New owner plans to carry on Metro’s LGBTQ legacy on Mass Ave

Bill Pritt, owner of Mass Ave sushi restaurant FortyFive Degrees, says he has no plans to disrupt LGBTQ nightlife at Metro, his latest acquisition.

Metro, 707 Massachusetts Ave., is a long-running karaoke and drag-show fixture of the city’s LGBTQ community.

Pritt has been on a mission to preserve Metro’s party for more than a decade, attempting to purchase the 150-year-old building in 2012 and 2020 before successfully completing a deal last month.

“It’s my third attempt to get that property,” Pritt said. “I couldn’t believe it for two or three weeks. I kept thinking I was going to wake up one day. But it’s not a dream.”

According to public property records, Pritt paid $2 million for the 7,200-square-foot building.

Pritt said his ownership of FortyFive Degrees and his plans to open a new restaurant in a former bank branch near Riley Towers Apartments might have led to speculation that Metro’s atmosphere was subject to change.

“Metro is staying Metro,” he said. “I’m going to clean it up a little bit and put in some new flooring to get rid of the carpet. Just elevate it a little bit. That’s all.”

Known as the Knauf building or “Knauf Block,” the storefront at 707 Massachusetts Ave. was built in 1874 by baker Adam Knauf. The structure was an addition to one of the longest-standing buildings along Massachusetts Avenue: a house Knauf built in 1864.

The combined building was in poor condition in 1990, when it sold at auction for less than $60,000.

Indianapolis attorney Marc Griffin renovated the building and opened Metro as an entertainment destination on Dec. 31, 1990. Griffin’s partner, Donald Griffin managed the business until his death in 1991.

Griffin retained ownership of the building but sold the Metro business to Jim Brown in 1992. Eventually, Brown purchased the building for $1.1 million in 2012. Brown sold the building and business to Pritt on May 2.

Pritt, board president of AIDS service organization Damien Center, said Metro will formally celebrate its 34th anniversary on New Year’s Eve.

Although the business has included “nightclub and restaurant” as part of its name, Pritt said he’s rebranding to the single word “Metro.”

“I don’t want anyone to define what it is or isn’t based on any descriptors,” he said. “It’s just ‘Metro,’ and then whatever anybody interprets it to be is what it is to them.”

The dining component of Metro includes bar staples such as burgers, wings, nachos and chicken strips.

As described in Indiana State Library documents, the building features exterior design schemes that correspond to its three floors. A stone arcade defines the ground-floor entrance, while arched stone tops the second-floor windows and horizontal stone tops the third-floor windows.

The building is part of the Massachusetts Avenue Commercial District and the Chatham-Arch Historic District, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s a significant place for Chatham Arch residents, but it’s also a significant place for the gay community,” Pritt said of Metro.