After all that, it looks like the Brooklyn Mirage is heading toward demolition.
Photo: Zachary Mazur/Getty Images
It looks like Brooklyn Mirage is getting demolished. Avant Gardner, the parent company of the sprawling East Williamsburg music venue, filed a permit application on Friday to raze the multilevel complex. This is perhaps a fitting end to the saga that began earlier this year with a reported $30 million redesign, followed by permitting purgatory, and, eventually, bankruptcy.
The application to raze the venue, which was first reported by the Real Deal, is looking to demo 32,000 square feet at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. That bill will come on top of the more than $155 million that Avant Gardner owed as of August when the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg. Also in August, the Department of Buildings shared a lengthy list of issues it had with the Mirage’s redesign, including the fact that it didn’t meet the criteria for its “temporary structure” occupancy certificate since the structure being built was quite permanent. (A permit for a “non-temporary structure” comes with greater scrutiny, per the DOB.) There were a number of other reported safety issues, too, including a failure to install automatic sprinklers, and an apparent issue with the venue’s wind and earthquake resilience. “From its questionable footing to the large truss at its zenith, from its cantilevered mezzanines to its exterior walls, it was potentially unsteady, combustible, illegal, and no place to put 6,000 people,” Jimmy Oddo, the department’s commissioner, wrote at the time.
During the monthslong limbo, Avant Gardner fired CEO Josh Wyatt and installed Gary Richards, also known by his DJ alias, Destruco. In July, Brooklyn Magazine reported that Richards was overheard at Per Se griping about the challenges of finding a buyer for the company while it was hemorrhaging cash. But it appears a sale may finally may be in the works: Law360 reported that Avant Gardner is looking to sell its assets to an affiliate of its lender, with a hearing for this proposed settlement scheduled later this month. As for the demolition plans, well, we’ll see what happens next. When discussing the ill-fated redesign, Wyatt had promised a “new, mind-blowing sensory experience.” Watching a building get torn down might feel that way, too.