Partiers hoping to avoid a long walk home from the bar may have found their dream house in Zanesville.

The five-bedroom home comes complete with a party lounge on the first floor. It also comes with some history and a viral online presence.

Listed for $600,000, the home started as a 62-by-100-foot concrete block structure built in 1946 a few blocks south of downtown. For years, it was the home of Royal Cleaning laundromat before that business closed.

The property had fallen into serious disrepair when Wayne Gheen Jr., a Zanesville contractor, bought it and an adjacent parcel in September 2020 for $18,800.

“It was abandoned, condemned, the roof was falling in, no water or sewer,” Gheen said. “I thought I could fix it up and put my shop in there.”

After acquiring the building, Gheen had another idea: build a house on top.

He spent nearly a year adding more than 2,400 square feet of living space on top of the former laundromat including five bedrooms, each with its own bath.

Gheen finished some of the first floor into living space but had another thought for the rest of the building: Turn it into a man cave. A really big one.

"Every man's got friends, drinking around the pool table," he said. "I've got a lot of friends. I'm known in Zanesville. It started out, 'Let's go to Wayne's mansion and party.' At first all I had was a beer pong table and a pool table."

Gheen added some attractions — another pool table, lots of chairs and sofas, DJ equipment, and a stage with a dance pole. His man cave became a town destination.

"It turned into 500 people coming every weekend," he said.

That drew attention.

"I got into trouble," Gheen said. "The city said I was running an underground bar."

Gheen disputes claims that illegal activity took place in his party rooms, dubbed the Royal Family in honor of the building's previous tenant.

"Over the course of the parties, there was no crime, no drugs, no fights, just a bunch of friends. I know everyone, I got a lot of friends. People from the public tried to come too and the city came down hard on me. They said I couldn’t' do it … After I dumped $50,000 or $60,000 in the basement, they pretty much told me I can’t charge people at the door and let them drink."

Zanesville Police Chief Scott Comstock said Gheen's home landed on the police radar early last summer.

"He’d pretty much became our after-hours club," Comstock said. "We usually have one, but usually they're on the edge of town. This was in a residential area. ... He was jamming up the street with cars, they were rolling in at 2, 2:30 in the morning. There were a few random shots, drunk people, over there."

Gheen was cited three times with disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, Comstock said. He said he has heard rumors about more serious activity there, but has seen no evidence of it.

The city of Zanesville also cited Gheen three times for operating a bar in a residential district, said Community Development Director Matthew Schley.

"The owner purchased the property and turned it into a single-family home, which is fine. Then he built what we would define as a nightclub," Schley said.

Gheen said he stopped the parties after the citations. Schley said "there's evidence that there’s still nightclub-style activity occurring on the property."

Gheen and Schley do agree, however one on thing: That it's time for Gheen to move on.

After his run-ins with the city, Gheen decided to sell the house and maybe buy a bar with the proceeds. The listing attracted almost immediate attention, especially on TikTok, where commentators zeroed in on the dance pole and one photo — now removed — of a windowless room furnished entirely with a dirty bare mattress.

Gheen said the $600,000 asking price is justified by the home's size and the amount of money — "well over $300,000" — he has invested in it.

Schley would be happy if a buyer took up Gheen's offer.

"We look forward to working with the new owner to help continue revitalizing that neighborhood," he said.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: $600,000 Zanesville, Ohio home for sale comes with 'after hours club'