CHELSEA — The owner of the shuttered Shadow nightclub in Chelsea said he plans to "torment" complaining neighbors if officials stop a new owner from taking over the space from him.
"I'm going to dump money into [Shadow] and torment these people," longtime owner Steven Juliano said about neighbors who have complained for years about noise and crowds on the club's block.
"We will come back with a bigger, badder and blacker Shadow nightclub — and trust me, they'll really hate that last part."
Juliano hopes to sell Shadow to Michael Satsky, owner of Provocateur in the Meatpacking District. Satsky's liquor license application will appear before Community Board 5 on Wednesday, and will eventually need to be approved by the State Liquor Authority.
Juliano, who said he has stage III pancreatic cancer and only months to live, put the club up for sale late last year, claiming that neighbors only wanted him gone because the majority of his patrons are black.
The club at 229 W. 28th St. was closed by court order, according to an NYPD sign posted on its front door that provided no other details. According to Juliano, police came to the club at 9 p.m. on Thursday to shut it down.
"The joke's on them — we were already closed," he said. "We turned in our liquor license four days prior."
Juliano said he planned to fight the shutdown, then renovate the space if Satsky is unable to take over the club.
The club has hosted parties on the block for more than 17 years, though in recent years, residents in nearby condos complained of violence, loud parties, and massive crowds lining the streets when the club lets out. Those fed-up neighbors started an online petition asking cops to shut down the club. On Monday, the petition had 75 signatures.
The 500-person club has a history of violent incidents and was shut down once before in June.
"The thing on the door is absolutely positively meaningless except it prohibits me from entering my own club," Juliano said.
Satsky said he has already reached out to neighbors about his new project, and plans to invest millions to renovate the club.
"Provocateur is known to be the most private nightlife establishment and we are expanding on this concept," Satsky said.
"We are taking our private Provocateur concept while integrating a clientele of music enthusiasts in order to provide a larger stage for artists to perform. There will be nothing similar to the existing Shadow."
The NYPD and SLA did not respond to requests for comment.
