Is NYC’s infamous Limelight club facing a new future?
Huge for-sale and for-lease signs have appeared outside an infamous New York City church.
The striking Gothic Revival building at the corner of 20th Street and Sixth Avenue is one of Manhattan’s most legendary shape-shifters — it has hosted a groundbreaking nightclub, a trendy shopping space, an edgy gym and a myriad of pop-ups over the decades.
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Now, it appears the deconsecrated church stands to sell or find a new tenant.
The Instagram account @newyorklocals shared photos of the advertisements earlier this week. “Can someone please make this the Limelight again?” the caption asked, referring to the fabled turn-of-the-century nightclub.
Before the site became an icon of ‘80s nightlife — or a den of drug-fueled iniquity, depending on who you ask — the Church of the Holy Communion was your typical Episcopalian place of worship, catering to Sixth Avenue’s well-heeled WASPs 100 years before before the term even existed.
The sprawling and asymmetrical stone facade was initially built in the mid-19th century. It was made a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966.
The church emptied out as the neighborhood declined in the ’60s and ’70s, Curbed reported in 2016, leasing on the cheap to an academic research group and a rehabilitation center before it fell into the hands of a visionary nightclub owner, Peter Gatien.
Gatien’s Limelight — one of several clubs the Canadian businessman operated in the city — launched with a bang in 1983. Andy Warhol hosted opening night and the church’s chapel space was used for foam parties, according to Curbed.
The Limelight’s debaucherous atmosphere defined the most famous era of NYC rave culture, but it is widely reported that the business devolved into a drug-dealing hotspot. The club had close ties to the countercultural Club Kids, and the brutal murder and dismemberment of drug dealer Angel Melendez for which the club’s promoter, the late Michael Alig, was convicted.
Repeated crackdowns by the city proved too much for Gatien, who was plagued by his own legal issues. The final iteration of the Limelight shut its doors for good in 2010, and the club’s gothic home went on to new but unlucky chapters in retail and fitness.
In 2010, the site became a three-story boutique shopping destination for artisanal brands, but that endeavor lasted just a few years. Then it became a nightclub-themed gym, a French bistro and successive pop-ups. More recent plans sought to turn the church into a performance space.
Today, the giant red doors of the Church of the Holy Communion’s main sanctuary are securely locked. The extremities of the once-sacred property are occupied by the Limelight Pizza NYC and Jue Lan Club, a dim sum restaurant.
Employees of both establishments told The Post that their properties are separately operated from the main sanctuary. Two employees who spoke with The Post were unaware of any details regarding the sanctuary’s current ownership or plans to find a new occupant. They confirmed that the sanctuary is currently vacant.
City records indicate the entire parcel is owned by Mansion Realty LLC. The LLC is connected to Ben Ashkenazy’s real estate firm, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation.
Despite the flashy adverts, no public listings for the enigmatic property have materialized.
A representative for the company confirmed it owns the building, but parties privy to additional details on the potential sale/lease could not be reached by press time.
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