Bonham Exchange, the downtown dean of San Antonio’s LGBTQ+ nightspots, faces potential closure because the city wants the 135-year-old building outfitted with automatic sprinklers, the Express-News reports.
City officials accuse the club, housed in a historic three-story building, of being years past an Oct. 1, 2023 deadline to meet current fire code. However, at least three City Council members are pushing to extend the deadline for the expensive upgrade, according to the daily.
The Bonham — along with Industry Nightclub, Heat Nightclub, Nuevo Volcan, Club 727, I-10 Icehouse and Paper Tiger — failed to comply with a city rule adopted in 2018 that requires nightclubs, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol and have occupancy limits above 300 to have automatic fire sprinklers, the Express-News reports.
All those businesses save the Bonham signed interim city agreement allowing them to operate so long as they maintain fire watches and limit their number of patrons, according to the daily. The Bonham’s management reportedly balked, arguing that cutting the club’s occupancy to 300 people, as required under the deal, would mean financial ruin.
In separate comments to TV station KSAT, Bonham General Manager Joan Duckworth said a new sprinkler system would cost $550,000, meaning the club would need time to a major fundraising push.
More time available?
District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur, whose district includes the Bonham is leading the large to give the club more time to come into compliance. She, along with District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, want council to vote this Thursday on extending the compliance deadline for the seven clubs until Feb. 1, 2027, according to KSAT.
“To me, it’s more of a public safety threat to close down an institution that people go to where they feel safe and where they feel like they’re accepted and wanted,” Kaur said. “That is a bigger safety threat — that we would be closing down an institution like that.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, the first out LGBTQ+ person to serve in the city’s top elected position, declined to tell the Express-News how she plans to vote when council considers the matter on Thursday.
“Nobody wants to see the Bonham closed,” Jones said. “I think we also want to make sure that it is a safe place. We will continue to see if we can work this out before Thursday and hopefully get a good resolution that means the Bonham is a safe place for everybody.”
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