PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After an outpouring of community support, the William Way LGBT Community Center will not leave its building in Center City’s Gayborhood.
Following last week’s announcement that the center would close the building permanently on Dec. 18 and relocate, due to $3.5 million in repairs needed to keep it open, its board did an about-face. In a statement, center officials said that it will not be leaving its long-time home at 1315 Spruce Street.
As Executive Director Darius McLean explained, the wave of concern was accompanied by generous donations. “They’re partnering with a nonprofit developer to bring us back and maintain our footprint in the Gayborhood,” he said, “and they’re still working out the details as to what that is going to be like.”
Like many people in the community who heard the news, Tom Burley and Orlando Casanueva were relieved by the unexpected turn of events. The pair have been regulars at the center for decades and called it the best holiday gift they could have ever imagined.
“It’s very exciting,” said Burley. “It seems like it’s been lots like, ‘Are we open, are we closed?’ But I think it sounds like good news.”
“This is like family for all of us — and me too,” Casanueva said.
According to McLean, the main building will close temporarily starting Dec. 18. Its programming will operate out of the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany, just around the corner.
He called the development a win, and said it boiled down to visibility and community.
“I think a lot of us know we’ve been being pushed out of the Gayborhood and it’s being gentrified,” said McLean. “This is an opportunity to stay where we’ve always been.”