LAVONIA, Ga. -- The town of Lavonia shelled out nearly $1 million to buy and shut down Cafe Risque, a strip club along Interstate 85.

"We bought it to get rid of it, bottom line," city manager Gary Fesperman told CBS 46 Thursday afternoon.

After the purchase, which Fesperman said was finalized Tuesday morning, the city burned the interstate signs advertising the club, which was popular with truckers.

"What was such a blight was those billboards," said Fesperman. "Those billboards did more damage to the community than the club did."

Cafe Risque was opened in 2001 by Alachua, Fla., businessman Jerry Sullivan. The city went to court several times to close the club but was never successful. Festerman said the club survived because it was grandfathered in under the laws on the books at the time.

"If the ownership changed, the grandfather clause would go away, and that's what happened," Fesperman said.

Sullivan died in his sleep in 2006 at age 47, but the city was not able to buy the club until this year.

The city now has a ban on adult-oriented businesses.