NEWS: Limelight finds new "lease" on life
This building has more lives than the proverbial cat ~ hopefully the largely intact interior will survive this latest iteration (although how a retail store plans to advertise its existence both adequately & appropriately is an interesting question. )
From the New York Post
SHOPPING ‘CLUB’
By BRADEN KEIL
December 19, 2006 — The former Episcopal church that once housed the sacrilegious Limelight nightclub will be born again – as a retail mini-mall.
Now known as the Avalon nightclub, the legendary 12,000-square-foot venue on Sixth Avenue at West 20th Street will shutter its doors in early 2007.
“The landlord has decided that he doesn’t want to go forward with another nightclub,” said broker Frank Terzulli, of Winnick Realty Group.
“He’s going to cut it up for retail tenants and a restaurant with patio seating.”
Terzulli added, “The area is becoming more upscale with high-priced condos and stores, and that will make it more difficult to get permits from the community board” for a nightclub.
Cops have been cracking down on Chelsea nightclubs and their rowdy and sometimes violent patrons since the murder last summer of 18-year-old Jennifer Moore, who was killed after a night of drinking at the Guest House nightspot.
Officials have warned club owners that they will conduct more stings on underage drinking and insist that the clubs do more to police themselves.
Community leaders have also complained about Chelsea’s club-filled districts, which have been blasted as a “teenage wasteland.”
Landlord Ben Ashkenazy’s company, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., owns and operates several retail malls and the three flagship Barneys stores in New York, Chicago and Beverly Hills.
Sources say international discount-clothing retailer H&M is the likely main tenant for the space, which features triple-height ceilings and mezzanine levels.