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Once again, the infamous former nightclub Limelight is becoming something entirely different. Forbes reports that the former Church of the Holy Communion on Sixth Avenue at West 20th Street is being reimagined as a 320-seat Off Broadway theater—a project carried forward by Broadway produced Hunter Arnold and director Michael Arden.
The address is a famous one among locals, having housed a vast variety of different businesses throughout the decades.
The Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion was built in 1844 and operated as such until the early 1970s, at which point it became a drug rehab facility. In 1983, the space opened as a nightclub, the Limelight, quickly becoming a go-to destination among the local in-crowd.
In the late 1990s, the government started looking into the operation, investigating whether claims about it being a center of illicit drug trade had any veracity to them.
Following a slew of closures related to drug issues, the space reopened under the name Avalon in 2003, but permanently closed in 2007.
Since then, the building has been used as a market, a David Barton Gym, another gym and, now, a theater.
Forbes reports that the 21,000-square-foot space will feature a circular stage with seats spread across two levels, four bars and dressing rooms on the third floor.
"We believe that this is the most beautiful building in Manhattan, and what we would like to do is create a very kind of cultural institution [...] where we can present high-quality entertainment,” said Scott Moore, marketing director at Arnold's production company, in an official statement to Forbes.
Given the history of the address and the work involved in opening a new cultural space, the project is clearly a big deal. The good news is that Marvel Architects, the same folks behind the conversation of Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse and the Lyric Theater in midtown Manhattan, will be in charge of the whole thing.