An adult entertainment business on Bragg Boulevard lost its bid Tuesday to overturn the City of Fayetteville’s revocation of its building permits—a decision that now bars the shop from operating at its longtime location.
The city zoning commission voted 3-1 that the business, Fort Outpost at 4431 Bragg Blvd., had discontinued its adult‑use operations for at least 365 consecutive days. That determination meant that the business lost its exemption to operate in an area that no longer allows sexually-oriented businesses under city ordinances. The ruling upholds the city’s earlier determination that the permits granted in April were issued in error.
Commission members Justin Herbe, Zaccheaus Eley, and Phillip Fehler voted to uphold the city’s permits revocation. Roger Shah voted no.
In April, Fort Outpost applied for multiple building permits as part of ongoing renovations. A day later, the city revoked them, saying the business no longer had the legal right to operate as an adult entertainment business. The owner appealed, which sent the case to the zoning commission.
The building is owned by 4311 Bragg LLC, a company tied to a family trust associated with Keith Johnson, who operates similar businesses across the country, including Annabelle’s Adult Supercenter in Winston‑Salem.
Fort Outpost has been at the Fayetteville location since 2018. The business sold sex toys, lingerie, and sexually explicit magazines, according to Jerry Fultz, comptroller for the family trust that owns Fort Outpost. It also offered booths where customers could watch sexually-explicit videos.
Charles Smith, the attorney representing the owner, said he is reviewing the hearing record before advising his client on whether to appeal.
“I think the zoning commission treated it seriously. I think their deliberations were certainly with good intent, and they made a decision,” Smith said.
Smith is also a lawmaker in the state House. The Democrat has represented District 44, which includes Cumberland County, since 2023.
Owner Disputes City’s Findings
Fultz said the business disagrees with the city’s conclusion that it effectively shut down.
“We’re going to court on it,” Fultz told CityView after being asked if they plan to appeal the decision.
“They’re saying that we’re closed since 2018, even though we showed them that we have been paying the electric bill since then. We had product in there,” Fultz said. “They even showed pictures where they said it was deserted and the power was off, but it shows the lights are on.”
“Obviously we don’t agree with them because we have been open. We have not been open a lot because we’ve been remodeling the building,” he added.
Fultz said the trust has spent about $200,000 on repairs in recent years. He also said the business is still evaluating whether it will continue its video booths, noting, “We’re not certain because we’re not certain if we can find the proper equipment.”
Past Scrutiny and the City’s Case
Fort Outpost appeared on Fort Bragg’s off‑limits list in 2022—a designation identifying businesses where soldiers are prohibited from going, though the most recent version of the list no longer includes the business. The city’s case focused on zoning—whether the adult entertainment use had been discontinued long enough to lose its exemption to current ordinances prohibiting it.
On Tuesday, city code enforcement officers testified about boarded doors, empty parking lots, negligible utility usage, and long stretches of zero revenue in the business’s own ledgers.
They also offered evidence showing the building was tagged as a dangerous building and unsafe to occupy. Those issues were later rectified, Smith told the commission.
The city argued the business and adult use had effectively ceased for at least 365 days—the threshold for losing nonconforming status.
“But the city has presented evidence, and the record is riddled with evidence tending to show inactivity,” said La‑Deidre Matthews, an attorney with the Charlotte‑based firm Fox Rothschild who represented the city. “What is the period of 365 consecutive days of inactivity? That is up to you.”
Fort Outpost last posted on its Instagram account on April 5, 2020 and said the business was temporarily closed. The business does not appear to have an active Google listing.
Smith countered that the city never identified a precise year‑long period when the adult use actually stopped.
“The city is seeking to take a right that’s been established at this property from us without any evidence presented by any competent witness who can testify that the use of this property was ever discontinued,” Smith said in closing at the hearing.
He acknowledged to the commission that the business “slowed down” after 2023 but said it continued operating intermittently and maintained corporate formalities. He pointed to utility bills, tax records, vendor invoices for adult inventory, repair receipts, and years of code‑violation compliance as proof of ongoing activity.
When pressed by Smith at the hearing, code enforcement officers conceded that the violations they cited did not independently prove a full year of discontinued use.
Herbe, who served as the presiding officer during the hearing on Tuesday, told CityView the case was “pretty clear‑cut” based on the evidence presented.
“All they were doing was keeping their LLC current with the state. To me, that wasn’t a business.”
He also said the type of business—adult entertainment—did not factor into the board’s decision.
“The case was primarily about whether the property had been vacant for more than 365 days, and whether the city was allowed to revoke the permit,” Herbe said. “The type of business didn’t play a part.”
What happens next
With the commission siding with the city, Fort Outpost cannot operate unless the owner successfully appeals the ruling in court.
Smith said he wants to review the hearing transcript before advising his client about appealing the commission decision.
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com or 910-988-8045.
