The Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub where a mass shooting unfolded in November of 2022 has announced plans to reopen in a new location about four miles away.
Management at Club Q revealed the plans in a Monday evening press release, marking a change of course from previously announced plans to reopen the club in its old location.
The club now plans to reopen as “The Q,” located in the Satellite Hotel in Colorado Springs.
“We will never be able to make those impacted by the shooting at Club Q whole, but we hope this new space can provide community healing,” management said in the press release. “We all have changed in so many ways, but we sincerely hope that the new venue can be a small part of rebuilding the Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ community.”
Michael Anderson, who was bartending the night of the shooting and is now the Club’s vice president of operations, said in an email late Monday that there were “no plans” to renovate the old building.
“Any decision we make to reopen the original venue will come at a much later date,” he said.
He continued that the decision was made based on speaking with other survivors of the shooting.
"We have heard other survivors say they would feel uncomfortable to come back into a space that went through something like this so soon I don't think anyone is wrong or it right for how they feel now we've heard everybody and we've decided the best way forward now it's open a new venue at a new location with a new name," said Anderson.
Club Q had announced plans to reopen at its previous location this fall. Those plans included a memorial honoring the five victims of the November 2022 attack: Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump.
Monday’s release said the club had seen “many frustrating delays with the design and approval” of that memorial, but that it was “in the final approval process” and that construction was expected “very soon.”
The memorial is still slated for construction adjacent to the club’s original location on North Academy Boulevard – a “solemn place,” as Anderson described it. The design of the memorial is unchanged.
Edward Stewart survived two gunshots on the evening of November 19th and has since supported the efforts
of a Club Q re-opening.
"For the last year almost, we've been going back and forth between different bars, and really not finding that safe space to be gay," Stewart says."We can move on. Club Q's reopening is a big step in that direction".
The person who carried out the attack that killed five and injured dozens more pleaded guilty this summer and was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences in prison for the five murders, and more than 2,000 more years for 48 attempted murder counts.
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Remembering the victims:
Raymond Green Vance
Ashley Paugh
Kelly Loving
Daniel Aston
Derrick Rump
