Studio West 117 in Cleveland to close this month

This piece originally appeared in Cleveland Scene on 12/2/25 and appears here with permission.

By Mark Oprea

There were basketball leagues, salsa dances, comedy and drag shows, Dirty Daddy Discos and the “Gayme” Nights, RuPaul nights and Pride afterpartys.

And by the end of the year, it’s all coming to an end.

The Fieldhouse at Studio West 117, the ambitious, $100-million attempt at building a nucleus for Cleveland’s LGBTQ+ community, will be closing its doors on December 28, the owners announced in an Instagram post on Monday.

A specific reason for the closure was not provided, but in a statement owners focused on the venue’s highs, including well-attended community meals, its dodgeball league, the hundreds of performers it hosted and 70-plus fairs in Fieldhouse’s gym.

The massive venue on the fringe of Lakewood and Cleveland, which boasted a cabana-style roof bar and Muze Gastropub, was the subject of accusations of mismanagement and financial strife. Last March, owners Daniel Budish and Betsy Figgie defaulted on nearly $10 million in construction loans.

“While these circumstances are difficult,” the Instagram post on Monday read, “they do not diminish the impact this space has had or the ongoing need for places where LGBTQ+ people and allies can gather, create and belong.”

Budish did not respond to a call from Scene for comment. A representative for Studio West, James Schaffranek, also did not return a call for comment.

In a statement to Signal Cleveland, Budish said, “Since the very beginning we have faced large headwinds, from the legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in Ohio, to Covid and its effect on the bar and restaurant industry, to the macroeconomic construction and real estate environment from rising construction costs, supply chain delays and straight into interest rate increases.”

The closure amounts to a stunning end to Budish and Figgie’s plans, as laid out two years ago, to further develop the area around Studio West 117 into their vision of Cleveland’s gayborhood on par with New York’s or Washington, D.C.’s.

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A full renovation of the Phantasy Theater on Detroit Avenue had been planned, along with the construction of a fetish bar and a New Orleans-themed vampire bar. A hotel, an LGBTQ+ senior living home and 100 units of housing were also in the works and slated to break ground this year. 

In its three years, the venue seemed to at times be at odds with its board, the West 117th Foundation, while also struggling to garner enough eventsand interest to keep it profitable. 

In a May 2023 Scene feature, Studio West got a barrel of mixed reactions from community members and its own employees just a year into operation. (One called their experience “constant chaos.”) Those include, Scene reported, “allegations of homophobic remarks by managers, stolen drag show ideas and questions about wages.” 🔥