After an often-thorny two-hour meeting with the State Liquor Authority on Thursday, Pacha New York received its temporary liquor license — with conditions — setting the stage for its June 20 opening and apparently sending Avant Gardner into oblivion.
For two hours at the May 29 meeting, Kabir Mulchandani, CEO of Pacha parent company FIVE Holdings and his lawyer, Max Bookman, worked to convince the SLA that the venue will not carry on the sins of its predecessor, the Brooklyn Mirage.
By the time Avant Gardner went bankrupt last year, it had seen three drug overdose deaths, dozens of SLA violations and several lawsuits. A total of 37 people wrote letters to the SLA about Pacha’s application, said chair Lily Fan, detailing a laundry list of concerns.
“Obviously … all of this has to do with the prior establishment,” Fan said. “There is generally a public safety concern here.”
The letters, she said, detailed issues from excessive noise to patrons yelling, littering and vomiting on local streets after leaving the venue.
The former Avant Garder site, pictured in 2023. File poto by Paul Frangipane
“People have written to us about mental health issues that result from permanent loss of sleep, that people cannot open windows while the location is under operation … which is pretty serious in my mind,” Fan said. “There used to be crowd management issues, vandalism issues, slashed tires, knife damage on cars.”
Gabriele Brody, who testified at Thursday’s meeting, said she lives close enough to the site that she watched the old Mirage structure be built and demolished from her window.
“I want to be clear, I’m not against nightlife, I like Bushwick and I choose to live here,” she said. “But I’m here because this neighborhood has families, life-long [residents], neighbors of mine, who’ve all lived here, we already survived Mirage. We know what this looks like, the overflow of people … the noise that bleeds into the apartment at 2 a.m., the litter, the crowds moving through the residential streets on the way out.”
Pacha makes its case
“We don’t begrudge anybody who has opposed this application, given the history of this venue. We walked into this understanding that there is a deep and troubled history with this venue,” Bookman said.
He said the team hoped to show that they “are capable of addressing every single one of the concerns that has been raised in a verifiable, stipulated, enforceable way.”
Mulchandani said Pacha has developed a ten-year, $27 million plan to address the issues raised by SLA commissioners and community members.
The Pacha team said they understood why community members were concerned about the venue, given the history of the Brooklyn Mirage. File photo courtesy of Chris Lavado/ShoreFire Media
He said a new Wi-Fi hotspot, free shuttle buses and temporary lights on busy sidewalks will ensure patrons can get home safely, and that crews will clean up some local streets after large events.
Pacha’s total capacity will be slightly less than Mirage’s, he said, and tracked with a live digital capacity meter. The venue’s past management, he said, ignored capacity levels and frequently had thousands more people inside than were technically allowed.
The team said Pacha will be equipped with around 175 security cameras and more than 70 security guards, who will be stationed both inside and outside the venue and near Newtown Creek, where three people — including two Mirage patrons — have drowned in the last few years.
Patrons will enter through AI-powered security scanners, he said, which can ID items like knives or firearms. People flagged by the system will be searched individually.
Pacha will have security guards stationed near Newtown Creek, where three people have drowned since 2023. File photo by Paul Frangipane
In response to Fan’s concerns about narcotics, Mulchandani said bag checks will be in place. Drugs will not be permitted in the venue, and anyone previously banned from the Mirage for bringing in narcotics will still be banned from Pacha.
The venue will have an in-house infirmary and a private ambulance, he said, drawing some concern from Fan.
“When you start having private ambulances, your own infirmary, your own doctors on-site, what may happen is there is no disclosure,” she said. “But we can talk about that.”
In 2021, a 23-year-old named Genesis Reynoso died after overdosing at the Mirage. Her death was not reported to the SLA, partially because she was taken to the hospital by a private ambulance contracted by the venue, according to Gothamist.
Pacha has also been outfitted with pricey acoustic walls, he said, to help tamp down on sound in the neighborhood.
“The beauty is I could reduce the volume,” he said. “So, you know, if somebody’s getting disturbed, we tested the system at full capacity. If we can’t run it at full capacity, we drop it down to a level at which the community is respected and the business works.”
Around 100,000 people live within a mile of the venue. File photo by Paul Frangipane
But local Brett Allan told the board that Pacha was testing its sound systems the night before the hearing, and that he could hear it loud and clear from his apartment, even with the windows shut and the air conditioner on.
“We saw the improvements the applicants wish to make, and I do believe they’re actually going to be making their best efforts to mitigate, but at the end of the day it’s a massive outdoor amphitheater,” he said. “It’s very difficult to contain bass waves, which are the most persistent thing that cut through.”
Mulchandani, in response, said the team had videos of the sound testing Allan referred to, and said the noise was there “even before we came to the space.”
“There was a lot of sound in the area, our sound could not be heard,” he said.
SLA lays out liquor license conditions
After nearly two hours, Fan said she would approve the license, with a long list of conditions, including formalizing its commitments to providing free buses, phone chargers and keeping Narcan on hand at the venue.
Pacha must have a walkthrough of the venue with elected officials, local community boards, and every person who wrote in to the SLA with concerns. That walkthrough is scheduled for June 8.
The venue can only host one show per night, with exceptions for some holiday weekends, and can only sell to capacity, without the usual built in 20% no-show rate. From Sunday to Wednesday, music has to end by 2 a.m., and the venue has to be empty by 2:30 a.m., with longer hours, until 4 a.m., Thursday through Sunday.
Fireworks are banned late at night, Fan said, and Pacha will have to supply its Department of Buildings and FDNY certifications to the SLA. The venue has received a Certificate of Occupancy and a Temporary Place of Assembly Certificate of Operation, which comes into effect on June 1, records show.
A rendering of Pacha’s interior. Image courtesy of Pacha New York
The venue must provide a live complaint hotline, she said, and keep a monthly log of ticket sales, volume complaints, safety incidents, and capacity levels.
“All of those things you’re going to put in a report that you will keep, but that you will provide to the [SLA] when the [permanent] license application comes up,” Fan said.
It also can’t use the Mirage name for any reason, she said, and must make an effort to stop third-party promoters or ticket sellers from using it.
SLA co-commissioners Edgar De Leon and John Maya voted to approve the temporary license with conditions.
“I hope that this works out. Obviously, you know that we have enforcement, and we, I’m sure, are going to check on how things are going in an undisclosed way,” De Leon said. “But I really hope that this works out. I really commend the efforts that you’ve made to turn things around.”
Fan sent Mulchandani and Bookman on their way with a final warning.
“If the sound pollution is very severe, I’m going to ask you to build a building there,” she said. “You can probably afford it … I believe in you guys, I just don’t know if we need an outdoor club at this particular place where 100,000 people live in a one-mile radius, and if I go to a two-mile radius, probably 300,000 people.”