LAKEWOOD, Ohio — For Sam Anderson, the Fieldhouse at Studio West 117 was a lifeline.
When the LGBTQ haven opened in late 2022, Anderson was going through a divorce and adjusting to single parenthood. At the Fieldhouse, he found a job – and a support system, a community that became both friends and family.
“I bonded with people that I met at a very dark time in my life,” Anderson said. “And Studio kind of saved me.”
Now the Fieldhouse is set to close at the end of this month. The management says the money coming in ultimately wasn’t enough to pay the bills. Court records show that an out-of-state investment firm sued the developers in July over unpaid debt on the property. On Nov. 25, a court-appointed receiver took over the Fieldhouse at that lender’s request.
Just a few days later, the owners announced their decision to shut the doors on Dec. 28.
RELATED: Studio West 117 Fieldhouse will close in late December
“I actually broke down and cried,” said Anderson, who handles maintenance at the Fieldhouse and built the DJ booth and the stage platform. “I still get emotional about it. It’s hard.”
Anderson is trans-male and the father of a 5-year-old. He threw a birthday party for his son in the Fieldhouse courtyard. And he’s watched other transgender parents bring their kids to the building for youth sports programs, summer camps and other activities.
“Studio West, out of all the LGBT facilities that I’ve known or been associated with, has had the largest support for the trans community," said Anderson, who fell in love again at the Fieldhouse and ultimately married his wife, who is also transgender. "There’s more trans staff here than I’ve ever seen at any other place.”
Current and former Fieldhouse employees, customers and supporters describe an ambitious project that developers Betsy Figgie and Daniel Budish poured their hearts into. But the hurdles – the lingering effects of the pandemic, high construction costs, interest-rate spikes and fissures within the LGBTQ community – ultimately were too much to overcome.
Budish didn't respond to a request for comment. Figgie, who is handling the gradual wind-down at the Fieldhouse, declined an interview request.
“It’s very heartbreaking. Very, very heartbreaking,” Chelsea Brennan said Thursday.
An electrical contractor, Brennan did some work at the Fieldhouse project early on. She’s also been a patron there for lunches, dinners and shows.
“I felt celebrated – not only in my own self-awareness, but in everyone else’s,” said Brennan, a transgender woman. “I could show up unapologetically. Didn’t have to answer questions. Didn’t have to explain myself. And never was interrogated for who I was.”
She said there’s nothing else like the 24,000-square-foot complex, which includes a gymnasium, a restaurant, a community kitchen, a pizza kitchen and a rooftop bar.
“Daniel and Betsy put their reputation on the line, as well as their money,” Brennan said of the developers. “And yes, things came up short because the business wasn’t here."
But, she added, "how many other people are going to put their reputation on the line and take that chance for the LGBT community?”
'It's for everybody'
The Fieldhouse was the first big construction project in a much larger plan to create a broadly inclusive district at the Cleveland-Lakewood border.
The developers own several other properties, including the former Phantasy Entertainment Complex at Detroit and Hird avenues and a large parking lot across the street, where a tire and battery shop once stood.
Though the properties were all part of the Studio West 117 vision, they are all owned by separate companies. Public records show that the developers owe more than $160,000 in real estate taxes across the portfolio. But the recent litigation and receivership are specific to the Fieldhouse.
The defaulted debt is from a mortgage originally provided by Truist Bank, which filed a lawsuit against the developers in Geauga County in 2023. In early 2024, Truist sold the judgment – the right to collect on the debt – to Summit Investment Management, based in Colorado.
Now Summit, which invests in distressed debt, is trying to get what it can out of the deal. Court records show the developers owe more than $10.7 million in principal, interest and fees. Summit and its attorneys did not respond to inquiries from News 5.
In late November, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Steven Gall agreed to appoint a receiver – an outside expert – to take control of the Fieldhouse and maintain it during litigation.
The receivership could lead to a sale of the property. But it’s too early to say when that would happen.
The receiver, Mark Abood, said he wasn’t involved in the decision to close the complex.
“That was the owner’s decision,” he said Thursday.
Abood, a senior vice president at the Colliers brokerage in Cleveland, knows people who frequent the Fieldhouse to play pickleball. He was amazed to learn about all the other activities that happen at the facility, from twice-monthly free community meals to health and education programs to winter sports leagues, weddings and drag shows.
“It’s not just pickleball,” Abood said. “It’s not just a bar and restaurant. It’s not just a safe gathering place. It’s not just an entertainment venue. And it’s not just, by the way, for the LGBTQ community. It’s for everybody. It’s really a feel-good place for everyone to enjoy. And I’m hopeful that it will be back open at some point soon.”
That’s what Anderson wants to see, too.
“There’s good and bad with everything,” he said, acknowledging that some people who initially supported the project later walked away because they disagreed with how it was executed and managed. “But there’s a lot of people that did find good and enjoyed this facility. And I can only hope that someone buys it – and utilizes it for what it was.”
'It can be great'
Other patrons and partners echoed that in emails, phone conversations, text messages and posts on social media.
Marisol Martinez once worked as a security coordinator at the property. She started a Latin Night series that moved from the former Phantasy complex into the Fieldhouse after the project opened. Now she’s planning a final Salsa Lounge event there on Dec. 27.
The Fieldhouse gave Martinez a place to speak up and support other Latina members of the LGBTQ community – setting an example she didn’t have when she was younger.
“It was everybody of all colors, races, ages. And that was important,” she said. “It brought the whole community together.”
Sara Continenza, the founder of a nonprofit called Food Strong, has worked with the team at Studio West 117 on community-gardening and cooking programs. In late 2022, that partnership was featured in a New York Times story about the Fieldhouse, with the headline “Cooking Up a New Gay Neighborhood.”
Continenza said it’s disappointing to see the project fizzle. "It's sad that there isn't a massive LGBTQ-plus initiative like this anymore," she said.
The developers tackled some interior demolition and environmental clean-up work at the Phantasy complex. They razed the old NTB building across the street and cleaned up that property, turning it into a parking lot and future development site with help from a state grant.
But most of what they hoped to create hasn’t happened - yet.
“I hope that what they brought to this community somehow will continue,” Brennan said. “It’s so much needed in the LGBT community.”
Sitting in the restaurant at the Fieldhouse, where employees are counting down the final days, Anderson echoed that.
“If you have the means to save this place, it can be great,” he said. “We’ve seen it be great.”
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
