The Bunker, an LGBTQ basement nightclub at the intersection of 14th Avenue and U Street NW, was forced to close earlier this week after a sprinkler system failure in the sandwich shop above the club caused widespread flooding and water damage.
“We got a call from the fire alarm company early Sunday morning,” said Zach Renovates, one of the Bunker’s co-owners. Metro Weekly“The sprinkler system in the building was activated so my bar manager quickly arrived on scene and brought the fire brigade inside. The fire brigade determined that Subway had a faulty sprinkler head.”
“There were hundreds of gallons of water going into the club. It was coming through the subway floor and into our facility. So they turned the water off, but they couldn’t actually stop it all the way and they had to turn it off a little bit more after we asked them multiple times. It was about an hour after it started that they finally shut it off completely. So just imagine the sprinkler heads on the facility above us going for an hour without stopping. It did a lot of damage to the bunkers.”
Renovates said the club had sent a “flood response team” inside to help clear the water and dry out the area. The team also removed the ceiling, several flooded light fixtures and damaged equipment.
“It’s completely dry, which is great,” says Renovates. “Now we can put the ceiling back up. We have a great team of contractors who are literally ready to put the ceiling back up and paint it. We also have a team from an audio and visual company that we’re working with who are standing by to reinstall the new light fixtures once the ceiling is back in place in the next few days.”
Renovates declined to disclose the exact cost of the renovations but said the damage was “extensive.” Fortunately, he said some of the costs will be covered by insurance. Unfortunately, the dance club is usually only open Thursday through Sunday, so the week-long closure has hurt business at the Bunker.
“We tried to make fun content about it. Social media“We want people to know for a fact that there was flooding,” he said, “we’re not making it up, and we’re working on getting it back up and running so we can reopen to all our happy customers next week.”
News of the flooding spread on social media, with some patrons expressing sadness over the damage and the club’s temporary closure.
The bunker is not flooded. pic.twitter.com/6Os767m0Lo
— Spencer Alan Brooks (@SpencerSays) August 1, 2024
To celebrate its reopening once all repairs are completed, the Bunker will host a “Thirsty Thursday Swimsuit Party” featuring music from DJ Dez Jordan on Thursday, August 8th from 10pm to 3am. There will also be free admission, free coat check and a promotion on $1 vodka and water drinks from 10pm to midnight.
“We’re basically poking fun at the fact that it was literally raining inside the store,” Renovates said. “We want the community to know, ‘We’re here, we’re back, and we’re not going anywhere.'”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
