Avant Gardner, the huge Brooklyn leisure complicated finest recognized for housing the Brooklyn Mirage, has formally filed for Chapter 11 chapter. The transfer follows months of turmoil for the high-profile venue, which has remained closed since spring regardless of initially being scheduled to reopen for the 2024 season.
Bloomberg first broke the information, reporting that AGDP Holding, the mum or dad firm of Avant Gardner LLC, has filed for chapter safety in Delaware with roughly $155.3 million in funded debt obligations. In response to court docket filings, the corporate is going through a “important liquidity disaster” after a wave of postponed, cancelled, and relocated occasions gutted income. Some reveals had been moved to Avant Gardner’s indoor areas — the Nice Corridor and Kings Corridor — however the closure of the Brooklyn Mirage dealt a serious monetary blow.
Present CEO Gary Richards — additionally recognized within the music world as DJ Destructo — took over management two months in the past after the ousting of former CEO Josh Wyatt. In court docket paperwork dated August 4, Richards cited “more and more aggressive assortment actions” from sure financiers and contractors. The corporate had entered into financing agreements earlier this 12 months to fund renovations, however these offers have now develop into the topic of authorized disputes.
In its first public assertion since Could, Avant Gardner confirmed the chapter submitting and tried to reassure followers: “Avant Gardner’s Nice Corridor and Kings Corridor occasion venues are to stay open and working as ordinary through the Chapter 11 course of, persevering with to serve the colourful neighborhood of artists and followers which have made Avant Gardner a world class efficiency vacation spot.”
Richards added: “The Avant Gardner occasion complicated is a really particular music venue that has offered leading edge experiences over time for artists and followers from throughout the globe. Everybody I converse to has had the most effective units and really particular reminiscences on the Brooklyn Mirage. Two months in the past I used to be introduced in as CEO to rebuild the Firm’s tradition and switch the enterprise round. I imagine this Chapter 11 restructuring is probably the most viable path ahead – it’ll permit us to stabilize Avant Gardner and give attention to constructing for the longer term.”
Months of Monetary Pressure and Uncertainty
Rumors about Avant Gardner’s monetary troubles had been swirling for weeks. In July, Brooklyn Mag reported that Richards was actively searching for a purchaser for the venue because it was “bleeding cash.” An nameless worker warned that and not using a sale, chapter was inevitable, claiming that some employees members had been lacking months of again pay and vacation incentive wages.
“The corporate is so broke that sure workers are lacking months of again pay they usually’re not paying any vacation incentive wages,” the supply stated. “So far as hypothesis goes from me, this summer time is a wash.”
Artists and promoters have additionally been caught within the fallout. On July 31, DJ Nora En Pure introduced the cancellation of her August 22 Brooklyn Mirage present, telling followers: “As a lot of , Brooklyn Mirage will not be opening this summer time.”
One nameless Avant Gardner worker instructed Brooklyn Magazine that “issues are actually manner worse than individuals notice,” including that it is “very seemingly” the Brooklyn Mirage will not reopen subsequent 12 months both. The Division of Buildings’ web site presently lists the venue’s Non permanent Place of Meeting Certificates of Operation utility as moved to June 1, 2026 — a transparent signal that Mirage’s 2024 season is over and presumably an indication of a for much longer closure.
What’s Subsequent for Avant Gardner and the Brooklyn Mirage?
For now, the Nice Corridor and Kings Corridor stay operational, and Richards says the restructuring will give Avant Gardner an opportunity to regroup and rebuild. However the way forward for the Brooklyn Mirage — as soon as thought-about one of many premier large-scale music venues in New York Metropolis — stays deeply unsure.
Whether or not a purchaser steps in, a restructuring plan succeeds, or the venue stays shuttered for a number of seasons will decide not simply the destiny of Avant Gardner, but in addition the way forward for large-scale dance and digital music occasions in New York Metropolis.
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