The lawyer for Chicas Locas, which is set to open at the site of the closed Jaguar, says the business will comply with county agreements and city ordinance

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) – A Latin-themed bikini nightclub is set to open this month at the site of the previously closed Jaguars Gold Club strip club. The new club, called Chicas Locas, will be operated by JAI Dining Services (El Paso), Inc. and will not require a liquor license, according to an attorney for the company.

“It will be operated as a nightclub with a bar,” said Casey Wallace, an attorney and partner at Houston-based Wallace & Allen, LLP. “When I hesitantly say slash bar, it's because it will be a bring-your-own-bottle establishment, so BYOB. We will not serve or sell alcoholic beverages. People can bring their own. We will be operated as a nightclub.”

Wallace says the new club has applied for a liquor license under settlement terms agreed to with El Paso County. As ABC-7 reported, several law enforcement agencies filed a temporary restraining order against Jaguars in February. The city and county of El Paso have filed separate lawsuits alleging numerous violations of local ordinances and licensing requirements, as well as hundreds of code violations on the property.

A settlement with the county resulted in Jaguars permanently closing its doors while the city's case is pending in court. Wallace says the new Chicas Locas will fully comply with the settlement and the city's ordinance on sexually oriented businesses by not operating as a strip club.

“We identified it (Chicas Locas) as the best Latino club in El Paso,” Wallace said. “That's the marketing of the club, because we're not going to be a strip club. We're not going to be a topless club. We're not going to be what you would normally call a gentlemen's club or a cabaret.”

The city of El Paso issued a statement regarding further legal action in its lawsuit after ABC-7 reported in August on issues surrounding the property's alleged reopening as a new business. Wallace says the city is mistaken about the business, which he says will follow all laws and does not fall under the city ordinance definition.

“There will be entertainers in the club, there's no doubt about that,” Wallace said. “But they won't be nude entertainers. We haven't applied for a sexually oriented business license because we're not going to operate as a sexually oriented business.”

According to Wallace, ABC-7 was the only local media outlet to report the opening of Chicas Locas to both RCI Holdings Inc., which owns the property at 11377 Gateway Blvd West, and RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc., which controls the trademarks for Chicas Locas, Jaguars and more than two dozen other “adult nightclub brands,” according to its website.

The city of El Paso declined another interview request based on what the attorney representing the company behind Chicas Locas told ABC-7. In a statement, a city spokesperson said, “As the city has previously communicated, we will continue to seek legal action to impose fines against RCI Holdings for its past violations. And we will continue to seek an injunction in hopes of preventing future unlawful activity at the Chicas Locas site.”