A Ross hotel that has been the site of two very different kinds of gentlemen's clubs is scheduled to be auctioned off next week.

Following a year of legal wrangling, state Attorney General Tom Corbett seized the 135-year-old building long known as the Evergreen Hotel and about one acre of land at 1937 Babcock Blvd.

The building was taken by the state because it had been used for illegal activity. Its previous owner, John D. Nauman, pleaded guilty to drug sales charges in 2006.

The building and land are assessed at $212,100 by Allegheny County. Ross zoning officials, however, condemned the building after a Jeep crashed into it and after a broken pipe caused extensive water and mold damage.

The hotel was built about 1874 near a suburban village in Ross called Evergreen Hamlet. In the 1890s, it was home to what a 2009 bicentennial history of the township called an "exclusive gentlemen's club." The Highland Club was the site of corn roasts and other male-only activities.

In later decades, it served as a night club, restaurant, hotel, bar and, most recently, another kind of gentlemen's club, this one featuring all-nude dancers.

Partners Robert Marino and Julius Dawkins took over the management of JezeBelles Showbar in 2005. Mr. Marino said he has been feuding with the state since Mr. Corbett's office made its claim to the property in 2008.

During the court battle that followed, the club ceased operations for several months but reopened and remained in business until June 2009.

Mr. Marino said he was not permitted to remove equipment and supplies worth about $25,000 from the club for several months.

A water leak over the summer went undetected during that time, and the combination of moisture, darkness and heat damaged much of the interior and the materials stored there, he said.

The state's actions ruined both the building and his business, Mr. Marino said. "The building had needed just a bit of maintenance work, but I agree that it may have to be torn down now," he said.

Profits from the club were his source of income, Mr. Marino said. He now is in danger of losing his home, he said, because he can no longer make his mortgage payments.

Legal actions brought by Mr. Marino delayed the transfer for a full year, said Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the attorney general's office.

During that time, the state was not responsible for maintaining the structure, he said.

Parties who could prove they owned items in the building were given opportunities to remove them, he said.

Ross Police Chief Ralph Freedman said officers had been called to JezeBelles Showbar or to the area around it 134 times since the summer of 2005.

The club's operators cooperated with police, he said, but the number of calls made the club appear to qualify as a "nuisance" establishment.

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