section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  The building was opened as a movie theater in 1973. It was converted into a nightclub in 1994, and underwent renovations in 2010 and 2015. Featuring two-story high ceilings over an expansive, open plan dance floor, it was able to host a thousand standing and 700 seated visitors. The building was equipped with large air conditioners and electric generators on the rooftop as well as large stage lighting and loudspeakers in the ceiling.
  
  In 2023, it caught fire after lightning struck a generator on the roof, but it was deemed structurally safe by firefighters. After the collapse, civil engineers and architects who reviewed the damages noted that the roof was inadequately supported by narrow columns on the sides and none in the center. The roof could have collapsed under its own weight due to fire-weakened concrete and the heavy machinery it was supporting. The club's owner, Antonio Espaillat, said that new plasterboard had been installed in the roof hours before the collapse, while waterproofing was done on the roof a month before the collapse.
  
  The Jet Set nightclub played live dance music on Monday nights, which attracted well-known people. At the time of the collapse, the nightclub was hosting a concert by merengue musician Rubby Pérez along with hundreds of spectators.