New York City nightlife will be getting another shot in the arm with the arrival of Pacha, a European-style venue swinging open its doors soon after a top down renovation of the old Sound Factory space on West 46th, between 11th and 12th.

I dropped by to visit a dear friend, Amanda Pearl, who is working on booking and business development and got a first hand look at the new venue, which is under construction, but almost complete. Everything has been blown out and replaced. A new dance floor and DJ booth on the main floor puts the DJ in the forefront, instead of up in the corner, where the booth was originally located.

This continues a trend in the U.S. of co-opting the European way of presenting the DJ booth as the focal point of the club. For many years, American club owners relegated the DJ to a windowed box somewhere in the corner of the club in order maximize floor space and profits, purposely keeping performer disconnected from crowd. Through the late 80’s and early 90’s U.S. club owners loved hiring DJs for next to nothing to pack the house and keep them dancing and drinking, but generally frowned upon a DJ gaining any more notoriety than a one line blurb in the local nightlcub listings and their name on a flyer.

Fortunately, things have changed and Pacha New York continues the trend towards the DJ as the focal point, blending the booth unobtrusively into the design of the main room to construct a cohesive clubbing experience.

I’m very, very excited about this spot. Mainly, because New York needs a classy, understated club that’s not so in your face. Ever since the closing of Centro Fly, we haven’t had a good mid-sized, multi-tiered venue focused on quality house music, save for Cielo, which is an excellent venue, but has a much smaller capacity.

So, if you’re looking for the big club experience without the bridge-and-tunnel drama, I think you’re definitely going to find it at the new Pacha New York. Subliminal Records head-honcho, Erick Morillo, who’s been a resident DJ at Pacha in Ibiza for many years is co-owner of the club, along with a local partner (who I’m not sure I can name here, so I won’t) and the owners of the Pacha brand of over 26 nightclubs worlwide. Their flagship venue being the long-running club on the island of Ibiza, Spain.

Rob Fernandez of Rob Promotions will be handling some of the promotion responsibilities and PR-guru, Maggie Stein will be working on PR and Marketing.

Amanda outlined the club’s music policy, which will center around Morillo’s residency and include both nationally recognized DJs as well as focusing on developing local talent. Where other venues usually relegate the resident DJ to second-tier status, Pacha New York plans to really market and promote their residents to increase their profile, which will only benefit the club in the long run.

As an international brand, if they can develop DJs here in New York and those same DJs are successful outside of the city, it will bring name recognition to the Pacha New York through those stewardships, increasing the profile of the club and resulting in increased attendance to see DJs who have made a name for themself through the venue.

There’s more to write about Pacha, but I have some homework to finish…lol, so I gotta jet. Stayed tuned, I’ll keep you posted.

For now, visit http://www.pachanyc.com, which will be the local web site for the club. It’s currently in development, but they have a splash page with a countdown feature working down towards the opening of the club. You can enter your email address to win a VIP table and bottle service at the club for the opening, 20 tickets to the opening, or t-shirts and other prizes.

Tony Z.

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