‘String of bad luck’: Bellevue school loses prom venue after Columbia Tower Club closure

Students at Bellevue’s International School are searching for a new venue for its prom after Seattle’s Columbia Tower Club recently announced it is closing on April 30.

The school educates students in grades 6-12, with the senior class consisting of 70 students. The Associated Student Body (ASB) noted that it has been fundraising for prom on June 6 for the last six years.

“I was just devastated,” Spencer Jarrard, International School’s ASB Senior Class Secretary, told FOX 13. “It feels like all that time we spent together, all that time spent raising money, might have been for nothing because we have no venue now.”

Jarrad mentioned ASB has contacted more than 17 other venues, and all of which are already booked.

“Business is business, but we want them to know that our community, our school, are the kind of people being affected by the situation,” Jarrard said.

International School students ‘scrambling’ for new prom venue after Columbia Tower Club closure

Jackson Novotny, International School’s ASB Executive Vice President and Senior, said they’re “scrambling” to find another space for prom, with only two months left to find another venue.

“We’ve kind of had bad luck this year when it comes to our dances and Homecoming,” Novotny told FOX 13. “In the fall, we had a power outage in the Pacific Northwest, and that got canceled because there was no power here at school. Then, our last dance got canceled as well for some other reason, so it’s just been a string of bad luck for us this year.”

Novotny said that having a prom is one of the pinnacle moments within the high school experience, but “to not have it would be brutal.”

Last year, students chose to hold their prom at the Space Needle, and this year’s class looked to top it by choosing the Columbia Tower Club as their venue. Although the club has refunded the school’s deposit, the students remain without a space for the annual dance.

Anyone with knowledge of an available venue on May 30, or June 5 or 6, is urged to contact the school.

Four-decade-old club gives members 30 days before final closure

The Columbia Tower Club will close after four decades, with a statement to members circulating online. The club stated it will be consolidating into The Collective, its primary club in South Lake Union.

“After extensive review, we have decided to consolidate our Seattle operations into a single location and move forward with The Collective as our primary club in the market,” The Columbia Tower Club wrote. “The Collective offers the environment and amenities best aligned with the future of our Seattle community.”

Members only have less than one month to grab a drink or enjoy the club’s fine dining before it closes on April 30.

“In this final month of operations, we will be focused on celebrating and creating opportunities for members to visit the club and learn more about the future events and opportunities and The Collective,” the Columbia Tower Club stated.

The Columbia Tower Club and The Collective are part of the City Club Collection. The only other club in Washington that is part of the City Club Collection is the Canterwood Golf and Country Club in Gig Harbor.

MyNorthwest reached out to the Columbia Tower Club for comment.

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

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