Tattle Tails Gentleman’s Club of Bowling Green sits vacant at 1316 River Street on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, as the city prepares to buy the land and demolish the building. (Grace Ramey/photo@bgdailynews.com)

The city of Bowling Green is now the owner of the former Tattle Tails Gentleman’s Club at 1316 River St. and plans to demolish it to make way for a park expansion.

Brent Childers, head of the city’s Neighborhood and Community Services department, said the city began eyeing the property “several years ago when we started the process to develop the riverfront.”

The city is looking to develop now-vacant land along the Barren River into a multi-use “outdoor adventure area” with fishing piers, a new boat ramp, disc golf course, rock climbing wall and other amenities.

For the project, the city “needs an entrance and road frontage,” Childers said.

After getting an appraisal and negotiations, the city settled on a purchase price of $210,500 with the property owners, Golden Flower LLC. The deal closed Friday.

The city plans to start demolition of the structure and eventually incorporate it into the planned new park.

Childers said after required testing of the site, the city will start demolition “as quick as we can.”

While the establishment has been closed since 2019, city officials have previously discussed the business as being a site of frequent police calls.

As recently as 2017, thieves broke into the club and stole cash from the office safe.

“We broached it (to the city commission) early in 2019 about the opportunity to buy it,” City Manager Jeff Meisel said.

The city has also bought an adjoining parcel of land that once housed a veterinarian clinic, which has since been torn down to be eventually used as part of the park, Childers said.

In 2019, the city received a National Park Service Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program grant for $750,000 toward a series of projects along the Barren River across from RiverWalk Park.

“We don’t have a finalized plan” for the park yet, Meisel said last week.

“I think it’s a win-win,” Meisel said of the purchase and demolition of the Tattle Tails building. Not only for public safety, he said, but because older buildings in the city can be susceptible to fires, as shown last week when the nearby Eagle Furniture Manufacturing building at 1491 River St. was hit by a massive blaze.

“It’s almost impossible to get around and inspect every piece of private property,” Meisel said.

This article has been updated since its initial publication to correct the name of Tattle Tails Gentleman’s Club.