The Brooklyn Mirage Demolition Application Hits a Snag

By Scott Enman

The city wouldn’t let the Brooklyn Mirage open. Now it won’t let anyone tear it down either—at least, not just yet.

(Photo by Scott Enman)

On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Buildings issued objections to parent company Avant Gardner’s application for demolition, claiming it was missing documents that needed to be completed before it could be reviewed further. When asked for comment, a DOB spokesperson said they had yet to receive a response from Avant Gardner.

For clarity, we reached out to Oscar Mexia, a project manager at Mega Contracting Group, who claimed it’s “very normal” for there to be objections this early in the process—especially with paperwork—but questioned whether the Mirage would now be able to open for the 2026 season, a stated goal from Avant Gardner CEO Gary Richards. After all, it was a similarly vague “objections” that got stamped on Mirage’s Temporary Place of Assembly application in May, and we all know how that went. If, somehow, you don’t: They never opened, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in August and demolition in October.

A court has since approved a $110 million sale of the venue to Axar Capital Management, which was promptly sued by Mirage’s other lenders over alleged misrepresentations of the company’s financial condition, according to Bloomberg. “From here, the focus is on building for the future, which means stabilizing the company’s finances and focusing on the 2026 season and beyond,” Richards said in an email to employees on the day Avant Gardner filed for bankruptcy. “I’m committed to getting through the Chapter 11 process as efficiently as possible so that we can create an amazing season in 2026 and beyond,” he added.

Echoing Richards’ sentiment, a lawyer for Axar said the club would undergo “construction or possibly demolition…in order to get the facility ready for a 2026 season,” during a bankruptcy court hearing earlier this month, according to Gothamist.

Mexia, on the other hand, who has overseen the construction of many buildings in New York City, including most recently 15 and 20-story towers along the Gowanus Canal, said that demolition, coupled with potentially building a new structure, could put hopes of a 2026 season in serious doubt. “The demolition process from filing records, to doing pre-demolition inspections, and then going through with the demolition can take anywhere from two to three months,” he said, which would be January at the very earliest.

“To then build a new structure can take a while, and there are always unanticipated delays,” Mexia continues, noting some familiar snags Mirage hit over the summer. “Unless they have all their ducks lined up—which I highly doubt—there’s doing construction and then there’s passing that construction. You’re talking about doing all of that, after demolition, in four or five months? That would be extremely tight.”

Inside the hollowed-out Brooklyn Mirage (Photo by Scott Enman)

BKMAG stopped by the Brooklyn Mirage to see its current status, and it’s quite literally a shell of its initial grandeur. The back wall of the stage has been stripped and is just exposed plywood, shipping containers line the dance floor, and shoring work to stabilize the structure in advance of demolition is underway.

The demolition itself will cost Avant Gardner $1.5 million (plus a $1,271.40 filing fee), roughly five percent of what it cost to build the renovated venue in the first place—all while generating no revenue, unless you count the money brought in from DICE ticket sales. (Many fans who purchased tickets have yet to receive refunds for shows that were moved, rescheduled, or cancelled outright.)

The Mirage, in all likelihood, will almost certainly be able to clear the city’s objections and move forward with demolition, but many said the same thing back in May, then in June and July. So, at this point, we’re not ruling anything out.