Evangelic Assembly of Christ Church renovates Platinum Showgirls strip club to turn into new church

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Taking a tour of the new Evangelic Assembly of Christ Church, you'd never guess it used to be a strip club.
Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency staff are thrilled with the change.

"We had a lot of  problems with this place, drugs, prostitution," says Vivian Brooks, the Executive Director of the Boynton Beach CRA.

Those problems are what shutdown Platinum Showgirls in October of 2009.

Dozens of arrests were made and the doors were closed, the building sat for two years, until pastor Dumont Pierre came along.

"The place was very, very ugly," says Pierre.

It's taken much more than a fresh coat of paint to spruce up the building. It's been six months of full renovations inside and out.

Pastor Pierre knows he can't ignore the history of the building. But every nail hammered into the floor is another symbol of what is to come, not what once was. The old reputation is being chipped away by the promise of a new one.

"As long as this place is in better use now, to help the community, to help young people - that will be enough," says Pierre.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the building.

The air conditioning needs to be installed and the electricity hooked up.

If all goes well, the church can open up to the congregation in January.