Plans for a new comedy club to open downtown have fallen through.
Live Nation wanted to locate a Punch Line Comedy Club at 119 E. Toole St., displacing a local bar and a children’s play club.
News of the decision caused an uproar that included threats being made against the landlord as well as members of the Rio Nuevo board because of its support for the club.
At its meeting Tuesday, Rio Nuevo’s chairman said the anticipated deal for the club between Live Nation and the landlord, Peach Properties, could not be reached.
Live Nation, however, still is exploring other possible sites in the city, Fletcher McCusker said.
“They’ve identified Tucson as a good market,†McCusker said.
He did not say what caused the dissolution of deal between Live Nation and Peach Properties.
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The comedy club was to take over the space where Borderlands Brewing and currently reside. Both were told they would have to vacate by fall, but no new information was immediately available following Tuesday’s announcement about the status of the comedy club deal.
The board was supposed to hold an in-person meeting Tuesday, but it was switched to a virtual meeting due to safety concerns raised by the Tucson Convention Center staff.

A plan to bring Punch Line Comedy Club to downtown Tucson has fallen through, officials say. Live Nation, the parent company, is still looking at other Tucson sites.
On April 22, Rio Nuevo voted to provide $2.1 million to help the property’s landlord, Peach Properties, bring the club to Tucson. Projected revenues were said to be between $10.7 million in the first year and up to $12.1 million in the fifth year of operation.
At the board’s May meeting, following criticism of the deal, McCusker said the decision had been made in haste and changed the voting policy of future deals.
Under the new process, instead of voting to approve or deny a funding request during the same meeting it’s proposed, the board will delay a vote on funding until a separate meeting at a later date.
Rio Nuevo is a tax-increment financing district. That means it is funded by a portion of the sales-tax revenue created within the district, an area that mostly stretches from downtown and along East Broadway to Park Place.
McCusker reiterated to the virtual audience Tuesday that the district does not receive any allocated dollars from the city or state.