly magazine has an interesting cover story detailing the impact of the proposed baseball stadium site in Southeast we first wrote about in December. The article examines the impact of the proposed stadium site, which would evict a number of businesses catering to the gay community:

Ziegfeld’s. Secrets. Glorious Health and Amusement. The Follies. Club Baths. Heat. All lie just beyond the proposed right field. Just outside of the stadium’s environs would be longtime nightlife stalwarts Edge/Wet and Nation — locations that many believe will eventually succumb to the ancillary development the stadium will engender.

The photo of Wet Nightclub is from the article and by Todd Franson. The article profiles businessman Bob Siege who owns many of the buildings in the area and has been working with Councilmember David Catania in a lawsuit against the city over the location. Beyond simple relocation, if the stadium is built at the proposed location, the businesses face other challenges: many must wrangle with city officials not only for liquor licenses, but also for permission for nude dancing or to sell sexually oriented merchandise, which some business owners fear they won’t be able to obtain. Although some seem to be holding out hope about blocking the stadium, Councilmember Jim Graham struck a pragmatic tone: “I think the likelihood of a stadium being built on this location is very, very high … we can’t stick our heads in the sand on this issue. We have to start working on the details or … all of this will be gone.”