The doors that closed on Studio West 117 will open to a new space centering connection and well-being

When the LGBTQ+ social and recreational space Studio West 117 closed in December 2025, Deairius Houston’s first thought was certainly not that he was going to purchase the multi-million dollar entertainment complex on the Cleveland/Lakewood border. 

“I was just sad, disappointed and wished that something more could have happened there to save the space because so many of our LGBTQ+ spaces are gone,” Houston said.

Fast forward six months later, and Houston was leaping out of his seat as the winning bidder of an auction on the Fieldhouse at Studio West 117 – a 25,000+ sq. feet commercial venue featuring a full-size gymnasium, outdoor courtyard, rooftop bar and patio, ground-floor restaurant and ancillary pizza kitchen – all with the goal of reimagining the space as a community-centered destination focused on culture, connection and well-being.

Houston’s familiarity with the space goes back years. As a father in the International Iconic House of Chanel, a ballroom community, Houston used to frequent Studio West 117, organizing vogue nights and various other events.

“When the space closed, there was dead silence in the community about it, so I put it out of my mind,” he said.

According to court documents, the original developers of the space borrowed $10 million to acquire and redevelop the Fieldhouse, but “cost overruns threatened the viability of the project” resulting in its closure.

Months after Studio West 117 closed, Houston was having a phone conversation with his boss, Dr. Stacey Lane, founder and medical director of Central Outreach Wellness Center, a multicultural healthcare organization serving LGBTQIA+, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C communities with locations in Pennsylvania, Columbus and Cleveland Heights, on Cleveland’s East Side. Houston is the center’s director of Community Impact Engagement and Innovation, building partnerships with allies like the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland’s B. Riley Sober House to expand healthcare services. He started working at Central Outreach in 2021, getting its first Cleveland clinic off the ground. (“I had a goal of getting 100 people into the new clinic and within 90 days, we had 106 people come through the doors,” Houston said.)

His phone conversation with Lane covered familiar territory: the need for Central Outreach to have a presence on Cleveland’s West Side. 

“That is something I had been preaching for a long time,” Houston laughed. “The data has been telling us for a while that so many of our new clients entering care were coming from the West Side.”

Then the conversation took a more specific turn. 

“[Lane] asked me what was going on with ‘the big space we toured’ and I knew she was talking about Studio West 117,’” Houston said. “I told her I would look into it.”

Houston asked around and no one seemed to have any information about the future of the building.

“And then suddenly a few days later there was information about an auction for the building,” Houston said. “I toured the space with Dr. Lane and our financial director and pretty soon we just decided to go for it.” 

Sold!

The auction on June 25 played out like a movie. Over a dozen interested parties assembled to try to outbid each other for the ultimate prize: the space where they were gathered. 

Houston said the bidding started at a million dollars, and you could immediately feel the tension in the air. 

“The bids kept going up and up and then people started dropping out one by one,” Houston said. 

Soon the bidding was down to the Central Outreach team and one other bidder: a restaurateur. 

Houston said that Lane leaned over to him and asked, “How bad do you want this?” 

“I said, ‘Really bad,’ and she said ‘Okay, let’s get it,’” Houston said. 

The bidding resumed at $3.4 million and went back and forth between Lane and the restaurateur until the restaurateur bid $4 million. Lane raised the stakes to $4.1 million and the restaurateur went quiet. 

“Suddenly the auctioneer was counting down from 10 and everyone was holding their breath, just clutching,” Houston said. 

When no other bids came forward, the auctioneer announced, “Sold!” The winning bid secured the property and opened the door for a new vision for the space and some immediate excitement.

“We just jumped up and hugged,” Houston said. “We were so happy and [Lane] immediately said, ‘Are you ready?’ and I told her that I was definitely ready.”

They officially closed on the space on September 9.

The Vision

The idea for the new space is to embrace the adage, “Meet people where they are.”

“Health and wellness don’t just happen in a medical clinic,” said Alexander Young, marketing director for Central Outreach.

Although the organization has never made a purchase of an entertainment complex like this before, staff say that buying the Studio West 117 Fieldhouse was consistent with their mission of promoting wellness by fostering a patient’s whole self and removing barriers to healthcare.

But first you have to get the community in the door. 

To reach that goal. their vision is to preserve the complex’s entertainment and food amenities while creating opportunities for community partners to offer health, wellness and other supportive services

“Maybe you’re coming in for a drag show or for a meal, and then when you’re there, we can get you a wellness screening or a referral to a mental health counselor or STI testing,” said Houston. 

To be clear, entertainment and wellness are not separate from the health organization’s mission, but all part of the same system. Staff highlighted that the first step towards wellness is to be in a space where an individual feels welcome and at home. 

“You need to be able to live your life to the fullest and be yourself – to have a drink, to dance, to go to a ball, to go to a pageant, to go to a drag show,” Young said. “All of that encompasses a person’s well-being, just like being healthy does.”

What’s next?

Houston says the first step in developing the new space to be community-focused is to actually listen to the community rather than assuming that those in charge know what’s best. 

“The LGBTQ+ community has such a wide scope and certainly wider than my experience as a Black gay male,” Houston said. “So we want a survey that asks people what they want to see in the space, what worked for them previously and what didn’t work?”

One thing is for sure: Though it hasn’t been finalized, the space will have a new name. 

“We definitely want a fresh start,” Houston said. 

The timeline for opening the space is very much to-be-determined. Houston asks that the community be patient and, when the doors do open, come out and support the efforts. For his part, Houston said he is going to work overtime to make sure the space is as inclusive as possible. 

“Being queer is so diverse and we want everyone to be here: the leather community, the bear, the ballroom community, drag … we want to see the whole rainbow in here,” he said. “Which also means that we want to keep things affordable and realistic so that no one feels shunned out by prices.” 🔥