Blocks from a stretch of Harry Hines Boulevard known for prostitution and strip clubs, a northwest Dallas adult store is leasing office space to customers looking for a private place to watch pornography, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the city of Dallas.

The city is suing East Bay, Inc., which owns and operates Zone d’Erotica at 2600 Forest Lane, for operating a sexually oriented business without a license and for allowing people to live inside the building.

Melissa Miles, the lead attorney representing the city, said Tuesday that many complaints have been made about the business that has occupied the property for over a decade, but a solution might be on the horizon. Miles thinks the city might be able to reach an agreement with East Bay.

“I’m hopeful that we’re going to get a permanent resolution to the issues here in the next few months,” she said. “I’m optimistic.”

John Coil, the owner of East Bay, Inc. and Zone d’Erotica, could not be reached for comment.

According to the suit, a fire prevention officer with Dallas Fire-Rescue received a complaint in August 2017 that the business was operating without a certificate of occupancy.

The fire prevention officer, Keith Wilson, said he discovered that Zone d’Erotica did have a certificate of occupancy for a general merchandise store of less than 3,500 square feet, but that it had never had an annual fire inspection.

Wilson first visited the location in August 2017 to perform a safety inspection, according to an affidavit included in the lawsuit filing. The business, he said, was clearly much larger than the 3,500 square feet it was licensed for, and fire code violations were widespread throughout the two-story building.

Exit signs were unlit. Emergency exits were locked or blocked. Excessive water damage covered the ceilings. Smoke detectors and fire escapes were missing.

Wilson said outside of the merchandise area, there were several small rooms in the building, some of which were occupied at the time. All the rooms he saw had a desk, a couch, a computer that played “shortcuts to numerous adult content” and paper towel dispenser, he said. In one room, he said he saw a trash can with paper towels and condoms inside.

A large room that the store's manager referred to as the "conference room" had a TV on the wall that played pornography on a loop, Wilson said. He said he heard what sounded like people having sex inside one of the occupied rooms, but could not determine if the sounds were coming from a video or from people inside the room.

1 / 5Photos taken by the city of Dallas and submitted in court documents show rooms inside the Zone d'Erotica building in northwest Dallas. The city says the business allows people to live at the adult store and rents rooms to customers looking for a private place to watch pornography. 2 / 5Photos taken by the city of Dallas and submitted in court documents show rooms inside the Zone d'Erotica building in northwest Dallas. The city says the business allows people to live at the adult store and rents rooms to customers looking for a private place to watch pornography 3 / 5Photos taken by the city of Dallas and submitted in court documents show rooms inside the Zone d'Erotica building in northwest Dallas. The city says the business allows people to live at the adult store and rents rooms to customers looking for a private place to watch pornography. 4 / 5Photos taken by the city of Dallas and submitted in court documents show rooms inside the Zone d'Erotica building in northwest Dallas. The city says the business allows people to live at the adult store and rents rooms to customers looking for a private place to watch pornography. 5 / 5Photos taken by the city of Dallas and submitted in court documents show rooms inside the Zone d'Erotica building in northwest Dallas. The city says the business allows people to live at the adult store and rents rooms to customers looking for a private place to watch pornography.

He said the upstairs offices appeared to be used as residential units, some of which were clearly occupied at the time. Wilson said he issued

of 39 violations in the building and told the manager that no one was allowed to live in the building.

Photos

by Wilson, which are included in court documents, show dirty rooms littered with clothing, trash, broken furniture, DVDs and personal belongings.

Wilson said he visited the location in September and October and found that people were still living in the building and many of the violations had not been addressed. In November, he said he conducted a fourth inspection and spoke with Coil, the owner of the business, who said he would take care of the violations.

In February, Coil told Wilson he planned to have the building to be demolished, according to the affidavit.

The exterior of Zone d'Erotica building on Forest Lane in Dallas (Brian Elledge / Staff Photographer)

The next five times Wilson visited the property over the span of three months, it appeared as though people were still living there,

he was promised it would soon be demolished.

On July 10, an undercover Dallas Police Department officer visited Zone d’Erotica, according to another affidavit. The officer said he approached the sales counter at the store and asked the employee if he could rent a porn video and watch it there.

He said the clerk told him he could watch the video on a screen in a private room, which he could rent for $6.50 an hour or $5 for a half-hour with a $20 deposit.

While speaking with the employee, the officer said he was approached by a male customer who was with a young female. The man offered the female to the officer and said she would accompany the officer in one of the private rooms and perform any sex act for $50, according to the affidavit.

Allowing customers to rent rooms to watch pornographic videos falls under the category of sexually oriented business activity, according to Dallas city code. Even if Zone d'Erotica were to go through the process of obtaining a license to conduct such business, a license wouldn't be granted because the property is within 1,000 feet of another licensed sexually oriented business, Odyssey Video.

City code specifies that sexually oriented businesses cannot be located within 1,000 feet of one another.

The city has asked that a temporary restraining order

granted to keep the business from operating as a sexually oriented business and to keep people from living in the building.