ORLANDO, Fla. — The owners of Parliament House say they are bringing the venue back to downtown Orlando, hoping to again provide a gathering place for the LGBTQ community 10 years after the Pulse nightclub shooting and several years after the original Parliament House closed.

Martin Donald Granatstein, president of Parliament House, and Susan Unger, its Chief Operating Officer, said the new location is in the former comedy club on Orange Avenue and Pine Street. They said the project has been five years in the making.

The original Parliament House, located on Orange Blossom Trail, was known for entertainment and as a welcoming space for Orlando’s LGBTQ community. After the June 12, 2016, shooting at Pulse Nightclub, where 49 people were killed and 53 others were injured, many people gathered at Parliament House while law enforcement began investigating the scene.

“I walked outside and there were police cars coming from every division and from everywhere,” Granatstein said. “And there’s like 25 police cars lined up across the front of our place. And I knew a couple of them and they came over to me and said we’re here to keep you guys safe.”

Granatstein and Unger had taken over Parliament House in 1999. They said they were in Siesta Key on the night of the shooting and returned to Orlando after their daughter told them what had happened.

“People didn’t know anything,” Unger said. “They were crying and hugging each other. It’s hard to think about, even now. Yeah, it’s terrible.”

The original Parliament House closed in 2020 and Granatstein and Unger said its absence has left a gap for many in the community.

“Everybody says the same thing to us that Orlando is not the same,” Granatstein said. “We’ve got a couple small bars but there’s no big center for us anymore and they need it.”

The new Parliament House will have the same types of events and shows as the previous location, Granatstein and Unger said. They said it will not be a hotel and resort, but they also have plans to make that part of the business a reality again.

Granatstein said the goal is to create a space where people can gather and feel welcome.

“We’re going to make it very special again and give them, hopefully, what the community wants and makes them feel safe,” he said.