Hudson Square BID speaks out, condemns Greenhouse

BY SAM SPOKONY  |  After initial silence regarding the crime-plagued Greenhouse nightclub, the Hudson Square business improvement district has decided to act against the interests of one of its own board members by opposing a new liquor license for the 150 Varick St. club.

In an April 29 letter to the State Liquor Authority, the BID, known as the Hudson Square Connection, called on the S.L.A. to deny the club’s application to renew its liquor license, which expired on April 30.

“Sadly, Greenhouse has an abysmal record of maintaining a safe, incident-free space and is more known for violent occurrences that mar its reputation,” the letter reads. “Any operation which endangers and severely discomfits our workers, residents and visitors is not acceptable and threatens to compromise all the progress we have made in recent years.”

That letter was sent five days after The Villager published an article on Greenhouse, featuring quotes from a lengthy interview with John Maltz, who is both the nightclub’s landlord and a BID board member.

In that article, Maltz largely dismissed local residents’ and elected officials’ condemnations of Greenhouse, while also defending the club’s new management, which is apparently planning to renovate and rebrand the club after closing it down on April 21 following a spate of brawls and subsequent pressure from police. (No applications for construction permits have yet been filed for the club since the shutdown, according to city records.)

The Hudson Square BID had declined to comment for the April 24 article, and at that point had not taken any public action against Maltz’s interests in the Varick St. building.

Also in that earlier article, Maltz claimed that no commercial tenants within Hudson Square had complained to him about Greenhouse. But that was almost immediately proven to be false.

On April 24 — the same day on which this newspaper’s article published — one of the district’s most prominent businesses, the Trump Soho condo hotel, wrote a strongly worded letter to the S.L.A. opposing the club’s application to renew its liquor license.

“The safety of the community, including guests of Trump Soho, has been jeopardized by violence at the club,” wrote Andreas Oberoi, the hotel’s general manager.

Maltz did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

Meanwhile, contrary to reports in various other media outlets, which stated that Greenhouse never applied to renew its liquor license before the April 30 expiration, the club’s management is still attempting to renew the license.

William Crowley, an S.L.A. spokesperson, told The Villager on May 5 that Greenhouse did, in fact, submit a “timely” renewal application before its previous license expired.

However, consideration of that application was initially delayed due to the S.L.A.’s ongoing legal proceedings against the club.

The proceedings came to a close May 6, when the S.L.A. slapped the club with a $10,000 fine for, among other things, “failure to conform to [liquor license] application” and “failure to comply [with] health regulations,” according to S.L.A. documents and confirmed by Crowley.

The club had previously received multiple fines from the S.L.A. in recent years. It was also notably shut down for 10 days last year, on the order of a Manhattan Supreme Court justice, due to numerous violent incidents, including a 2012 brawl between famed rappers Chris Brown and Drake at Greenhouse’s downstairs club, W.i.P., located in the same building. The clubs had also been shut down briefly in 2012, immediately following the rappers’ altercation.

Based on Crowley’s comments, it appears the S.L.A. is now in the process of considering the club’s renewal application. But the agency did not respond to a request for comment after the $10,0000 penalty was handed down on May 6.

Greenhouse’s management could not be reached for comment.

At least for now, residents around Greenhouse are enjoying the newfound tranquility as the club remains closed.

“People who live here are so much happier now, especially the ones living right next to [Greenhouse] on Vandam St.,” said Richard Blodgett. Blodgett is president of the Charlton St. Block Association, which represents residents who have long railed against the club’s noise and violence and the alleged drug dealing that goes on outside it.

“It’s just so much quieter at night,” he added. “We’re still hoping that they never open up again.”