By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Beleaguered Chelsea hotspot M2 Ultra Lounge is slated to reopen its doors, thanks to a $7,500 deal brokered with the Health Department, according to the Daily News.
The West 28th Street club closed in mid-April after a series of disputes with the city.
Although smoking in city bars and nightclubs has been illegal since 2002, in January undercover inspectors said they found cigarettes for sale in M2 bathrooms and patrons lighting up unmolested, the News reported.
The sting came as part of a Bloomberg administration crackdown on venues that allegedly promoted smoking.
M2 also came under fire this spring from police who said it housed rampant drug deals and marijuana use, as well as rowdy, violent crowds, according to the New York Times.
In addition to paying the Health Department $7,500 in fines, M2 must draft a plan articulating how it would prevent smoking among its patrons, the News reported.
M2’s lawyer, Richard Emery, said the arrangement was “a tolerable result based on exaggerated charges, only a couple of which had any merit whatsoever,” according to the paper.