Washington D.C.’s legendary dance club Town Danceboutique just announced it’ll be permanently closing its doors July 1, 2018. It’s a rather surprising development for a space that, in our experience, is consistently overflowing with revelers.
In a statement, the venue owners said:
“After more than ten years in operation at 2009 8th street NW, in the center of the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC, Town Danceboutique, the city’s largest and most well known LGBTQ nightclub, will be closing.”
In 2006, the building was sold to a developer. Now it’ll be turned into an apartment complex.
Related: Manager of popular D.C. gay bar insists he’s not racist despite damning evidence to the contrary
How about we take this to the next level?
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“It has been our privilege to own and operate Town and to have worked with an incredible group of employees in various capacities that have helped make the club such a significant part of DC’s LGBTQ community,” the statement continues.
You can read the entire announcement below:
Bob LaBlah
I have no problem with the conversion. My question is why is there no protest regarding those sky-high rents on the entire east coast? The minimum for a studio will be $2k without question.
Terrycloth
Sounds to me like the apt /condo builders wanted that building bad….couldn’t the club have moved to another bldg ? Somethings not right …bar doesn’t just close..if it were sold for a great price they should relocate…
DMRX
The developer has owned the building the whole time the club has been there.
DMRX
Sounds like they sold it with an open-ended option to lease, but the developer/owner has decided not to renew the lease this time.
Maybe they should have held out for more money before selling.
DMRX
Never mind. I just reread and realized I missed a detail. The club owners never owned the building.
DCguy
I think the difference is, they can get one rent check from one successful business, who knows, maybe $10,000 – $15,000 a month? Maybe more. Or they can put up a building with 50 units and either sell them as condos for $600,— to over a million each, or have them as apartments and get $2500-$5000 a month in rent for each one times 50.
Town should have bought the building years ago, there is just too much money to be made in DC by building new housing.
Frank
The truth is someone got PAID lots of money and decided to sell…nothing more than that…this is going to happen in more and more cities as it is easier to sell as rents are skyrocketing and it is a lot of work to keep these clubs open and employed…
An affiliate of Jefferson Apartment Group, according to deed records, paid $25 million for four parcels between V Street and Florida Avenue, consisting of a parking lot and the industrial building at 2009 Eighth St. NW that is currently home to the club Town Danceboutique. The seller was an affiliate of Bethesda-based Bristol Capital Corp.
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2016/05/jefferson-apartment-group-buys-big-next-to.html