international news _ 26th December, 2006
New York’s Limelight Sold For Shops
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
New York nightlife received another brutal blow this week, with the
announcement that seminal superclub venue the Limelight is to be turned into
a shopping mall.
In recent years the 6th Avenue converted Episcopal church traded as Avalon
though remained best known for being the centre of Michael Alig’s club kid
scene of the 90s. The club also continued to be targeted by local police who
most recently closed it down during a Halloween Party over licensing
technicalities.
The 1am raid prompted a despairing response from the venue’s last chief
Ricky Mercado, who told the Village Voice’ It's just like they are saying,
'Nightclubs—get the f**k out of New York City’, a prediction that appears
justified with Limelight’s future.
"The landlord has decided that he doesn't want to go forward with another
nightclub," financial broker Frank Terzulli, of Winnick Realty Group told
the New York Post this week.
"He's going to cut it up for retail tenants and a restaurant with patio
seating."
Eddie Dean from rival superclub Pacha was sympathetic, telling Skrufff
‘Whew, what a shame. Limelight will always be part of New York City
nightclub history’.
“I'm not quite sure what happened, but what little I’ve heard is the
overhead of being located on 6th Avenue was tremendous,” Eddie continued.
“The costs of operating a club in New York City have been steadily rising
and the cost of being actually on 6th Avenue had to have made things very
difficult. Avalon has had great success in other cities, but clearly New
York is different,” he said.
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