Superclub Comeback

[groovefire]

SUPERCLUB COMEBACK

By MIKE GWERTZMAN, NY POST

August 7, 2003 -- IF you like your nights out big and loud, we've got some good news for you: The giant, anything-goes mega-clubs that once defined the city are coming back.

As of this fall, no longer will you have to schlep off to Miami, Ibiza or Los Angeles to party with a massive sound system and world-class DJs.

Three new superclubs are entering the fray, all of them at the hands of out-of-towners who are betting New Yorkers are hungry for that big club experience.

Buying the legendary Limelight space represents a homecoming for Steve Adelman - who used to run the club with Peter Gatien in the mid-'90s.

Along with partner John Lyons, Adelman is transforming the former church into AVALON (6 W. 20th St.), opening in September.

"People come to New York to experience things," says Adelman, one of the kings of Boston night life. "They want something they can't do anywhere else. The Limelight is a building where you can get that."

Designer David Ashen (XL and Capitale) is sprucing up the club, which was reopened briefly as Estate last year, and the entire building is being outfitted with a new custom-designed sound rig and state-of-the-art lights system. The club's multiroom layout will also house a more exclusive Spider Room, for the celebrity set.

Few openings are more hotly anticipated than CROBAR, which finally will open its doors in October after more than two years of work.

There's already a documentary being filmed and a possible "The Restaurant"- style reality TV show in the works, but Crobar owners Cal Fortis and Ken Smith believe their massive West 28th Street space will speak for itself - with three separate dance spaces and three smaller rooms, including a main room with 60-foot high ceilings.

"We want to take you on a ride," he says.

Recalling his days of partying at Danceteria, Palladium and Area, Fortis hopes to revive that era's clubland mix of downtown hipsters, models and art types.

Are New Yorkers ready for a nightclub that offers vegetarian food, tarot readings and chakra balancing? Robbie Wootton, the force behind SPIRIT, thinks so.

The New Age club is certainly on sacred ground: It's opening in the West 27th Street building that held Twilo and the Sound Factory.

"The days of going to a dark room listening to the DJ on his own are changing," Wooten declares. Spirit will merge dancing and DJ-ing with live musicians and theatrical performances (think Cirque de Soleil and De La Guarda).

The club itself will be divided into three separate areas: Body will be the main dance floor, Soul is the restaurant upstairs overlooking the floor, and Mind is the "spiritual wellness" center with tarot readers.

Succeed or fail, these three clubs will at least provide welcome new club options for New Yorkers.

But can the city accommodate all three? Says Adelman, "New York can handle it."

[flavanugz]

God I hope they have the same residents as Avalon.....