Is it true?

[bugoutgirl]

ok folks now i know this is a DC board but i was just wondering if anyone else had heard about limelight in NY closing? Also i hear Tunnel is being auctioned off... not that those clubs compared to Twilo but still, lets not complain about the DC scene sucking at least we dont have to worry about our clubs being taken away... BTW how's everyone? I havent posted in a while... im hung over as shit... got into it with my boyfriend last night... great! fun fun fun... today is going to suck

[millele]

yup, tis true. this is from a buddy of mine:

AUG 14, 2001

2 Troubled Midtown Nightclubs Sold at Auction

By KATHERINE E. FINKELSTEIN

Two problem-plagued Manhattan nightclubs, both owned by Peter Gatien,

the former nightlife magnate, were up for sale yesterday at an

auction in bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

One of the clubs, the Limelight, which was in a former Episcopal

church at 20th Street and the Avenue of the Americas, was sold for

$3.2 million to Flatiron Entertainment LLC, which plans to use the

space for an upscale discotheque, an Off Off Broadway theater, a

cabaret and a site for corporate parties.

The auction of the other club, the Tunnel, at 27th Street and 12th

Avenue, was postponed until next Tuesday, because interested buyers

needed more time to organize their bids, according to Alan Klinger,

one of Mr. Gatien's lawyers.

Some of the money from the Limelight sale will go toward paying $1.95

million in back rent that Mr. Gatien owes, and $864,000 in back

taxes, according to Ethan Geto, a spokesman for Flatiron

Entertainment.

Mr. Gatien was one of the city's most influential club impresarios in

the 1980's. But in the 1990's, as Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani

accelerated his crackdown on quality-of-life offenses, Mr. Gatien

attracted the attention of government prosecutors.

In 1998, federal prosecutors accused Mr. Gatien of turning the

Limelight and the Tunnel into drug bazaars. He was acquitted. But Mr.

Gatien and his wife, Alessandra, pleaded guilty in January 1999 to

state tax-evasion charges, agreeing to spend 90 days in jail and pay

$1.88 million in back taxes and fines.

That same month, an 18-year-old died in the Tunnel of a drug overdose

after combining Ecstasy with ketamine, an anesthetic known as Special

K. Police raids and arrests at the clubs continued until Mr. Gatien

agreed to outside monitoring.

Problems at the Tunnel continued, however. In February 2000, a 27-

year-old man was shot there. And last April, a 16-year-old was

stabbed to death and a man was shot twice during a brawl involving

clubgoers who had been ejected from the club.

Yesterday, Mr. Geto made much of what he called a trouble-free

relationship that one of Flatiron's owners, John Blair, had in

promoting parties that have drawn no noise complaints.

Flatiron's promotional material says that a "zero-tolerance policy

towards illegal drug use both on and around the premises will be

enforced at all times." The company claimed that patrons at its

clubs, unlike those of some other clubs, are likely to be older than

the patrons Limelight had attracted.

One of Mr. Gatien's lawyers, Benjamin Brafman, said yesterday that

Mr. Gatien had had no choice but to turn to bankruptcy court, where

he believed he would get fair treatment.

[vixenfoxxy]

Limelight was just sold this week to John Blair, but it is not closing. We are running DJ Scot Project Friday night and parties there continue. I'm happy for Peter that he got out of it, I mean he was positively miserable, but it's such a sad situation when the city has to get all over someone like that just so some politicians can look good. Well, let's hope that John can run a clean operation and keep the city off his back

[danny c]

limelight as a club will most likely live on given john blairs involvement. the three who purchased the limelight bought it all, including the cabaret license, so their intention is to keep the space alive.

for one, i'm happy about that. i personally wasn't too happy with what gatien had done to the limelight. granted, he was pretty much walking on egg shells around the local neighborhood committees and city gov't...hopefully blair and company can bring some new life to the space.

daniel