The Rio Nuevo District was forced to close its office and send employees home Thursday after receiving a steady stream of threats over the news of a popular downtown brewery’s displacement.

Borderlands Brewing owner Es Teran posted on social media Wednesday night  that he’d learned that their home at 119 East Toole Avenue would be “turned over to a national comedy chain backed by Live Nation.” 

“While we recognize the work Rio Nuevo and Peach Properties have done to support downtown, this decision was made without a chance for us to collaborate or even be a part of the conversation,” Teran wrote.

The news spread quickly on social media and was picked up by local outlets, sparking the creation of a Change.org petition by early Thursday afternoon, urging Rio Nuevo and Peach Properties to reconsider.

But around that same time, Rio Nuevo was closing its doors and sending employees home for the day, said Vice Chairman Edmund Marquez.

“I never thought the reaction would be like this,” Marquez told Tucson Spotlight. "Es Teran put out a post today and unfortunately it resulted in death threats via email and phone call to our office. There have been some pretty negative phone calls and emails to Peach, too.”

Marquez said there’s a false narrative circulating that Borderlands and fellow building tenant Playformance were caught completely off guard.

Playformance owners Kevin Nichols and Anna McCallister-Nichols sent an email to customers Thursday saying that they learned about the agreement in an Arizona Daiiy Star article the day before.

"We run a business but we are not business people," they said in the email. "We are teachers and coaches who love and care about the kids and families we serve."

While they may not have been aware of the specifics of the deal, Marquez said both tenants knew something was in the works and that their departure could be imminent.

“In all realities, Peach has been in discussions for months now about something possibly coming to that space,” Marquez said. “Those leases are month-to-month leases. We literally toured the space on February 13 with Live Nation … in the middle of the day.”

Marquez said that both Borderlands and Playformance have been fantastic tenants, and that while it’s unfortunate that the property is currently occupied, the opportunity to bring an iconic comedy club to downtown will be positive for the economy.

Punch Line Comedy Club opened its first location in San Francisco in 1978 and has since opened clubs in Sacramento, Philadelphia and Houston.

“And now Tucson’s got one,” Marquez said. “This will be a fun place to have a weekend night out. It’s something we should celebrate. We’re honored and excited they’ve chosen Tucson.”

The club will feature two stages and offer performances in both English and Spanish. It's unclear what the plan will be for parking, with limited metered parking nearby and a single lot on the east side of the building that serves several downtown businesses.

Playformance will be in their space until August and will be proceeding with its summer camp, as planned. Borderlands owner Teran did not immediately respond to Spotlight’s request for comment.

Caitlin Schmidt is Editor and Publisher of Tucson Spotlight. Contact her at caitlin@tucsonspotlight.org.

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