Fans of Tower District’s nightclub scene will soon get a breezy, botanical bar where they once knew the LGBTQ club FAB to be.

And, on the other side of town, Lewis Everk also plans to open a club in Old Town Clovis, this time with a Nashville theme.

Everk, who owns Everk Hospitality Group, says MIA will be a tropical nightclub in the Tower District aimed at everyone.

“MIA is going to be a fun, vibrant, tropical, bright colors, fusing nightclub elements, industrial elements with beautiful, botanical greenery in kind of a boho-type of vibe,” Everk said.

‘Forget About All the Different Titles and All the Division’

Everk has been working on MIA since January, when he met with property owners on occupying the former club that highlighted the LGBTQ community. FAB closed in December 2023 without explanation. After other nightclubs opened, including nearby Splash, also openly LGBTQ, lines for FAB declined.

Everk wants MIA to not have labels.

“MIA obviously stands for Missing in Action. We want people to come there and forget about all the different titles and all the division,” Everk said.

He compared to the club to Splash, where even though it’s an outwardly gay club, everybody goes there, including Everk.

Related Story: No Longer FAB-ulous, Tower District’s Famed Gay Club Closing

The space will be tropical once done, decorated with real and faux plants. After initial inspections are completed, Everk plans to put in the DJ booth and the furnishings.

Everk Hospitality also runs VYXN, Woodward American Grill, and Sunset — another Tower District club. The group’s director of beverages is already working on a drink menu, which Everk said would include tropical offerings.

The Plan for Nash West

Next door to Old Town Saloon on Clovis Avenue, Everk plans to reopen the now-closed Palace nightclub as Nash West, a country-themed nightclub.

The space has previously been Martin’s Bar and The Cellar. Given his experience in clubs, Everk said he can make the space work.

If he can get a temporary license, he can open the space immediately and get some cash flow while figuring out how the club will look. He’ll then shut down after Thanksgiving and reopen a completely rehabilitated space in the “Nashville” style he envisions by New Year’s.

Over the years, the space’s different operators have added to the aesthetic, “piling on year after year,” Everk said.

“There’s just a lot of stuff on the walls, there’s a lot of cleaning that needs to be done, and I think it’ll give us time to get in there,” Everk said.

Everk Wants MIA to Be Genuine

The MIA space has repeatedly been broken into and vandalized, but Everk says he’s undeterred. The fake plants he puts outside have been stolen numerous times. He replaces them as often as they are stolen.

“As fast as they can steal them, we’re going to put them back,” Everk said. “We refuse to let any criminal element take away from what we want to do in the Tower District.”

Everk talked to the FAB operators about how to make MIA work. He also consulted with them about drag shows — a regular feature of the previous club. They offered to schedule drag shows, but Everk said that because he had not done them before, featuring them might not not be “genuine.”

“You have Pride and you have all these events that happen in our district, which we’re so excited to take part in, it’s just something we have to learn,” Everk said. “We want it to be authentic, we want it to be genuine in our participation. We don’t want it to be viewed as opportunistic.”