The first phase of Studio West 117, an eventual $100 million development, opened with great fanfare in mid-October, with multiple drag shows, a drag brunch, a regional gay men’s happy hour event, a DJ Paulo appearance, and much more. The whole project is the brainchild of Daniel Budish, an urban planner and a historic tax credit expert, and Betsy Figgie, who has a background in tax-credit enhanced projects, typically using New Markets Tax Credits. We spoke extensively with Budish, a gay man and native Clevelander who has traveled the world and is trying to bring the best of what he’s seen in other cities to Northeast Ohio.
The Fieldhouse at Studio West 117 in Cleveland
PHOTO BY PAUL J. HENEY
Budish explained that he has a background in both urban planning as well as real estate finance.
“I own a company that does historic tax credit consulting around the country. And my business partner, Betsy Figgie, has a very similar company, except doing New Markets Tax Credits. So, I focus on historic renovations and trying to revitalize the urban cores of downtowns and main streets across the country. Betsy focuses on similar work but with nonprofits and in low-income communities — doing large capital projects.”
RELATED: 55 Pics From Cleveland's New Studio West 117
“We teamed up on a major project in Cleveland a few years back called The Pivot Center for Art, Dance and Expression,” Budish said. “We brought $14 million of capital to that project, most of which was either free or low cost of capital. We were able to make the rents very affordable for the nonprofit arts tenants that were in that building — which proved to be a very successful model. So, we knew we had kind of the secret sauce to be able to do something very impactful for our LGBT community here and do something where nobody else has the skill set in the area to be able to do quite like it. We wanted to use our skill set for the good, to benefit our community.”
Dragchella commands the stage
PHOTO BY PAUL J. HENEY
Budish said he’s traveled around to a lot of different gayborhoods across the world, seeing places like Chueca in Madrid, Boystown in Chicago, and the Castro district in San Francisco. He wanted to incorporate some of the best things from each of those places, as well as large clubs like Play Dance Club in Nashville and Louisville. Budish explained that those clubs are able to pull in a lot of sponsorship dollars and donate those dollars into the community. He and Figgie realized that those would be new dollars for Cleveland that the city doesn’t currently have — and they’d be able to increase the amount of resources for everything that the local community needs, things like social support services, housing, and health care.
By 2018-2019, the two knew they wanted to do something special and transformative to help the local LGBT community.
“We knew we wanted to do our own development at some point. When we finished the Pivot Center project at the end of 2018, we started on this journey where we found that the old Phantasy Theater site was available for sale. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be an amazing thing to create this kind of entertainment district for the LGBT community?’ The theater building also had different spaces and we thought we could use those as retail spaces,” he said.
Budish said that once the development was announced, they had a huge turnout of tenants that were interested in renting there. So, their team kept expanding the concept, and it kept snowballing because of the huge community demands.
Trellis Rooftop Bar
PHOTO BY PAUL J. HENEY
Located on the eastern edge of Lakewood, long known as one of Cleveland’s queerer suburbs, Phase One of Studio West 117 is centered around what’s called The Fieldhouse, a sort of multifunction entertainment complex that includes restaurants, bars, a full gymnasium, private rentable spaces, and more. On the first floor is Eat Me Pizza and Muze Gastropub (which features some incredible paella-inspired rice dishes), with Trellis Rooftop Bar on the second floor. Construction started in October 2021, and Budish described it as a new ecosystem for greater Cleveland's LGBTQ+ community.
“What we’re trying to do as part of this ecosystem is build restaurants, gathering spaces, bars — places that people can come and feel comfortable, feel safe in their own skin, and just be able to have a great time,” Budish said. “But we’re also harnessing the power of entertainment and the LGBT bar scene to be able to support all of the other things that our community needs. For example, all of the recreation possibilities with the gym space that’s attached to this building — it has a 5,000-square-foot gym, where we have three rentable sports courts. We can do pickleball, dodgeball, volleyball, basketball — anything that you want. Plus, fitness classes focusing on health and wellness and everything from belly dancing and Zumba to drag yoga. We also have community partners, like Stonewall Sports. The idea with that space is to help existing community organizations be able to increase the size and scope of their offerings.”
The incomparable Monet X Change
PHOTO BY PAUL J. HENEY
Phase One also has a lot of rentable spaces around the facility, including a private dining room, which can be used for private parties and meetings — along with pizza parties, as it’s connected directly to the facility’s pizza kitchen. There are also rentable cabanas on the rooftop, which is one of only a few rooftop spaces outside of downtown Cleveland. On the first floor, there is a massive courtyard with large format games and a rock-climbing wall. That space can also be used to host events, from cocktail receptions to weddings.
They wanted to make sure the facility was a three- to four-seasons space, so they incorporated multiple heaters and the cabanas on the rooftop, along with two fire pits. Plus, even when it’s too cold outside, they still will get a lot of sunlight through, thanks to massive glass garage doors.
The plans are accelerating for Phase Two of Studio West 117, which they’re expecting to be done by the end of 2024, and Phase Three, which is planned to be completed by the end of 2025.
Phase Two is the historic renovation of the Phantasy Theater (located across an alleyway from The Fieldhouse), along with five other entertainment spaces in its building. That’s expected to attract all sorts of different crowds, with spaces featuring various music experiences and unique vibes. For example, the space that used to contain The Chamber, a beloved and long-closed goth bar (where the local queer community always felt safe) is going to be reborn as a vampire bar, which will have Louisiana bayou vibes, with a cemetery fence and chandeliers hanging in the outdoor patio.
Paella-inspired rice dish from Muze Gastropub
PHOTO BY PAUL J. HENEY
Studio West 117 won $5 million in historic tax credits to renovate the building from the state of Ohio, which was at the time the largest award possible. Budish and Figgie are also working on federal historic tax credits, in addition to New Markets Tax Credits, other grants, and low interest loans. Their goal is to make sure that the renovation of the building is affordable — so there’s less operational pressure and they can subsidize the rents of the tenants who will be lining Detroit Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
Budish wants these spaces to function like incubators for LGBTQ+ businesses. They’ve found that a lot of the queer community’s small business owners and entrepreneurs have not had access to the financial system or don’t have a business banking account — things that you need to start scaling a business. And many queer people have never had guidance from family members or had a financial mentor.
“We’re trying to create a private branch for a bank in the space, leveraging all of our banking relationships, and the desire to do the financing for these large projects,” Budish said. We want to create a branch for our community, which can provide financial services to help our small businesses create those banking accounts. We want to be able to have LGBT folks behind the teller window and behind the relationship management desks. It’s important to be able to feel comfortable walking into a financial institution, which can feel very intimidating.”
Phase Three will feature 100 apartment units on land just south of the Phantasy Theater, currently occupied by a closed National Tire & Battery automotive shop. It will also add a hotel and LGBTQ+ senior living. In the fully realized plan, the big drag shows — as well as things like international DJ events — will move from The Fieldhouse to the Phantasy Theater, and performers will be able to stay in the complex’s hotel. The location is one in the Cleveland metro area that’s strangely bereft of good hotel options, so that will also help the entire community.
Author and husband with Latrice Royale, Roxxxy Andrews, and Detox
PHOTO BY PAUL J. HENEY
“One of the things that attracted us to this area and this building was the history — because there were drag shows in this space since the 1970s. It’s been historically a very LGBT-friendly space, a safe space for anybody to come, and very alternative. This whole area is sort of the epicenter of alternative entertainment for Cleveland. We have other alternative entertainment venues just down the street, the Foundry Concert Club, the No Class dive bar, and The Brothers Lounge.” They see Studio West 117 as becoming a true regional attraction, not just a place for locals.
The complex’s opening weekend was a memorable one, with Friday drag performances by Roxxxy Andrews, Latrice Royale, and Detox — as well as well-known local performers like Dakota Cox and Joliee Blak. Saturday was “Dragchella,” with Trinity the Tuck, Monét X Change, Jorgeous, Anisa Love, Daya Betty and more. The performances were incredible, and the venue was overflowing with people all weekend, portending great things for Studio West 117.
Another thing that appealed to both Budish and Figgie was to help educate the non-LGBT community and create a space where everyone’s welcome to come together and enjoy themselves, including not just queer people, but also their friends or families or allies.
“You know, to show them that we are just like you in a lot of ways — we like to have fun and we like to dance,” Budish said. “Although I have to say that we do have better music.”
