Brooklyn Mirage and its parent company Avant Gardner have officially sold to a new owner, marking the latest development in a lengthy and troubled saga.
Dubai-based FIVE Holdings, the company behind the nightlife brand Pacha, recently purchased Avant Gardner and its centerpiece venue, Brooklyn Mirage, for $110 million.
“The sale follows a bankruptcy court approval for Axar [Capital Management], a longtime lender of Avant Gardner, to acquire most of the company’s assets, including the Brooklyn Mirage, at a bargain following a Chapter 11 filing in August,” Brooklyn Magazine reports.
FIVE Holdings operates several hotels and resorts around the world, including the long-standing Ibiza nightclub, Pacha. A source told Brooklyn Magazine that Brooklyn Mirage would turn into Pacha New York. Pacha operated a New York location in Hell’s Kitchen from 2005 to 2016; the group was acquired by FIVE in 2023.
The news presents a different ending than was initially anticipated for the beleaguered music venue. City permits filed last year indicated that Brooklyn Mirage would be demolished, after a botched reopening plunged the venue into bureaucratic limbo for months. However, the planned demolition faced its own share of hiccups, and the Mirage’s future remained uncertain.
Though it’s a new chapter, it might not be an entirely clean slate for the scandal-plagued venue. FIVE Holdings CEO Kabir Mulchandani, one of the richest men in the world, was jailed in Dubai on charges of fraud and embezzlement in 2009. He was later acquitted.