Forty Deuce, with venues in Hollywood and Las Vegas and spearheaded by club mogul Ivan Kane, is planned just north of Chinatown in a relatively low-rent residential and retail area that is gradually becoming more upscale.

Community Board 2 said Monday that it has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday evening to oppose the nightclub, which it says is nothing more than a glorified striptease club.

Forty Deuce's Web site, which was taken down in recent months, called the planned nightclub "naughty yet sophisticated."

"New York City nightclubs haven't had this kind of hip, swanky entertainment since the days when nightclubs became classics," it said.

Kane's lawyer, Robert Bookman, told The New York Sun that the club was waiting on a decision about a license from the New York State Liquor Authority. The Sun first reported the story on Monday.

Community opponents have gathered about 2,000 signatures. Dan Weiller, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said the speaker opposes the liquor license. He said Silver held hearings more than a year ago on whether there should be a moratorium on liquor licenses in the area. A number of late-night establishments have cropped up in the area recently.

Although Silver's recommendation is nonbinding, lack of a liquor license would likely kill the plan for a club.

"I can't think of anywhere but the edge of the river that this is appropriate," resident Robin Goldberg said. "It's just the scope and the content of it that is truly inappropriate."

Bookman complained that residents want to stop any late night business from coming to the area.

"We have an extraordinarily important industry and a very hostile regulatory environment," Bookman said. "It's not only enormously frustrating, but it's extremely problematical for the city and the city's economy."

The Sun said the involvement of David Bowie and Sting in the club was first reported by the New York Observer. Bookman said the two musicians were involved in the deal, but he did not know to what extent.

A telephone call to Bowie and an e-mail inquiry to Sting's publicist were not immediately returned.