An iconic New York City music venue applied to be demolished, potentially bringing an end to years of drama marked by mystery deaths and a bankruptcy.
Avant Gardner, the owner of the Brooklyn Mirage, filed a permit for its full demolition on October 10.
They are looking to tear down the 32,000-square-foot live music venue, which would cost about $1.5million.
The East Williamsburg venue was scheduled to reopen in May but instead filed for bankruptcy in August.
The company cited $155.3 million in debt, according to Bloomberg.Â
However, the Brooklyn Mirage was not only suffering from financial issues. Its structure was also not up to par.
The New York City Department of Buildings found the venue lacked automatic fire sprinklers or exit stairwells, and it did not meet accessibility requirements, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
The Brooklyn Mirage is part of the 80,000-square-foot Avant Gardner property.
Bringing down the 32,000-square-foot music venue would cost roughly $1.5millionÂ
The iconic East Williamsburg club has been shuttered all year
Part of its reopening was centered around proposals to improve customer safety.
However, the venue’s owners were informed just days before that its temporary permit for that was being revoked.
Avant Gardner met with New York City authorities ‘numerous’ times but were unable to obtain a new permit.Â
Gary Richards, the CEO of Avant Gardner, wrote in court documents that losing the Brooklyn Mirage was ‘catastrophic’ for the company.
Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Richards added, was the ‘most viable path forward.’Â
The Brooklyn club’s downfall started in 2023Â when a class action lawsuit filed after that year’s Electric Zoo music festival led to Avant Gardner facing ‘operational and financial’ challenges, according to court documents.
The festival was marked by ubiquitous problems including late starts, technological glitches and the first day being canceled.
The Brooklyn Mirage was set to reopen in May but filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August
On the third and last day of Electric Zoo, people dangerously rushed the gates.
New York City mayor Eric Adams said after the event: ‘It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo, and we were not going to allow that to happen.’
That same year, the bodies of two 27-year-old men were discovered a month apart not far from the Brooklyn Mirage.  Â
John Castic and Karl Clemente were both found dead after having gone missing from the iconic club.Â
Castic was a Goldman Sachs analyst who was captured walking past a pizza truck parked outside the music venue before his body was later recovered from the Newtown Creek.Â
Clemente was also discovered in the creek.Â
Security at the Brooklyn Mirage had reportedly turned him away for being too drunk before even entering the club.Â
John Castic (left), Karl Clemente (center) and Damani Alexander (right) were found dead near the venue
In August, the Brooklyn Mirage posted that it wanted to return ‘for 2026 and beyond’
Both deaths were attributed to drowning.Â
One year later, another mysterious death happened near the Brooklyn Mirage.
Damani Alexander, 30, of Brooklyn, was found washed up in the same creek as Castic and Clemente.
Before dying, Alexander fired off a series of text messages which suggested that he was in danger.
The trio of deaths led to a wave of serial killer rumors in Brooklyn and across New York City, although that was never substantiated by the New York City Police Department.Â
In March, then-CEO Josh Wyatt announced that the Brooklyn Mirage’s dance floor would become ‘the largest in New York City’ as the space was transformed into an ‘open air sanctuary.’Â
That was before the venue was shuttered for the 2025 season and Wyatt was replaced by Richards as Avant Gardner’s head.Â
On August 4, the Brooklyn Mirage’s Instagram page posted that it was looking to ‘bring the Mirage back for 2026 and beyond.’Â
If the demolition is approved, that return will have to take place in an entirely new capacity.