By Serena Solomon
DNAinfo Reporter/Prodcuer
MIDTOWN — The operator of a proposed Hell's Kitchen dance club slated to be part of the city's first gay tourist oasis unexpectedly pulled his application for a liquor license at a local community board meeting on Thursday.
The operator and part owner of the proposed XL nightclub, John Blair, temporarily removed his application from the agenda of Community Board 4’s Wednesday night meeting without specifying an exact reason.
The dance bar, to be located in the basement of the proposed Out NYC Urban Resort — a 123-room hotel at W. 42nd Street near Tenth Avenue — was expected to earn easy approval after impressing the board committee that oversees liquor licenses last month.
"Apparently, some of the building owners had some issues that they wanted to see resolved," said Robert Benfatto, district manager of CB 4. "It was agreed they would keep talking and wait a few weeks to resolve things."
However, Benfatto said that XL would be going before the committee once again next week in advance of April’s full board meeting, indicating there could be some changes to the liquor license application.
Michele de Milly, a spokesperson for the proposed club, said XL's application should be back before the full board next month and cited "technical issues" for why it was pulled from the agenda.
Many supporters of the bar who showed up to the meeting in favor of the application were also caught by surprise and streamed out of the meeting when it was announced that XL had been pulled from the agenda.
