SOHO — Troubled nightclubs Greenhouse and W.i.P may finally be gone for good.
Greenhouse, which has been closed since April of last year, had a bid to renew its liquor license rejected by the State Liquor Authority Tuesday, after fewer than 30 minutes of testimony from SoHo residents and NYPD officers from the 1st Precinct.
The decision came after an eviction notice dated Jan. 20 was taped to the 150 Varick St. club's door.
Representatives of the company that owns Greenhouse and W.i.P, a subterranean club with an entrance on Vandam Street, did not show up to the SLA hearing.
Attempts to reach the owners through lawyers that have recently represented them were unsuccessful. A message sent to one the owners, Jon Bakhshi, through his website was not immediately answered. Bakshi's website still lists Greenhouse as one of Bakhshi's projects, though the club's website has been taken down.
Local residents and elected officials hailed the SLA's decision as a sign that the neighborhood is rid of the nightclubs, which have been plagued by violence and lawsuits for years.
“I’m very pleased the New York State Liquor Authority has decided to once and for all deny a liquor license renewal to this disruptive and dangerous nightclub," state Sen. Brad Hoylman said in a statement. "This establishment’s violent culture, along with its excessive noise and litter regularly interfered with the lives of too many of my constituents and while Greenhouse closed in April of 2014, today’s decision means that the surrounding community can rest knowing it will not return."
The SLA tried to shut down Greenhouse before, but the club's owners fought back and prevailed.
After Chris Brown and Drake were involved in a bottle-throwing brawl over Rihanna in 2012, the SLA issued 14 violations to Greenhouse and W.i.P, and ordered an emergency suspension of the clubs' liquor license. The club was shut down by police after the fight, and the owners were sued by NBA star Tony Parker, who said at the time that he almost lost an eye in the chaos.
But the clubs' owners sued the SLA, and a Manhattan judge ordered the liquor license reinstated just a month later.
A year later, the SLA tried to revoke the clubs' liquor licenses entirely, but a Manhattan judge lessened the penalty to a 10-day suspension, lowering the SLA's $20,000 fine to $10,000.
Just seven months after the judge saved the clubs' liquor license, a Bronx woman lost sight in her right eye when a fight broke out at Greenhouse and she was smashed in the face with a glass bottle. The club was shut down two months after that, and hasn't reopened since.
