Infamous former SC strip club morphs into a ‘God-sized dream.’ Here’s what that means

You’d never know the Greenville location for Hope Church used to be a notorious strip club.

In the year since Hope Church purchased the nearly 20,000 square-foot building on the frontage road beside Interstate 385, contractors have trashed the interior down to the concrete walls. That includes several poles and other so-called gentlemen’s club accoutrement left behind by Platinum Plus and later Bucks Racks and Ribs.

Pastor Rich Butler calls it “stripped to the concrete” — no pun intended, he says.

“It smelled like smoke and a bar,” Butler said.

Workers had to tear out the rooms that ran along a mezzanine level — where private “meetings” were held — to get ready to add an entire floor for children’s activities.

A steel superstructure is going up outside and the inside will match Hope Church’s other locations in Simpsonville and Spartanburg. The building will include a cafe, chapel and 700-seat sanctuary.

They’re aiming for a Sept. 8 grand opening.

When Butler and his wife JoAnna went into the building for the first time they saw signature items that spoke to its last use —a stage, poles, brash colors — but they also saw potential.

High visibility from Interstate 385 at what could be considered the entrance to Greenville, ample parking and a solid building.

They had looked at other buildings on Greenville’s Eastside but knew when they saw the former strip club that was their new church expansion. Their world-wide ministry includes families broken by the very things Platinum Plus offered.

In fact, Butler said he met a woman at an event in Easley last week who spoke of working there and how grateful she was for its new use.

“This is a God-sized dream and vision,” Butler said.

Platinum Plus had a long history of entanglements with the law since opening in 2000 and was shut down by the courts. Three homicide investigations from incidents on the premises took place; 911 received more than a thousand calls. The business was cited for serving alcohol to minors and dancers were charged with prostitution.

Then-Greenville County Sheriff Steve Loftis described Platinum Plus as a “stain” on the community.

It closed permanently in 2015 and opened as the “home of nice racks in 2017.” Bucks, Racks and Ribs closed after a five-year legal battle with Greenville County over whether it violated the county’s law against sexually oriented businesses.

Hope Church was founded 35 years ago in Spartanburg and added a Simpsonville campus five years ago. A Greenville location has been meeting temporarily for a Sunday evening service in a church on Haywood Road for two years. About 2,300 people combined attend each week.

Each location has a dedicated minister who works with the others on sermons and then gives the same message each week, Butler said.

Butler has been lead pastor since 2020 and associate pastor for almost eight years before that. He played football at Charleston Southern and has been a pastor for 20 years.

He said he’s grateful for the support people have given the Greenville project, People from other states have donated, business leaders offered support. People even show up and ask for tours.

Once it’s done, the church will be hard to miss. Just like the former large Platinum Plus sign that could not be missed from the interstate, the Hope Church sign will be boldly black during the day and a gleaming white at night once adorned with channel lighting.

Before the grand opening, Butler wants to invite the community in to see what’s been accomplished.

“A lot of people have been praying for that building,” he said.