Pacha New York is weeks away from opening in the same spot where cursed nightclub Brooklyn Mirage once stood – and alarm bells are ringing.
Before it was razed a few months ago, the former East Williamsburg nightclub owned by Avant Gardner fell dramatically from grace following a series of scandals. It was then shuttered for good.
In the years leading up to its closure, Brooklyn Mirage’s legacy crumbled.
One patron died from a drug overdose, another was allegedly kidnapped from outside the venue, and then the bodies of three young men – two of whom had visited Brooklyn Mirage – were recovered from the nearby Newtown Creek.
The club underwent renovations in 2024, during which management issues eventually consumed operations, and it never re-opened.
While the arrival of Pacha New York welcomes a new chapter for the ill-fated venue, its location remains all too painful for those whose loved ones died nearby.
Karl Clemente’s body was found floating in Newtown Creek in June 2023, days after being refused entry to Brooklyn Mirage. A friend of his exclusively told the Daily Mail she was ‘disgusted’ to learn that Pacha is opening in the same location.
‘I feel like they’re treating it as like a cash grab,’ she said.
Pacha New York is set to open where the ill-fated Brooklyn Mirage (pictured) once stood
Brooklyn Mirage, owned by Avant Gardner, closed for good in 2025 following a series of delayed renovations
The night he died, Clemente, a 27-year-old clinical case manager who helped young people navigate mental health issues, hadn’t even made it inside the club. He went there to see a music act, but security turned him away for being too inebriated.
When his body was pulled from the water on June 16, there were no obvious signs of trauma. His death was ruled a drowning and non-suspicious.
The friend, who asked to remain anonymous, added that she feels Clemente was failed in part by the Brooklyn Mirage after security guards turned him away, but also by those he was with.
‘If you’re kicked out in Midtown or in the Lower East Side, that’s completely different from getting kicked out of the middle of nowhere in Brooklyn,’ she said.
‘[Brooklyn Mirage] should have known better, they should have had systems in place.’
While police determined there was no foul play, our source said many of Clemente’s friends believe there was another party involved.
‘In our gut, we feel it wasn’t him just drowning,’ she said. ‘It was like someone put him there.’
The body of Karl Clemente was found in Newtown Creek in 2023, days after he had been denied entry at Brooklyn Mirage
Clemente was out with friends, going to see a concert the night he went missing
In July 2023, weeks after Clemente’s body was found, John Castic, a 27-year-old Goldman Sachs analyst, disappeared after leaving Brooklyn Mirage.
Following a city-wide search, his body was also found in Newtown Creek. His death was ruled an accidental drowning.
Eamon Stenson, who said Castic was his best friend, exclusively told the Daily Mail why he will never visit Pacha when it opens.
‘With everything that happened with John, I personally wouldn’t go – and it’s not a slight on the Pacha Group,’ Stenson said.
‘For me, there’s just too many negative memories associated with that area. I don’t think I would be able to fully enjoy myself. I think it would bring up bad vibes, which is the last thing you want if you’re spending all that money to go to a place like that.’
In the wake of Castic’s death, Stenson, 33, and his friends had tried to host a vigil outside Brooklyn Mirage. He claimed the venue swiftly shut down those proposed plans.
John Castic vanished after he left Brooklyn Mirage. He disappeared just a few weeks after Clemente was found
Castic was also found in Newtown Creek, and police declared his death an unsuspicious drowning
Eamon Stenson (left), a friend of Castic, told the Daily Mail he later tried to hold a vigil outside Brooklyn Mirage, but claimed the venue shut down his plans
‘The club said we were not allowed to do it outside Brooklyn Mirage because it’s private property,’ Stenson continued. ‘I get that they had a lot of negative press, but our friend just passed away.
‘To me, it’s just scummy behavior and it left a really bad tasted in my mouth.’
Another mysterious death occurred near the Brooklyn Mirage one year after Clemente and Castic’s bodies were discovered.
Damani Alexander, 30, was found dead in the same creek in August 2024.
The night of his death, Alexander had told friends he was at the Knockdown Center, a 20-minute walk from Brooklyn Mirage.
He’d also sent several text messages which implied that he was in danger.
‘I think dudes trynna kill me,’ one read, according to The New York Times.
Another read: ‘Dudes waiting for me outside.’
The three deaths stoked online speculation that a serial killer was lurking in Brooklyn. The NYPD, however, said the deaths were not connected.
There was never any evidence of foul play in Clemente and Castic’s deaths, and while Alexander’s cause of death was ruled undetermined by a medical examiner, police said there were no signs of violence.
Damani Alexander, 30, was discovered in Newtown Creek one year after the deaths of Clemente and Castic
A medical examiner ruled the cause of Alexander’s August 2024 death undetermined
Prior to the three deaths, clubgoer Genesis Reynoso died in the hospital following a drug overdose at Brooklyn Mirage in 2021. She was 23.
Two years later, two men were accused of kidnapping Dr Michael Bautista outside of the club and forcing him on a bizarre spending spree across New York.
At the time of his abduction, Bautista had been at a Brooklyn Mirage event with friends. At the end of the night, he got into an unlicensed cab and the driver refused to take him home.
The charges were dropped one year later when Bautista did not want to cooperate with prosecutors.
For the most part, the area surrounding the venue is industrial. The streets are lined with huge warehouses – some tucked behind imposing gates made of corrugated iron – and the nearby stores mainly stock building supplies and tires.
Waste management facilities and the heavily polluted Newtown Creek are just a stone’s throw away.
Pacha New York is not the only club in the area. Popular nightclub and music venue Elsewhere is a nine-minute walk away, and House of Yes a mere 13 minutes.
‘I had gone to Brooklyn Mirage a handful of times, but I wasn’t there the night John went missing,’ Stenson told the Daily Mail.
‘I’d always gotten weird vibes from that area… There aren’t a lot of things around there in terms of streetlights.’
Despite the series of unfortunate events that plagued its predecessor, cautious excitement is brewing ahead of the upcoming opening – this isn’t the first time Pacha has had a home in the city.
The original was a 30,000sq ft space in Hell’s Kitchen and welcomed clubgoers from 2005 until January 2016. The new venue will span 80,000sq ft.
While Stenson has no plans to step inside, he is hopeful that Pacha New York will employ more safety measures than Brooklyn Mirage had.
Pacha New York is part of the Pacha Group, which includes the world-famous Pacha Ibiza Nightclub and Pacha Hotel Ibiza.
As of 2023, the company is owned by Dubai-based hospitality and real estate group Five Holdings.
‘I went to their club in Ibiza years ago,’ Stenson said. ‘They have a track record in Europe, and I feel like the way they will handle things will be different.
‘I have a lot more faith that things will be done in a safer manner.
‘I also feel like now, with [Zohran] Mamdani being mayor, things seem to be a little bit safer and there is a stronger emphasis on things being done the right way.’
Brooklyn Mirage, the same site that will soon reopen as Pacha New York, was located in East Williamsburg, close to Newtown Creek
The club, owned by Avant Gardner, was demolished just a few months ago
The area surrounding the location is largely industrial with warehouses lining the streets
Many of the buildings are behind iron gates
Speaking to Bushwick and East Williamsburg residents last month at the first Community Board hearing for Pacha, the director of security for the building said that the club will be taking extra measures to ensure patrons get home safely.
‘When the individual leaves the doors, their night is not over,’ he said.
‘Legally, our responsibility may end there, but we’re going to go the extra distance to make sure they get to where they need to safely.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Pacha for comment.
At the hearing, it was announced that the club will provide a shuttle service between 2.30am and 4.30am, with buses running every 30 minutes or as needed.
The shuttles will go to three different subway stations: one in Manhattan, one on Morgan Avenue and one on Jefferson Avenue.
Pacha New York’s pre-opening party is scheduled for the weekend of June 13.
The following weekend, London-based DJ Michael Bibi is set to kick off the official opening party, with DJ Black Coffee behind the decks the evening after. General admission tickets for both dates are sold out.
At the time of writing, however, there is growing concern that renovations on the site won’t be finished in time.
Photos and videos of the space circulating online in recent days have shown scaffolding on a dusty lot.
These concerns harken back to the building work issues that plagued Brooklyn Mirage.
Before it permanently closed, delays, permitting issues and spiraling costs stood in the way of those 2024 renovations ever wrapping up.
In May 2025, the nightclub’s CEO Josh Wyatt was fired six months into the job. This came after numerous events had to be canceled over failed safety inspections and missed construction deadlines.
By early February, Brooklyn Mirage was demolished.
While many clubgoers believed the cursed venue was gone forever, Pacha New York announced at the beginning of April that it was swooping in to give the ill-fated location a new life.
But it remains to be seen whether the iconic Ibiza-born nightclub can overturn its predecessor’s blemished past.
